Why do our airplanes scare people?

trepine said:
But statistically little planes are no where near as safe as far as accidents per mile traveled as the big steal....I have read they have 49x the accident rate...So as one person, hopping on one plane, flying for 500 miles your risk is approximately 50x that of doing it commercial. By my book that is more risky...Now it's another question whether that is within the level of risk you, I, or our passenger is individually willing to accept.
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That risk is spread out over various personality type and stupid pilot tricks. I know my risk is smaller, because I don't do stupid pilot tricks.

Each pilot has the same level of control over their personal risk. That's what it comes down to.

After I'd rationalized the rate of equipment failure was acceptable for me, I decided that I would most closely monitor myself and my skills.
 
I'm about to finish reading "The Killing Zone" - a must read. I'm at 300 hours and about out of "the zone". Statistically, that one bolt isn't going to fail. (I think I would have to lose more than 1 wing bolt to die in my Bo.) Anyway, the premise of the book is that we are far more likely to cause the situation that kills us (diving at the runway as prescribed in another thread just might set those conditions - but that is another thread).

Give this a read:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Killing-Zone-Second-Edition/dp/0071798404

There is a lot written about this nation being risk adverse, etc. In some part, it is likely true - who knows. But my feeling is that if you decide to take up an activity like flying (or motorcycles) you really need to learn about where the risks are and how to minimize them.
 
True. If a wing bolt failed on say a cub, a tcraft , champ for instance one would be in "deep yogurt" ( to quote GHW Bush.) you probably Be a goner. I don't think the planes scare people as much as the people who fly them. Very low hours, subject to temper tantrums, poor decision making, history of drinking problems, drugs, etc, etc.
 
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One aspect of fear of flying is also the actual feeling of the passenger in the airplane.
My wife is scared to death to get on an airliner but flies "just fine" with me in my little Cherokee.
She feels the fear is based on her not seeing where she's going on the big commercial cattle-haulers and her disconnect from the pilot. And she knows that if our single engine quits, we can glide to a pasture and hopefully not disintegrate on impact.

Just my $0.02.
 
Henning said:
There are four individual bolts, the failure of any single one of them will be catastrophic.
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Where can I learn more about this? If this is a reasonable risk, why is there no attention paid on preflight checks for the strut bolts? Certainly I do not recall it being mentioned anywhere in my POH nor any checklist cards I've seen.

If, for example, a strut bolt works loose on my C-172, isn't the wing also attached at the roof? Are the struts structural on every airplane with them?

I'm skeptical, but open to learning.
 
Jaybird180 said:
Where can I learn more about this? If this is a reasonable risk, why is there no attention paid on preflight checks for the strut bolts? Certainly I do not recall it being mentioned anywhere in my POH nor any checklist cards I've seen.
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Probably because it's never happened. Well, "never" may be a strong word but I've certainly never heard of a strut bolt failing on a Cessna.

Jaybird180 said:
If, for example, a strut bolt works loose on my C-172, isn't the wing also attached at the roof? Are the struts structural on every airplane with them?
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Pretty sure they are or they wouldn't be there.
 
Jaybird180 said:
Where can I learn more about this? If this is a reasonable risk, why is there no attention paid on preflight checks for the strut bolts? Certainly I do not recall it being mentioned anywhere in my POH nor any checklist cards I've seen.

If, for example, a strut bolt works loose on my C-172, isn't the wing also attached at the roof? Are the struts structural on every airplane with them?

I'm skeptical, but open to learning.
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They are located under the strut fairings. They are plenty strong and should be inspected for wear at annual/100hr inspections. You can do somewhat of a check on preflight picking up the wing. If there is slack noticed in the joint, you need to look at it more closely.

The wing may be attached at the roofline with 2 bolts, one fore and one aft, but without the strut to hold it perpendicular to the fuselage, it will fold like a hinge there. If a strut bolt were to let go in flight the wing would flip upwards.

Yes, struts are structural on all aircraft that have them.
 
Probably don't want to point to that one bolt and tell your passengers "you see that one bolt right there? The wiggly one with the rust on it? If it lets go the plane's gonna fold up like a taco and we're all gonna die."

This is why no one will go to the fair with me anymore.
 
Henning said:
They are located under the strut fairings. They are plenty strong and should be inspected for wear at annual/100hr inspections. You can do somewhat of a check on preflight picking up the wing. If there is slack noticed in the joint, you need to look at it more closely.

The wing may be attached at the roofline with 2 bolts, one fore and one aft, but without the strut to hold it perpendicular to the fuselage, it will fold like a hinge there. If a strut bolt were to let go in flight the wing would flip upwards.

Yes, struts are structural on all aircraft that have them.
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Oh, yeah...I already do that. I give a tug on all the surfaces to check for movement.

BradZ also told me that I should check the wingtips (main wing and the smaller, inverted one at the back), that there may be weakness near the tips and he said there have been failures; I haven't checked but it's a small thing to check on preflight, so no harm.
 
Airliners land on the best airfields in the world, with help from Radar, controllers and have strict rules and regulations. I have seen several accidents with small planes in the Idaho back country. with non-standard airports and approaches. Short, one way, up slope landing sites that are not a part of the airlines routine. Sometime the pilots that venture into these places are not high time pilots but are just getting there feet wet in this environment so to speak. I think poor decisions made by some pilots get all of us GA pilots a bad name.Plus all of the accidents get top billing by the media.
 
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