Only 5 non-passenger deaths from General Aviation for 2005 in US

[ddeclue]

USA Today reported that 98,000 deaths occur each year in the United States due to medical mistakes back in May:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-05-17-medical-...

I guess it's hard to show these mistakes on video on your local news at 11.

There are 98,000 medical mistake deaths -yet general aviation is the problem we should be worring about at 562 deaths of which 557 were on board the plane and there were a total of 321 fatal accidents in 2005.

That means that only 5 non-passenger bystanders were killed in the entire nation of 300,000,000 Americans all year by general aviation accidents! More people are killed by lightning in 2005 (40) than died as a non-passenger bystander.

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/stats/95-04_Deaths_...


According to NeurosurgeryToday.org, the top twenty sports/recreational causes of head injury are:

The following 20 sports/recreational activities represent the categories contributing to the highest number of estimated head injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms in 2005.

Cycling: 64,140
Powered Recreational Vehicles (ATVs, Dune Buggies, Go-Carts, Mini bikes, Off-road): 26,093
Football: 31,883
Basketball: 25,241
Baseball and Softball: 22,919
Water Sports (Diving, Scuba Diving, Surfing, Swimming, Water Polo, Water Skiing): 17,505
Winter Sports (Skiing, Sledding, Snowboarding, Snowmobiling): 16,707
Soccer: 14,674
Skateboards/Scooters: 13,248
Horseback Riding: 10,377
Health Club (Exercise, Weightlifting): 10,218
Golf: 7,885
Hockey: 6,069
Trampolines: 5,347
Skating (In line, roller, roller hockey): 3,527
Fishing: 3,236
Gymnastics/Dance: 3,141
Ball Sports (unspecified): 3,037
Ice Skating: 2,853
Wrestling: 2,298

source: http://www.neurosurgerytoday.org/what/patient_e/sports....

General Aviation is not on their list!

According to the law firm of Gary, Martin & Hays which does accident cases they say 720 people died in bicycle accidents in 2005.

http://www.garymartinhays.com/PracticeAreas/Bicycle-Acc...

Should we ban bicycles too?

I just hate all this media hyped uninformed hysteria.

Douglas J. De Clue
AOPA Member
FAA Licensed Pilot, Single Engine Land
Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Tech
and
Democrat
Orlando, FL

[novalib]

1. It's The Nature of TV "News"!

TV is a VISUAL medium.

So, TV "news"people go for stories that have a VISUAL impact.

A plane crashing into a high rise building in New York has HIGH VISUAL IMPACT.

(The fact that the plane carried a celebrity is "gravy".)

Stories about medical mistakes have very LOW visual impact.

I do NOT excuse TV "News" people who do NOT report TRUE NEWS!!!

But, to some extent, we have only ourselves to blame. We do tune into HIGH VISUAL news items, and we TUNE OUT low visual items.

[ddeclue]

6. She can tell you bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye..

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry

Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I dont have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry

Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em all around

We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
Its interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry

You dont really need to find out whats going on
You dont really want to know just how far its gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry

Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down

Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre stiff
Kick em all around

Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybodys pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry

We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When its said and done we havent told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry!


Don Henley, Dirty Laundry, I Can't Stand Still, 1982

[Tesha]

2. How much property damage?

How much property damage?

How much of that was caused by enthusiasts/hobbyists rather than
an actual GA commercial enterprise?

Tesha

[ddeclue]

3. I don't have figures for that but it is miniscule

compared to property damage by automobiles or boats if for no other reason that boats and cars far outnumber airplanes.

Doug D.

[Tesha]

7. Generally, automobiles also accomplish a useful purpose...

> I don't have figures for that but it is miniscule
> compared to property damage by automobiles or boats
> if for no other reason that boats and cars far outnumber
> airplanes.

Of ourse, generally, automobiles are also accomplishing
some useful purpose other than just buzzing around burning
up 100-octane avgas.

(I'll leave it to someone else to defend pleasure power
boaters; I think that behavior is pretty indefensible
as well.)

Tesha

[ddeclue]

8. General Aviation Airplanes ALSO accomplish useful purposes.

They TOO are means of transportation, not baseballs or footballs or golf clubs.

You don't think people cruise cars?

Have you ever been out on a Saturday night before?

Give it a rest..

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[Tesha]

9. Yeah, I'm sure all those weekend pilots are accomplishing something

Yeah, I'm sure all those weekend pilots are accomplishing
something useful -- NOT.

They're hobbyists indulging their very expensive, very noisy,
fuel-wasting, high-status hobby. And occasionally one of them
falls out of the sky 'cause they forgot to drain the water
out of their gas tanks or remove their heads from their
asses before takeoff (or whatever) and ends up crashing
into a house.

Tesha

[ddeclue]

10. What an ASS you are...

If you want to live the life of a monk that's YOUR business.. stop trying to tell other people how to live their lives and spend their money.

It's really none of your business.

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[Tesha]

11. Actually, it's my life too.

Not only is there the planetary question of wasted oil usage, but
there's the much more local question of the quality of life of all
of those folks that live under the flight paths of these airborne
Harley-Davidsons. Except that's unkind to Harley-Davidsons.
Harleys only make obnoxious noises for a radius of a few
hundred feet, and usually near a highway. Lightplanes
make noise over about a mile radius and spread most of it
over suburbia.

Hobbyist pilots are the asses.

Tesha

[trotsky]

4. I agree with you about aviation, but the 98,000 number is misleading.

See http://www.junkscience.com/mar01/medicalmistakes.htm for a good rundown of why the sensational reporting of the study was way off the mark. Most notably, the errors include those made by the patients, for example not reporting other medications they were on, and then having an adverse reaction to another med.

Scare tactics & sensationalism are all around. That's what sells.

[ddeclue]

5. Perhaps but no one cuts pilots any such slack for mechanics mistakes

or controller's mistakes.

Doctors bury their mistakes, pilots get buried WITH their mistakes.

Doug D.
Orlando, FL