What are the stats for BFRs? Do BFRs really improve accident stats compared to no BFRs? I’ve been told that BFRs haven’t really (in themselves) improved GA – non Professional pilot – accident rates. I’ve even heard a couple of people assert a “study” was done by AOPA or someone who does those things that strongly suggested the BFR format used in the past was ineffective. Do these studies exist? and if so, what’s the citation?

I learned to land the Lancair at Castle near Merced because I had about 10,000 feet of runway to work with. If I did it over, I would have purchased something more like a Turbo Arrow. The Arrow isn’t nearly as exciting or fast but is a much safer ride and much easier to master.

I question the wisdom of putting a student pilot in such a high performance plane in the early days of training and even more so in an exacting runway environment. I told one student pilot who was doing his primary training in an SR22 that I considered that to be a mistake. It is way too easy to overestimate one’s flying skills, especially with an extra dose of testosterone that younger men have to deal with. Everybody is God’s gift to aviation until something goes awry.

I am saddened to hear of the demise of this dedicated flight instructor and probably the loss of another potential pilot or more as a result of the injuries of the student and his wife. I hope their recoveries are complete.

Old Rhinebeck when you could fly into it. Went in with my Cherokee 180. Requires precision on TOO/ldg.

Same for Old Rhinebeck when you could fly in. I did it with my Cherokee 180. Precision landing required.

In response to your question; “What’s the closest you’ve come to running out of runway?” I clicked “Other, See Comments” so here they are.

It was February, 1967: I was about to join my first Squadron in the Royal Air Force and was doing my conversion onto the Avro Vulcan B.2 bomber. With all of four flights completed, I was rostered to fly as Co Pilot to a very senior Group Captain who was about to take command of RAF Waddington. This was to be his first flight back in command after three years of ‘flying a mahogany bomber’ (doing a ‘desk job’ at RAF Headquarters).

On our 0700 hours maximum weight takeoff from RAF Finningley, while accelerating through 165 knots – still prior to V1 – we got an indication of multiple failures of the Powered Flying Controls. The Vulcan had 8 ‘Elevons’ – combination elevator / aileron units, each driven by a separate electrically operated hydraulic motor. An early example of ‘fly by wire’: clever idea but prone to failure.

In the Simulator, we would practice flying with all four ‘Elevons’ failed on one wing but, in the circumstances, an abort seemed a good call. The Captain called ‘abort’ and closed the thrust levers – no reverse thrust on the Vulcan – while I flipped the brake chute lever.

Initially, it appeared that we would have no problem stopping in the remaining distance available. However, a successful abort close to V1 on the Vulcan was predicated on the successful deployment of the brake parachute and, unfortunately, on this occasion, the chute failed to deploy…

Without the assistance of the brake chute, the brakes couldn’t handle the job of arresting the heavy bomber and, as we sailed on down the 9,000 foot runway, they burst into flames. The Tower reckoned we were only doing about 30 knots as we left the runway and started sinking slowly into the soft Lincolnshire bog.

We can only speculate as to what happened (I’ve been hearing a lot of contradictory reports), but I think more than anything, regardless of the aircraft, conditions, and runway length/width, it serves as a reminder that we must always be prepared for the worse. I’m also finding as a recently-minted CFII that things can quickly go from safe to unsafe, especially during takeoff or landing.

Flying is a lot of fun, and with proper, dedicated practice and training, it can be made relatively safe. However, this accident particularly served as a strong reminder to me that it’s not an activity we should be doing if we’re not fully prepared to handle whatever may come our way.