UK General Aviation accidents: increasing safety through improved training

From January 2005 to December 2011 there were 1007 General Aviation, fixed wing accident reports published by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch. These ranged from minor events to fatal accidents, of which there were 55, killing 88 people. The data and information from these reports was collated and analysed to determine main and contributory causal factors with a view to formulating improvements to the current training and support mechanisms within the industry. A survey was also conducted among the UK General Aviation population to gauge the levels of experience, license level and other information with which the accident data could be compared, ultimately showing that although accident pilots were more experienced than the surveyed population of UK General Aviation pilots, they had less aircraft type experience. The accident data and survey results both mutually and independently highlighted areas of concern within General Aviation activities, such as the maintenance of flight currency, a lack of basic flight skills, poor decision making and an absence of any form of resource management. Some of these issues are more systemic in nature providing opportunity for additions and enhancements to be made to theoretical instruction, practical flight training and the support that General Aviation (GA) pilots receive, particularly those who fly with Private Pilot Licences, who make up the majority of this field of aviation. A rigid system of pilot monitoring to ensure currency is maintained and that appropriate procedures are followed prior to hire of an aircraft is also currently absent, being an area examined within the thesis. Proposals are presented to cover all these topics and conclusions drawn that whilst UK General Aviation is well regulated, the data and survey show there to be a need for improvements to be made, above and beyond the new syllabus being brought in under European Aviation Safety Agency regulations (EASA Part-FCL PPL, 2013).