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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1188.PDF
FLIGHT, NOVEMBER 6, 1931 ACCIDENTS IN CIVIL AVIATION f—HT^HE paper under the above title, read by Captain ( T III A. G. Lamplugh of the British Aviation Insur- IH aiice Group before the Royal Aeronautical Society, on October 29, was one of the most intensely interesting which the Society has had, dealing as it did with a subject of the very greatest importance to civil aviation, and treating that subject from a point of view rather different from those to which we have become accustomed. We should have liked to publish Captain Lamplugh's paper in full, but unfortunately we cannot afford the space to do so. it is hoped, however, that in the following summary will be found all the more impor- tant points dealt with by the lecturer.—ED. Mr. C. R. Fairey was in the chair, and in asking Capt. Lamplugh to read his paper, Mr. Fairey said that the Royal Aeronautical Society had never lacked variety, and had had papers ranging from pure science to the other end of the scale. Never before, however, had the Society been fortunate enough to find anyone to lecture on the subject of accidents. It was most important that this subject should be faced frankly, as the investigation of accidents gave the clue to future success. Captain Lamplugh began with a mild and quite un- necessary apology for the character of his paper which, as he said, dealt largely with the most deplorable side of civil aviation. He referred to the difficulties of placing the facts before his audience without being misleading, diffi- culties arising out of the different methods employed by various nations in presenting their accidents statistics. As an example, Captain Lamplugh mentioned the case of an aircraft flying into the side of a hill in bad visibility. In one country that would be put down to "an error of judgment in navigation," in another country to " bad weather," and in a third it might be termed " an error of judgment on the part of the pilot." The lecturer said that under these circumstances the best he had been able to do was to co-ordinate the available statistics in the light of his own personal knowledge of the accidents, or at any rate of the methods of the countries in which they had occurred. Captain Lamplugh asked his audience to put out of their minds the thought that he was discussing accidents from an insurance point of view. Whether aircraft, crew and passengers were insured or not, the loss to the country and to civil aviation was ultimately the same. Comparative Statistics In reviewing the accidents of the past few years, the lecturer said it was important to remember that the mile- age flown in the various countries varied greatly. The first thing that struck one in reviewing accidents was the large percentage which fell in one form or another under the heading " Error of Judgment." This factor was at the same time the most alarming feature and the most potential in retarding the development of civil aviation. The period under review was January, 1928, to the present time, and in that period accidents due to " error of judgment " formed at least half of the total. During the same period accidents due to structural or mechanical breakdown had declined continuously, until they had reached an average figure of about 20 per cent. At a conservative estimate, direct damage amounting to £1,500,000 had been caused to European civil aircraft, engines and equipment since 1928. This meant a bill of at least £750,000 for personal errors, as against only £300,000 for mechanical or structural failure and only £90,000 damage caused entirely by flying in bad weather. To the above sums one should add anything up to 50 per cent, for indirect loss caused by the effect of the accidents on spectators, friends and relatives of those concerned, and the general public through the medium of sensational Press publicity. This gave the appalling total of £1,125,000, or about £240,000 a year for loss attributable to errors of judgment on the part of the operating per- sonnel. Dividing the error of judgment factor into two cate- gories, " professional " and " amateur," the lecturer pointed out that it was. necessary to bear in mind that pilots in the two categories usually fly • entirely different types of machine, and that while the professional has the advantage of better organisation and radio communication, he is called upon to fly more or less continuously in bad weather and darkness. Referring to a graph shown as a lantern slide, the lecturer said: " You will see that in 1926 the error of judgment factor for bothclasses was approximately 35 per cent. In 1930, the percentage for professionals had dropped to 17-06 per cent., Whereas that for theamateur had fallen only to 33-65 per cent. To some extent this is. accounted for by the fact that during this period there has been a greatincrease in amateur flying and a consequent increase in the number of comparatively inexperienced private owners. " Another interesting feature is that during the same period personalerrors on the ground have increased in both classes from approximately 1-5 percent, in 1926, to 6-16 per cent, in 1930." One would expect this to be attributable to the increased number of aircraft using any particular aerodrome, with a consequent increasein the risk of collisions