Originally Posted by
franklin_m
Well, the current mishap rate, through June, is 0.85/100,000 flight hours. That's on track to be the fourth best year ever. Of the six events you mentioned, the Blue Angel one happened because the pilot apparently failed to properly execute a planned maneuver. The dipping helos and the too low flyby were breaches of flight discipline, the Hornet crash at Fallon and the T-45 crash reasons have yet to be determined, and the E2 event was a material failure - that due to the skill of the crew DID NOT result in a mishap. Oh, speaking of mishap rates, what's the AMA's? Oh, that's right. They don't know because they don't collect data!
(BTW, I did a rough calculation of a jet event based on numbers presented in MA a while back - mishap rate at that event was about ten times higher than the GA mishap rate).
The Blue Angel pilot knew the maneuver was high risk and left little room for error. As he knew departure from the procedure could be fatal, that appears to be pilot error. Nobody said "accidents happen" and just moved along. They did an in depth investigation, and as a risk mitigation will not perform that maneuver again this year. Had he not perished, there would have been consequences, as there have in years past. In fact, two Blue Angels resigned from the team when they breached flight discipline. They held themselves accountable, despite the public embarrassment that would cause them personally. Yet they did the right thing.
For the two flight discipline breaches, the dipping helos and the too low flyby, accountability was swift and decisive. The pilots involved were grounded by their unit commanders, and those groundings made permanent after an investigation. Quite literally, those particular flights were their last in Naval aircraft. Contrast that with AMA who's grappling with flight discipline problems in a high profile community. I've yet to see a single waiver pulled as a result.
When we figure out why the Marine Hornet at Fallon crashed and why the T-45 crashed, there will be action taken. I assure you that nobody is saying "accidents happen" and moving on.
And the material failure with the E2. We had a similar problem with a mishap at my base. We investigated the failure, traced it to a defective lot of purchase cables, and immediately removed all of the remaining members of that lot from supplies world-wide. Again, nobody was satisfied with "accidents happen." We found out why and fixed it.
Hyperbole aside, that's not what I'm saying. Rather, when an individual is known to have a history of performance or flight discipline issues, wouldn't it be prudent to watch them more closely? But AMA prevents that by wiping the slate clean when a waiver is pulled. Thus the CD has no idea that an individual could represent a higher risk than others.
Easy to say for someone who can get to three states in one day. I checked the event calendar. There's an event 3 hours one way in Philly the day before I've got a 6AM flight out of town for work, a soaring event in MD (2.5 hours one way), another MD event 3.5 hours one way, and two VA events 5.5 hours one way. I've been to the club about five times since mid summer, yet to see a single person flying. As for visiting other clubs, you seem to be very generous with my time away from home given the distances to get to anything. As I've said multiple times, if that makes me less of a AMA member because I have other hobbies and demands on my time, so be it.
Not what I was saying. I'm saying that if a CD is aware someone has a past history of skill or flight discipline issues, they should probably watch the individual more closely. And that close attention may well prevent a mishap.
Unless I'm mistaken, a CD already has authority to ground someone, so I'm not sure why that's unworkable. Perhaps if that happened more often, particularly in cases where there's a breach of flight discipline, there might be fewer breaches? I know...holding people accountable is a foreign concept, but it really does work.
Yet again, you talk about grounding someone due to past events. Again I say it's not grounding them, but watching them more closely. But AMA prevents that from happening by wiping the slate clean. They do nothing.
Perhaps if having a waiver pulled stayed on ones record for a long time, folks might be less likely to do things that would get it pulled - Oh darn, there I am with that holding people accountable thing again. What a concept.[/QUOTE]
I agree with Franklin on this issue.
We are talking about the AMA enforcing their own Rules per the Safety Guidelines. I do not agree with Safety Guidelines, reason: either they are rules to be inforced by a field Safety Officer nominated by a club to that job, that is their purpose. The so call GUIDLINeS is a Hoax . A Guideline is a potential ruling, not a Rule of LAW. If someone violates a Safety Guidline the Safety Officer or anybody in attendance can that is a wittness to that, can make a formal complaint to the Safety Officer or any on the Board of Directors of that club for action to be taken against the offender.
The AMA does not enforce their own Guidelines if one does not abide and creates a hazard on a flying field. Will the AMA stand behind them and take action, NO
They will not get involved. Nor will they be involved in any lawsuit if an injury occurs of reckless flying and not abiding by Safety Rules. Not unless someone files a complaint against the AMA, which won't do much good if any, the Homeowners Insurance is then responsible, to take any action or pay for the injury.
That is the problem here and I myself have a problem with that. Why if we pay the AMA for a card , what good does it do us? To me, nothing but giving more money to fatten CEO's pockets for money they do not deserve..
Now, I got this off my chest and welcome arguments. We are talking AMA here, not the Military.