Only about 30% of US private pilots are "instrument rated" -- in other words, they're qualified to fly without reference to the horizon and the ground below. (U.S. Civil Airmen Statistics) Meanwhile, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's authoritative annual Joseph T. Nall Report:
- "Less than 5% of all accidents occurred in instrument meteorological conditions, but these included nearly 15% of all fatal accidents and 19% of individual deaths." (p. 18)
- "The characteristics of weather accidents have changed very little over time. As usual, attempts to fly by visual references in instrument conditions (“VFR into IMC”) accounted for the lion’s share of fatalities in 2012." (p. 23)
In other words, lots of people die in general aviation accidents every single year because they've gone out and gotten into situations they weren't trained to handle, by accident or on purpose. Pretty grim example of Darwin at work...
Read other answers by Tom Farrier on Quora:
- Is it legal to fly a windowless plane if it has seats for passengers?
-
Why don't airplanes have beds instead of seats?
- How big and heavy could an aircraft be, and still fly?
from Quora http://ift.tt/1UbJzO0
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