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Note: This does not take travel to/from the airport into account.
The Wikipedia page on aviation safety has a nice table with deaths per journey, time and distance (based on data from the UK between 1990 and 2000):
Car: 40 deaths per billion journeys, 3.1 deaths per billion km
Aircraft: 117 deaths per billion journeys, 0.05 deaths per billion km
Assuming ...
30
Not only is it possible but it happens. This is formally called a "runway incursion" and it does happen like 2005 Logan Airport runway incursion or the B733 / vehicle, Amsterdam Netherlands, 2010. Skybrary has a full list you can find here which is quite lengthy and includes a full section for Vehicle Incursion.
16
The altitude you fly at should be determined by the following:
Where you are safest. Crossing 5500 foot mountains at 6500 simply is not a good safe practice. Your altitude should be higher at night, if for nothing else, to give you more time to diagnose a problem or pick a suitable landing spot. When my primary students fly the hills around here, I ...
9
In 1978 a B737 aborted a landing due to a snow plow on the runway. The aircraft crashed during the go around because one thrust reverser did not stow properly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Western_Airlines_Flight_314
7
The answer to your question is, in fact, "yes" - but the circumstances involved demonstrate just how difficult it is to make an aircraft's landing gear deploy without being commanded to do so.
In 1985, CI006, a 747SP, experienced an uncommanded flameout of its #4 (right outboard) engine (something that particular engine was quite prone to doing) while ...
4
Yes. I was on final once when a taildragger in front of suddenly turned around to backtaxi and turn off on the taxiway he had just passed, thinking to do me a favor and get off the runway quicker. Unfortunately, I had been catching up to him on final anyway, so I just powered up and went around.
3
You have to get the concept that there is a "safe" cruising altitude above some level, because that idea bubbling along in the back of your mind will influence decisions, over such things as weather, which can work against you.
The most dangerous area in the VFR world is within a few miles of airports, because you have airplanes on converging tracks and ...
3
Fan blade failure isn't unknown. Three widely reported incidents:
1989 January 8,
British Midland Airways 92.
A fan blade fractured due to aerodynamic flutter.
2016 August 27,
Southwest Airlines 3472.
Part of a fan blade broke off, after the engine ingested debris.
2018 April 17,
Southwest Airlines 1380.
A fan blade separated at the root.
Page 4 of a ...
3
Not aware of any anti-corrosion coatings used in engines. The best mitigation is to shoot fresh water into the inlet with it running at the end of the day. Seaplanes operating off salt water will generally get a fresh water hose down at the end of the flying day whenever practical.
3
According to ICAO, a preliminary report must be released after a year. There is no hard timeline for the full report:
What are a State’s reporting obligations during and after an aircraft accident investigation?
Under Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention, States in charge of an investigation must submit a Preliminary Report to ICAO within thirty days ...
2
There are different metallurgical mixes that react more or less violently with seawater, and the Russians were, and are, very good at that, not least Beriev, so their engines are made to operate near seawater, thus need to have different metals used internally, compared to ordinary engines.
As we all know a lot differs between an RAF Harrier and an RNAF ...
2
90 seconds comes from a safety aspect, specifically a fire safety aspect
Aviation Safety Study SA9501 Footnote 3 says:
Internationally, industry accepts 90 seconds as a reasonable estimate of the survivable time in an evacuation where fire is present.
Which means that it is predicted than a burning aircraft is not sustainable for life beyond that period,...
1
Go where you feel safest, terrain will certainly play a role (and be aware of migratory bird habits too!), as well as clouds and your ability to follow landmarks. Amazing how tiny even a runway can look from 6000 feet, and hazy/humid conditions can make it much worse.
If you are flying VFR, with other traffic flying in the same direction, they should be ...
1
Don't forget the fact that if they were flying to another country (or maybe the bird originated from another country) there could be issues of Bird Flu spreading around. Killing it would be very unhygienic and could spread disease etc through the air con system. Also the crew could become ill if the bird dropped its guts all over the place.
Turning back to ...
1
Yes they do. I was involved in many HDSs (Helicopter Delivery Service) and would earth the Helo with a sheperds crook and trailing copper linkage - often getting a visible spark. I also took part in the rescue of a few dozen (memory fades on how many) crew from a bombed ship with no hook and earthed the helo myself - yes it hurt.
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