Another "Expert" Opinion on an Experimental Crash

[gbrasch]

Commenting to the press on a fatal RV-6 crash: Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines pilot and CEO of Aero Consulting Experts, an aviation consulting firm.
The planes’ performance capabilities and their relatively low price point have made them popular with aviation enthusiasts, Aimer said.“A lot of them are built and flying safely, so you can’t say they’re unsafe,” he said. But he added that flying any do-it-yourself airplane carries risk.“Usually there’s not much control over these home-built type of airplanes,” Aimer said. “The FAA hopes you do a good job, but how many people know how to build an airplane in their garage?”

What say you?

[Kyle Boatright]

Commenting to the press on a fatal RV-6 crash: Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines pilot and CEO of Aero Consulting Experts, an aviation consulting firm.
The planes’ performance capabilities and their relatively low price point have made them popular with aviation enthusiasts, Aimer said.“A lot of them are built and flying safely, so you can’t say they’re unsafe,” he said. But he added that flying any do-it-yourself airplane carries risk.“Usually there’s not much control over these home-built type of airplanes,” Aimer said. “The FAA hopes you do a good job, but how many people know how to build an airplane in their garage?”

What say you?

Dude needs to know when to end his interview. Anything remotely sensational you say will be included in the story.

[DaleB]

“The FAA hopes you do a good job, but how many people know how to build an airplane in their garage?”
From a retired airline guy and now "consultant"... I'd say it's typical.

[martymayes]

Well, obviously nobody knows how to build an airplane in their garage anymore than he woke up one day and knew how to fly an airliner.

That's why the call it "education"

[FlyingRon]

Yep, nothing wrong until he got to the part after "but" in the last statement. In practice, there isn't much control and the FAA trusts you to do a good job.

[Mike M]

"CEO of Aero Consulting Experts, an aviation consulting firm."

Experts? What happened to truth in labeling?

[Frank Giger]

We all say things that are just damned stupid from time to time. His misfortune was to say them to the press.

[CHICAGORANDY]

"
What happened to truth in labeling? "

No kidding - case in point, my cousin went to the US Virgin Islands..... he said there was nary a one to be found.

[Marc Zeitlin]

The planes’ performance capabilities and their relatively low price point have made them popular with aviation enthusiasts, Aimer said.“A lot of them are built and flying safely, so you can’t say they’re unsafe,” he said. But he added that flying any do-it-yourself airplane carries risk.“Usually there’s not much control over these home-built type of airplanes,” Aimer said. “The FAA hopes you do a good job, but how many people know how to build an airplane in their garage?”

What say you?Everyone is beating up this 33000 hour pilot who's also an aeronautical engineer and A&P. What, exactly, did he say that's false or misleading? I'm not arguing that he should have said what he did in this particular manner to the press - there's no real utility in it, but what's WRONG?

He said "you can't say they're unsafe". That's good.

He said that "flying a do-it-yourself airplane carries risk". That's a fact - EAB aircraft are somewhere around 4X as dangerous as the average GA aircraft, which is somewhere around 10X as dangerous as driving a car (hand-wavy #'s, but relatively close, depending upon how you want to measure it).

He said “Usually there’s not much control over these home-built type of airplanes,” which is true, and how we hope it will stay, right? People are allowed to, and IMO should be allowed to, do whatever they want within some range of reason.

He said "The FAA hopes you do a good job, but how many people know how to build an airplane in their garage?”. The first part is demonstrably true, and the second part is a rhetorical question that can, in fact, be answered. The # of people that know how to build an airplane in their garage is vanishingly small - since there are 330M people in the USA, and maybe what (Ron W., speak up here) 30K EAB aircraft flying, the answer (if you assume that everyone that built an EAB aircraft knew what they were doing) is about 0.01% of the population, if you also assume that no one ever built more than one plane (which clearly isn't true - I've built two). Now, if you believe that his statement should only apply to those folks that have ATTEMPTED the build of an EAB aircraft, rather than to the population as a whole, then I'd say (given my experience in inspecting/evaluating about 90 aircraft over the past 4 years) that about 10% of people know how to build an airplane in their garage when they start, and about 90% of them know how to do it when they finish.

So I'm missing what folks are annoyed about with what Mr. Aimer said...

[Bill Berson]

Was the RV-6 crash even builder error? Or was it the more typical pilot error. We had a fatal RV-6 crash here with two airline pilots.

