Quote Originally Posted by Frank Giger View Post
I suspect true statistics on wrecks vs injury in inexpensive, light aircraft like these is impossible. Liability without hull insurance is the rule. When I flipped my plane, replacing two spars, the prop, crankshaft, gear leg, brakes, wheels, recover and paint the two wings cost less than 1,500 bucks. It won't show up in a database, as it wasn't reported to the FAA or NTSB (though I did file a NASA report).

Talking within the community, incidents like mine aren't as uncommon as I thought they were. If it doesn't happen in front of the FAA, the cops, or a reporter, it just didn't happen.
Or with serious injuries or death, of course.

Otherwise, very true, and not just on the low-buck airplanes. I had previously mentioned a BD-4 accident that occurred at an EAA picnic on an airpark. Chapter members got the pieces stuffed into a hangar before the cops showed up.

Another case involved a taxi accident of another BD-4. The owner argued this didn't qualify as an aviation accident because the airplane hadn't yet been given an airworthiness certificate. Plus it didn't have wings on.

Ron Wanttaja