Jeff_S Posted July 29, 2016 Report Posted July 29, 2016 They call the 70's the golden age of general aviation. I grew up in Wichita, "Air Capitol of the World," drove past the Beech and Cessna plants nearly every day and saw plenty of B-52s and F-4s flying out of McConnell AFB. But I just had a shocking revelation about just how dangerous those times were. I watched "We Are Marshall" this evening, and decided to check out the NTSB report for the crash that claimed 75 members of that football team in November 1970. Pilot flew into the ground on final approach, indeterminate cause, unsure whether there was instrumentation error, altimeter error, or just plain pilot error. Another military charter in Alaska killed 45 in similar circumstances. But then I started scrolling through the entire list of accidents from that month. 384 of them! Compare that to any given month in this century and it's probably three times as much. Granted, three times as many people flying, but the accident record is grizzly. I counted 4 mid-air collisions (that's 8 planes) including one with a Mooney. Lots of "VFR into IMC" type incidents, fuel starvation, the usual suspects. The causes of fatalities hasn't really changed in the last 40 years, but the frequency sure has. While there's no doubt the sheer population and number of flights impacted this number, I think it's equally clear that the technological safety advances we've made in GA have made have helped make us all safer. But if you're ever in need of a sanity check about the things to watch out for, I would encourage you to go back to any month during that time period and just scroll through the NTSB reports. Then go fly...but keep the fuel in the tank and the greasy side down! Quote
carusoam Posted July 29, 2016 Report Posted July 29, 2016 In the 90s we were expected to get lost, read a water tower or the pavement on an airport... Ask ATC for help, give them a ten count on their frequency and they could triangulate your position... (Something like that) how many GPS units do you currently have with you in your plane while flying? (Installed and portable) do you have updated weather while you fly? The 70s were great! Communication of important issues has changed quite a bit since then. Internet and related technologies have really improved our communication situation. Or did you mean being in your 70s is great? Best regards, -a- Quote
211º Posted July 29, 2016 Report Posted July 29, 2016 On 7/29/2016 at 12:58 AM, carusoam said: how many GPS units do you currently have with you in your plane while flying? (Installed and portable) Expand Wow, that is crazy, isn't it - phone, iPad, Stratus, plus the one in the panel... and odds are good that you have an additional GPS for each passenger! 1 Quote
chrisk Posted July 29, 2016 Report Posted July 29, 2016 On 7/29/2016 at 12:58 AM, carusoam said: In the 90s we were expected to get lost, read a water tower or the pavement on an airport... Ask ATC for help, give them a ten count on their frequency and they could triangulate your position... (Something like that) how many GPS units do you currently have with you in your plane while flying? (Installed and portable) do you have updated weather while you fly? The 70s were great! Communication of important issues has changed quite a bit since then. Internet and related technologies have really improved our communication situation. Or did you mean being in your 70s is great? Best regards, -a- Expand I believe the triangulation service was called a "DF steer". When I learned to fly, that was certainly on of the options. It was also possible to simply fly near an airport and miss seeing it. --And I guess that still happens today, but GPS tells you exactly where the airport is relative to you. With only paper charts, airport locations were a bit vague. I vividly recall difficulty in finding one particular grass strips. I think I overflew the field 5 times before I spotted it. --Not well used and it looked much like every other field, except for the 5 airplanes tided down there. 1 Quote
DAVIDWH Posted July 29, 2016 Report Posted July 29, 2016 And we all had the then marvel of technology, the ADF that would take us to any radio station in the city. 1 Quote
Danb Posted July 30, 2016 Report Posted July 30, 2016 On 7/29/2016 at 1:21 PM, DAVIDWH said: And we all had the then marvel of technology, the ADF that would take us to any radio station in the city. Expand Plus the music was wonderful, I thought what a marvel I picked up a station. Quote
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