Showing posts with label Beechcraft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beechcraft. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

A place to prune the bureaucracy

A government-industry group is trying to reduce the accident rate in "general aviation" (Cessna, Pipers, Beechcraft and the like).  General aviation is running at 1.5 fatal accidents per 100,000 flying hours, where as business aviation is running at 0.5 fatal accidents per 100,000 hours.  So there is room for improvement. 
   There is general agreement that an angle-of-attack  (AOA)  indicator in the cockpit would do a lot of good.  Angle of attack is basically how much the nose is pointed up.  Point up too much and the wing stalls, airflow goes all squirrely, lift drops off drastically, the controls stop working, and the plane falls out of the sky  like a stone.  If this happens close to the ground, say while making an landing approach, the plane will hit the ground before the pilot can recover the aircraft. 
   And, such AOA indicators do exist.  And not too expensive.  You can buy one for about $1500.  But, only for "experimental" aircraft.  "Experimental" means home built, flown only by the builder, not legal to carry passengers.  For "certified" aircraft, factory built planes, legal for anyone to fly or fly in, the same AOA system might cost $10000 to $25000.  Same AOA equipment, the outrageous price hike is the cost of doing FAA paperwork, required on certified aircraft. 
   A Trump administration could do something about this government sponsored rip off.