The Killing Zone - Book

I keep a copy on hand (with a $2 bill bookmark for good luck!).

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There's nothing in it you couldn't learn elsewhere. But as a physical object that reminds you you're not invincible it may have some positive effect and help you stay out of the Mishaps forum.

As a piece of technical writing (and that's not exactly what it's intending to be) it has some pretty obvious flaws. For instance it's littered with figures like this:

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Ok, sure. More accidents at low times. But these are even-sized buckets, so there are also (virtually by construction) more hours flown by pilots in these buckets. The base rate fallacy is strong...

This sort of fallacy is extremely common, so it's hard to fault this specific author. For instance, graphs used by mike busch to discuss engine bathtub curves have this same issue (fewer hours flown over TBO), but at least he admits that.

When I was growing up and got my driver's license my parents took out a box of newspaper clippings of fatal car crashes to share with me. This book is in a similar vein. I think the people that feel inclined to buy this book probably need it less than those who don't.

8/10 :dunno:
 
While we’re doing book recommendations, I’ve been extremely pleased with the Jepp Instrument Commercial book. If you plan to do an instrument rating I highly recommend picking up a copy. I got mine used.
 

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Eric Pauley said:
I keep a copy on hand (with a $2 bill bookmark for good luck!).

View attachment 117495

There's nothing in it you couldn't learn elsewhere. But as a physical object that reminds you you're not invincible it may have some positive effect and help you stay out of the Mishaps forum.

As a piece of technical writing (and that's not exactly what it's intending to be) it has some pretty obvious flaws. For instance it's littered with figures like this:

View attachment 117496

Ok, sure. More accidents at low times. But these are even-sized buckets, so there are also (virtually by construction) more hours flown by pilots in these buckets. The base rate fallacy is strong...

This sort of fallacy is extremely common, so it's hard to fault this specific author. For instance, graphs used by mike busch to discuss engine bathtub curves have this same issue (fewer hours flown over TBO), but at least he admits that.

When I was growing up and got my driver's license my parents took out a box of newspaper clippings of fatal car crashes to share with me. This book is in a similar vein. I think the people that feel inclined to buy this book probably need it less than those who don't.

8/10 :dunno:
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That's a pretty good summation. The book has come up here a few times before with strong feelings on both sides. I like it, statistical errors aside, the stories are very good, and it highlights the major "buckets" of errors that kill inexperienced and/or complacent pilots. I recommend it, although I'd put it on the list of things to do as soon as you pass your checkride rather than during training.

The book I wished I had read during training was "stick & rudder".
 
Jim K said:
I'd put it on the list of things to do as soon as you pass your checkride rather than during training.
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Completely agree. The book will make more sense with some experience and many of the risks they discuss are little more than a distraction to a primary student.
 
Jim K said:
That's a pretty good summation. The book has come up here a few times before with strong feelings on both sides. I like it, statistical errors aside, the stories are very good, and it highlights the major "buckets" of errors that kill inexperienced and/or complacent pilots. I recommend it, although I'd put it on the list of things to do as soon as you pass your checkride rather than during training.

The book I wished I had read during training was "stick & rudder".
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jim, you Mention stick and rudder… more than one person recommended me that book, saw I can get it new one Amazon for $30.00. Is the material still current to this day and age ?
 
It is both dated and current. Aerodynamics operates the same today as it did 100 years ago.
 
FutureFly said:
jim, you Mention stick and rudder… more than one person recommended me that book, saw I can get it new one Amazon for $30.00. Is the material still current to this day and age ?
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I would say so. One of the most interesting things about it is how timeless it is. Our airplanes haven't changed much, and physics is still physics.

The one thing that didn't age well was his prediction that rudder pedals would disappear ala the ercoup. He was right about the "new" tricycle landing gear though.

Looks like they go for about $15 on fleabay... which coincidentally is what I paid for my new copy from Amazon a couple years ago.
 