[Tralika]

I agree with you Mark. I would be happier if Aimer had said "flying any do-it-yourself airplane carries more risk than flying certified aircraft" but that might fall into the wordsmithing category. Commenting on the safety of the aircraft before knowing the cause of the crash might be a bit disingenuous but that's the nature of journalism today. Other than that, everything he said was accurate, just not what I like to hear. I just started my Phase I flight testing and I can assure you it produces a higher state of anxiety than when flying 50+ year old certified airplanes. Certified aircraft may not be defect free (two people have been partially sucked out of airliner windows in the last month or so) but they get a lot more testing and over-site than Experimental.

[Frank Giger]

Marc, I would reply to his question of "how many people know how to build an airplane in their garage" with a statistic - the number of active, registered E-AB aircraft.

It was meant to be a slur on the homebuilding community, no more, no less, with more than a dash of elitism thrown in.

We can infer from his comments when taken as a whole that he believes that only certified aircraft should be allowed, even though some "aren't unsafe." Very interesting choice of words.

I wonder how he would like to be referred to as a professional pilot as being "other than unsafe."

[Jeff Point]

Frank beat me to it but he pretty well nailed it. His response was a back-handed slap at E-AB aircraft and their builders reeking of the certificated-aircraft snobbery that we're all experienced. His responses make me question his expertise to opine on matters related to E-AB.

Update- I reviewed his website bio and I see nothing in it that changes my mind, including- for the record- his claim to hold an A&P.

[dougbush]

He said “Usually there’s not much control over these home-built type of airplanes,” which is true...
and implies there's not enough control.


He said "The FAA hopes you do a good job, but how many people know how to build an airplane in their garage?”. The first part is demonstrably true...
and implies the FAA isn't doing enough to fix the problem.


and the second part is a rhetorical question that...
implies no one should do it who hasn't done it before.

Imagine if he'd said, 'There's not much control over the production of babies. The government hopes you do a good job, but how many people know how to raise a child in their home?'

[martymayes]

So I'm missing what folks are annoyed about with what Mr. Aimer said...

"But he added that flying any do-it-yourself airplane carries risk"

That statement is true for any airplane but by adding "DIY" he poisoned only the well from which DIY'ers drink. I find that "annoying" and would have asked for clarification.

He could have quantified it with fact, for example: "DIY airplanes carry 'x' amount of risk over store bought planes" but he chose to keep it ambiguous. Off with his head!

[Bill Greenwood]

Sometimes just the wording lends too meaning more than what is said or the facts.
How about, homebuilt airplane , experingetal don't go through the same Govt. FAA , approval process as normal certified planes, nor the extensive testing certified planes do. However many thousands of homebuilt airplanes have been built and are flying successfully, some with better performance and lower prices than factory built ones.
There is a vast range of designs for homebuilts, some well proven by the thousands like RVs and some that are only almost prototypes. Some designs, like the Cub replicas have top safety features and some are on the edge of safety with often small wings ( high wing loading) highere stall speeds or sensitive controls ,and less than idea landing and runway characteristics, very high power and speeds and demanding of careful piloting. No homebuilt is the whole market any more than a sunfish boat is the same as a all out racing catamaran.
In almost all planes the most important part of safety is the pilot, not just his skill, but his judgement.
And yes, I have co built , the minor part, of a plane in the garage and it flew fine.

[Frank Giger]

The fact that the plane was homebuilt may or may not have any relevance at all to the crash - but he instantly said it does.

When someone cracks up a Cessna 172, nobody is out there saying "well, as a certified aircraft it's inherently safe, so beats me why it could crash."

[gbrasch]

Sometimes just the wording lends too meaning more than what is said or the facts.
How about, homebuilt airplane , experingetal don't go through the same Govt. FAA , approval process as normal certified planes, nor the extensive testing certified planes do. However many thousands of homebuilt airplanes have been built and are flying successfully, some with better performance and lower prices than factory built ones.
There is a vast range of designs for homebuilts, some well proven by the thousands like RVs and some that are only almost prototypes. Some designs, like the Cub replicas have top safety features and some are on the edge of safety with often small wings ( high wing loading) highere stall speeds or sensitive controls ,and less than idea landing and runway characteristics, very high power and speeds and demanding of careful piloting. No homebuilt is the whole market any more than a sunfish boat is the same as a all out racing catamaran.
In almost all planes the most important part of safety is the pilot, not just his skill, but his judgement.
And yes, I have co built , the minor part, of a plane in the garage and it flew fine.
Bill, I suggest you send him your post. Glenn