Human Factors
"Over 80% of ALL accidents in aviation involve human error"- BOEING
I am guessing that more than my yearly salary was spent on this study...by a factor of 10. After looking at enough NTSB reports or any other accident write-ups it is pretty clear that human error was the cause of most accidents.
After finishing the last few months of bad decisions and losing points, we will take some time to think about safety. Because no matter how many points you don't get or lose, nothing is worse than getting hurt or breaking the glider. One of the ways that Sky Sailing Inc. promotes soaring and our business is by flying our Grob 103 at Airshows. To promote and expose Soaring to more people and also to help advertise for our flight school, Sky Sailing Inc. My brother and I both have our SAC cards for doing low-level aerobatics and we both grew up in the airshow business as my Dad has been flying airshows since 1979.
Unfortunately, airshow flying, like contest flying, does not have a 100% success rate. In the morning briefing, the Air-Boss presented us with a slide listing "The Dirty Dozen."
Fatigue
Fatigue can be just a day of flying. I was working with a student who on his last solo flight flew for 91 minutes. He was commenting that he was pretty worn out after that and it was his first flight over 1 hour. Flying both days on a weekend can be tiring when that is not your norm and a contest is like a marathon. Many times someone flying a contest is doubling their hours for the summer in that 1 week.
In my teens I was offered a Discus to fly in Hobbs at the Standard Class Nationals, then right before I left I was offered a Ventus A for the 15 m Nationals. This was great!!! Now I am managing 2 contests in 1 summer. After the awards banquet, it was 16 hours back home, swap gliders and crew, and 10 hours to the next contest. This great plan came with a toll that I learned when we made it to the next contest site. I was exhausted, despite the thermals making it to class A airspace, I stayed on the ground to recover. Even the following day I had to take it easy.
Lack of Resources
In my very first contest, Orion and I showed up in a van that was having electrical problems. I am all for camping, but this was Phoenix in June, not really the best time to pitch a tent under the wing. We had a blast and learned how to beat the heat, but I am sure this would be more taxing in my 30's. I showed up with a turnpoint camera, one of the last years it was still in the rules, but the scorer only wanted to use GPS, which I didn't have. So I borrowed a handheld Garmin, with no idea how to use it. We managed to be safe, just not competitive.
Pressure
This is that pressure to fly, to get to the grid on time, etc. Remember IMSAFE. The pressure at a contest to try and complete the task in conditions that you might normally not fly in. There is always some pressure and it is important to know your limits and know when to say "no". It could be the pressure to complete your check-ride by a certain date, even though you are not ready.
Lack of Assertiveness
At some point in your flying career, you will have to say "no". It could be something that is unsafe or something that you are not comfortable with. We have a policy with our pilots that when they say I need a break, they get a break. Despite the increasing towline, if the towpilot needs a break he gets one, or someone else will jump in to give that pilot a break. We try to not have that become an issue, it can be easy for someone to ask for just one more.
Lack of Awareness
An un-named pilot friend got a ride in a 2 seater a while back. He was a low time glider pilot at the time and the opportunity to fly a shiny glider is a hard ride to pass up. They then proceeded to fly around high for quite some time without O2. Meanwhile, the storms around them were producing hail that was damaging to structures on the ground. The flight terminated at a towered airport (not the one they started at), that they used Foreflight to find because of the radar feature and poor visibility. Landing in a gust front and barely making it to the runway. The middle part of the flight was highlighted by an engine restart over unlandable terrain at a very low altitude.
Meanwhile, the owner/PIC was unaware of any of the risks he had taken. A few of his local club members had to have a sitdown with him and the IGC trace to point out all of the unnecessary risks.
Banner Photo: Sidewinder Aviation
Garret Willat holds a flight instructor rating with over 8000 hours in sailplanes. His parents have owned Sky Sailing Inc. since 1979. He started instructing the day after his 18th birthday. Since then, Garret has represented the US Junior team in 2003 and 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a bachelor's degree in Professional Aeronautics. Garret represented the US Open Class team in 2008 and 2010 and the Club Class team in 2014. Garret has won 3 US National Championships.