Michael
This is truly excellent stuff. At last someone has applied a
logical and "scientific" approach rather than just "spouting off their
opinion". I for one was one of those who used to just "spout of their
opinion", I can now spout some facts instead.
It is interesting however to consider how factors can skew the
statistics. I would suggest that comp. and X-country flying accidents
contribute heavily to the accident rates. Perhaps the statement "Going
for a passenger ride in a glider with a qualified AEI rated pilot or
instructor IS safer than driving on the road". I guess what I am saying
is that if we wish to portray gliding as a safe sport then we need to
carefully qualify our statement.
(On a related issue, it is interesting to note that some people I
talk to think that gliding is boring and un-exciting, some even go as far
as to call it a "Pussy" sport. Is the public perception of our sport this?
Do we need to change the way the public perceive our sport to make
gliding more popular? Extreme sports are very popular these days
because of the real and perceived risk. Radio advertisements on
MMM in Adelaide for a "Wild and Exciting aerobatic flight in a glider"
have produced surprisingly good results. Do we want to portray our
sport as a dangerous, Xtreme sport in order to make gliding more
popular? By your statistics it does seem as though we do participate
in a dangerous sport. (Dare I say Xtreme sport) Is the public knowing
this a good or a bad thing?)
> Here they are,
>
> Based upon ATSB and GFA data provided by the GFA secretariat and ATSB
> courtesy of Dianne Coyne. This data covers the period from 1992 to
> 2002. It doesn't matter how you compared gliding to driving, gliding
> comes off second best. Small changes in gliding fatalities have big
> impacts upon death rates; for example, the number of car licence
> holders is 4,400 greater than the number of flying GFA members. So
> even if there is one gliding death per year, it has a big impact on
> gliding fatality rates, whereas to get an equivalent fatality rate
> change for car drivers, 4,400 more people per year would have to die
> on the roads nationally.
>
>
> Fatality Rate/100,000 flying GFA members per year compared with
> Fatality rate/100,000 car licences per year
>
> Gliding
> Average 29.0 fatalities per 100,000 flying GFA members per year
> (standard deviation 38.35). Median 0.0 fatalities per 100,000 flying
> GFA members per year.
>
> Driving
> Average 15.3 fatalities per 100,000 car licences per year (standard
> deviation 1.98). Median 15.4 fatalities per 100,000 car licences per
> year.
>
> Based on averages, your risk of death per year is 1.9 times greater by
> being a flying member of GFA than by holding a car driver's licence.
>
>
> Fatality Rate/100,000 gliding hours flown per year compared with
> Fatality rate/100,000 hours driven per year
>
> Gliding
> Average 1.23 fatalities per 100,000 hours flown per year (standard
> deviation 1.62). Median 0.0 fatalities per 100,000 hours flown per
> year.
>
> Driving
> Average 0.04 fatalities per 100,000 hours driven per year (standard
> deviation <0.01). Median 0.04 fatalities per 100,000 hours driven per
> year. (Driving figures based on an average car speed of 40 km/h)
>
> Based on averages, your risk of death per year is 29.2 times greater
> per hour in a gliding than by driving a car.
>
> Pilots fly an average of 22.4 hours per year, drivers average 371
> hours per year (you spend 16.5 times longer in your car than your
> glider per year).
>
> Fatality Rate/100 million km travelled per year.
>
> Gliding
> Average 12.7 fatalities per 100 million km flown per year (standard
> deviation 16.6). Median 0.0 fatalities per 100 million km flown per
> year. (Assumption that distance = average flight time * 52.5 knots)
>
> Driving
> Average 1.12 fatalities per 100 million km driven per year (standard
> deviation 0.11). Median 1.17 fatalities per 100 million km driven per
> year.
>
> Based on averages, your risk of death per year is 11.3 times greater
> per km travelled in a glider than by driving a car.
>
> Each glider travels about 6,068 km per year compared with each
> registered vehicle travelling 14,820 km per year (i.e. you car will
> cover more than twice as much distance as your glider per year).
>
>
> Fatality Rate/million trips (launches) per year.
>
> Gliding
> Average 9.2 fatalities per million trips flown per year (standard
> deviation 11.9). Median 0.0 fatalities per million trips flown per
> year. (Assumption that distance = average flight time * 52.5 knots)
>
> Driving
> Average 0.05 fatalities per million trips driven per year (standard
> deviation 0.01). Median 0.06 fatalities per million trips driven per
> year.
>
> Based on averages, your risk of death per year is 170.6 times greater
> per trip in a gliding than per trip in a car.
>
> A car makes on average 3,100 trips per year, a glider on average has
> 89 launches per year (there is great variation in this statistic
> between a club twin trainer that does hundreds of launches and the
> occasional privately owned glider that rarely flies).
>
>
> --
> * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list.
> * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
> with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with
> "help" in the body of the message for more information.
>
>
ANDREW WRIGHT
--
* You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list.
* To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
* with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message
* or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