Jim K said:
That's a pretty good summation. The book has come up here a few times before with strong feelings on both sides. I like it, statistical errors aside, the stories are very good, and it highlights the major "buckets" of errors that kill inexperienced and/or complacent pilots. I recommend it, although I'd put it on the list of things to do as soon as you pass your checkride rather than during training.

The book I wished I had read during training was "stick & rudder".
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Agree about the Killing Zone book.

However, the book I wished I had not wasted my time and money on is Stick & Rudder. It is highly overrated. I gave mine away a long time ago.
 
sarangan said:
Agree about the Killing Zone book.

However, the book I wished I had not wasted my time and money on is Stick & Rudder. It is highly overrated. I gave mine away a long time ago.
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Both books deserve to be put in a nice fire if you ask me...Killing Zone for its horrible math errors in the author's attempt to make an argument, and Stick and Rudder for over-complicating the simple, and simplifying the complicated. I'll also add a third: Fate is the Hunter...the perfect cure for insomnia!
 
Country Flier said:
Both books deserve to be put in a nice fire if you ask me...Killing Zone for its horrible math errors in the author's attempt to make an argument, and Stick and Rudder for over-complicating the simple, and simplifying the complicated. I'll also add a third: Fate is the Hunter...the perfect cure for insomnia!
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Stick and Rudder reminds me of The Elements of Style. Both classics, but also both borderline meme books. The Elements of Style is too over-complicated at points to learn the basics and too simplistic in others to inform high-quality writing.
 
Eric Pauley said:
Stick and Rudder reminds me of The Elements of Style. Both classics, but also both borderline meme books. The Elements of Style is too over-complicated at points to learn the basics and too simplistic in others to inform high-quality writing.
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Oh, yes...Strunk and White's 'The Elements of Style'. Takes me back to the days of graduate school. Thank God I had a well funded grant and could pay an aide to compose my research papers and dissertation. That book made me consider self inflicted acute lead toxicity.
 
Country Flier said:
LOL...I sooo wanted to like this book! I just can't get through it. I've tried, lords knows I've tried. I think its just Gann's writing style that irks me. I think the guy could use 3 chapters to describe a pencil.
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I smell the start of a new #MeToo movement with this. :D Same, could not get into Gann after multiple attempts. Since we're making friends, I'll mention I had the same problem with Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams.
 
I liked "fate" mostly because of the stories of flying just south of here, in an area that I'm pretty familiar with, when commercial flight was done unpressurized. So basically a DC-3 or whatever flying through things I wouldn't. I didn't buy into the concept of fate, but if you switch fate for luck I do believe there's some truth there. Without the local element, I probably wouldn't have liked it.

Stick and rudder I didn't like, and I learned in tailwheel aircraft. The terminology is outdated and I think having control over all three axis of the aircraft is kinda important, not something to be designed out.

Killing zone reminds me of Gladwell, in that it's using correlation to tell a story where I'm not sure if it's the right story, and making statement as fact that are at best rules of thumb.

What I read, as dark as it sounds, is pretty much every fatal accident report in the past 10+ years in the make/model I was learning in. Dry, but as close to unbiased and factual as I know how to get. Oh, and free. That and the FAA flight stuff. It's accurate, and it lines up with the tests you'll be taking, and it's either free or cheap depending on if you download or buy printed.
 
Albany Tom said:
...What I read, as dark as it sounds, is pretty much every fatal accident report in the past 10+ years in the make/model I was learning in. Dry, but as close to unbiased and factual as I know how to get. Oh, and free. That and the FAA flight stuff. It's accurate, and it lines up with the tests you'll be taking, and it's either free or cheap depending on if you download or buy printed.
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That is the type of reading I do as well. More meaningful than the Killing Zone.
 
Gad, I've read and re-read Fate multiple times. I write, and I admire Gann's command of language; it's from a more elegant time, deeply descriptive and he supports visualization so well. My first reading was probably 50 years ago - to revisit it now, and as I have over the years, is revelatory. What was vicarious adventure in 1970 is now pragmatic experience. . .
 
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