on the ground. In fact, however, the majoritv of personal errors on the ground by amateur pilots have been due to-the starting up of engines with the throttle partially open and without chocks. No less than 17 accidents of this description have occurredduring the past 18 months, and it shows a lack of care in detail which is rather disturbing. " As regards professional pilots, personal errors on the ground areto some extent attributable to the era when wheel brakes were either in an experimental stage or non-existent, and the percentage in thisclass may be expected to decrease now that wheel brakes of a satisfactory type are coming into universal use." You will note also that accidents due to weather and darkness are identical in both classes, but here again the comparison is rathermisleading, because the professional pilot flies to a far greater extent in bad weather and darkness than the amateur." Those of us who have been advocates of the second-class navigator's licence as an essential part of the professional pilot's equipment willfind encouragement in noting that faulty navigation in the professional class shows a figure of only 2-84 per cent., whereas the amateur figureis 11-37 per cent. Furthermore, the professional figure, low as it is, is largely due to inaccurate wireless bearings taken and given during,periods of bad atmospherics. " Failure of material follows the failure of personnel in all statistics.The majority of air-frame failures without some contributory cause occur in comparatively new types, and so far as this country is concernedsuch failures in large passenger-carrying aircraft have been practically non-existent. " Failures in the air have occurred in light type aircraft, both in thiscountry and abroad, to an extent far greater than in larger types, and while the risk of air-frame failure is very remotely present in all classesit only reaches noticeable proportions in full-scale tests of comparatively new types, and then chiefly in fighter or aerobatic types." Large type passenger-carrying aircraft abroad have not had quite the same good experience which we have had, and in light type aircraftboth at home and abroad, structural defects so far as the amateur is concerned are possibly traceable to mishandling of aircraft throughlack of experience or to the lack of skilled inspection. " One of the most illuminating features is the percentage of mortalityamongst pilots. The danger period so far as age is concerned among, professional pilots appears to be somewhere in the early twenties, andbetween the ages of 30 and 4U the professional pilot's expectation of life appears to be good as compared with any other class of pilot,particularly if he is employed in handling large multi-engined aircraft on regular air lines." I must not specify any particular type, but there is a definite ratio- of accidents in comparison with various types, their manoeuvrability,and their performance. High performance does not in itself signify liability to accident, but the fighter and aerobatic types are generallyinvolved in more serious accidents than types which lack similar aero- dynamic qualities. This is possibly due to the fact that the veryqualities possessed by such types lead to errors of judgment in manoeuvres." A feature of interest is the comparative immunity from serious- injuries enjoyed by passengers in large metal aircraft. The modemmetal fuselage or hull has proved that it stands up very well indeed under impact and stress. This is especially true of the welded tubularsteel type of construction. In the following slides you will notice many cases where very serious damage has occurred to the air frameand engine, but where the passengers have escaped with nothing worse than a few bruises." Turning again to amateur pilots, it is distressing to find the number of fatal and serious accidents caused through over confidence, inadequatetraining, carelessness, or deliberate foolhardincss. The danger periods in an amateur pilot's career appear to occur in general at three stages :— " («) Between 20 and 30 hrs., possibly as the result of a lack ofsecondary dual ; " ('-') Between 80 and 120 hrs., generally through over confidence ; am." (c) Between 500 and 600 hrs. " This last period is not so easy to account for, but in general it maybe attributed to the fact that the pilot has by this time acquired » reasonable degree of perfection in the handling of aircraft, but has notyet learned that no amount of skill will avail against the elements under certain conditions. ," I think most experienced instructors will agree that the risk-: oi the first two. periods may be largely minimised by skilled instruction aoocareful secondary dual." Germany was the only country in which the error oi judgment factor had increased. He thought this was iiue to the fact that Germany had attempted more than she could achieve.,. In England the error of judgment factor had declined, while in France it had remained more or less stationary. In America the factor had declic°d, in spite of a very great increase in flying act vi- ties. This the lecturer put down to more careful training in handling, organisation and airmanship. ^ Lamplugh paid a tribute to the French, German Belgian night-flying services for their consistency in face of really adverse weather conditions. 1112
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