More than half of all fatal accidents involving U.S. private pilots on general aviation (GA) flights in single-engine airplanes involved faulty aeronautical decision-making (ADM) practices, according to a study by researchers from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.1 Their analysis covered a recent 29-year period.
A report on the study, published in the November issue of Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance, noted that although ADM practices have been advocated for GA pilots since 1991, some 846 of the 1,481 fatal accidents (57 percent) between 1991 and 2019 were related to ADM deficiencies. The most frequent of those deficiencies were “electing to depart into a hazardous environment” (54 percent), “disregarding wellness” (21 percent) and “poor aircraft familiarity” (20 percent).
However, the study identified a 64 percent decline in fatal accidents related to “errant go/no-go decisions for the environment category,” the report…
