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Aviation History
1983
1983 - 0019.PDF
Last year may prove best yet for ag safety Last year may prove the best yet for safe ag aviation, ac cording to FAA general- aviation operations chief Ber nard Geier. He reports 280 accidents notified to the FAA up to October 30, 1982. This compares with 395 in the same period of 1981. "Some accidents may be downgraded to 'incidents'," he tells Flight. Fatal accidents were down from 25 to 19; fatalities were reduced from 27 to 19. These included one flagman, and one tractor-driver. The FAA does not yet know the total ex posure to risk in terms of hours flown. Bottom of the league came California and Texas, where the large numbers of opera tions generated 31 accidents in each state. Arkansas accounted for 30 mishaps, while Mississippi saw a fur ther 19. There were 16 in Louisiana, and "11 each in Florida, Washington, Ne braska and Alabama. Nine states recorded no accidents. How can this record be fur ther reduced? Geier says that improvement can be made by trying to avoid unnecessary mishaps. There were 13 forced landings caused by the use of contaminated fuel in the ten- month period. One was fatal. There was no record of tur bine fuel being supplied to a piston-engined aircraft. Geier supports the US General Aviation Manufacturers Association move to introduce labels to identify fuels by colour coding, "but how do you know what is already in the tank?". The description "Turbo" for turbocharged pis ton engines is not as common as it was. Some 18 accidents occurred when aircraft ran out of fuel. All were substantially dam aged, but no fatalities were incurred. Seven of these took place during spray runs and the same number during ferry flights. "One pilot was run ning low, put in three gallons, and then ran out." There has been a record of bad fuel gauges over the years, says Geier, and also of bad tacho meters. It is important to keep track of what is happening; it is not just young cowboys who are involved. The age range for pilots involved in acci dents in 1982 was 22-59 years. Wire/tower strikes accoun ted for 18 aircraft destroyed, and 18 pilots were killed. Injuries among those aircraft which were not destroyed are unknown. Many reported wirestrikes occurred to air craft flying under wires. Two incidents involved pilots with obscured vision—one a heli copter pilot with the sun in his eyes, and another with spray. Both pulled up into wires. We can't eliminate all acci dents—"there's no question of that"—but we can be more vigilant. Some accidents late in the day involved fatigue, but "mishaps on the first run make you wonder about the quality of the field survey". There are always accidents because of improper mainte nance: "A lot with big round engines—I'm sure this is due to them getting old". One pilot operated the mixture control, which came off in his hand. Another machine had brake failure. "Some things are not predictable, but a lot can be avoided." Other improvements that can be made centre upon the correct handling of aircraft and materials. There were two accidents with pilot incapaci tation, and ten aircraft stalled during operations. The ag accident rate of 18 • 1/ 100,000hr compared with about ten for all general aviation. Seventy aircraft destroyed in accidents in 1982 cost $6-8 million, compared with 105 aircraft costing $12 million in 1981. Ayres Thrush features forward facing observer seat with dual con trols. The basic structure is of 4130N chrome-moly steel tube Avco stresses service support Avco Lycoming emphasised its intention to improve product-support during an NAAA technical session: "We're doing our best to improve the situation on reci procating and turbine en gines. If you have a problem, call us. Your aircraft was built for you to make a living—give us a call to get back into the air." One operator was querying problems which might arise when operating with "the needle outside the green arc". This is not recommended, Avco says, but does happen in operations involving banner- towing, powerline inspection, and para-dropping. On turbocharged engines, coking may be a problem. This can happen in the tur- bocharger oil-return line after running at a high temperature immediately before stopping the engine. It is a greater problem, says Avco, with heli copters, since they land with high power settings, at the locations where they intend to park. Fixed-wing operators, of course, land at low power, before taxiing to park. Avco suggests that engines be run at perhaps 15° lower tem peratures. The manufacturer points to two sure signs of oil leaking from turbocharger drive- shafts. "If it's white smoke on take-off, then oil is leaking into the exhaust side of the turbo. Black smoke and poor idling follows a seepage into the inlet." Cessna's "best-seller" Cessna has produced almost 4,000 ag aircraft since 1966. Numbers 3,927 and '28 were at the convention. The Ag Husky (more than 350 pro duced) is described by Cessna as "the best-selling ag air craft". Almost 1,200 Ag Trucks are in service. Cessna has recently deliv ered five machines to the UK and three to Turkey. Egypt and Libya are important markets, and Sudan is a popular area. Combined production stands at about two a week; in the last fiscal year 52 Ag Huskies and 34 Ag Trucks were shipped. Ag fortunes tend to match those of other industries, the manufacturer feels, if not slightly to lead them. The in dustry is tied particularly to farm and commodity prices, says Cessna. (See Private Flight, Page 8, for notes on Piper Cub and Brave.) FLIGHT International, 1 January 1983 21
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