Lies, damned lies & Statistics

[TyroGyro]

Tyro
The rotor head failure was most likely fundamentally due to low hour student mishandling.
There may also be a design/material choice question but since all the other Cavalons of the same generation aren't falling out of the sky I'd say that this was an hour's/training issue.
Mike

It seems to me the report is saying the rotor head design and fabrication could and should have been stronger:-
"While not causal to the accident, a key element of the failure sequence of the gimbal block was the failure of the welds holding the roll stop bar in position. Rather than being structural welds, they effectively just located the bar in position and failed under a relatively low load.Theoretical analysis showed that had full strength welds been used, they would have remained intact under a much greater load, the roll stop bar would then not have started to deform at a low load, maintaining an even distribution in the load transferred to the gimbal block and allowing the combined structure to support a load greater than that which failed the block in the practical test."

 

[Therapy]

Agreed. I doubt the median/average age of those involved in fatals is significantly different from those not involved in fatals...

Time is far more significant. The following chart is based on more than half the total fatals, where gyro hours are definitively known.

This is what I needed to see. Hours of use are very important. I wonder now if it is smart at all to move from Trike to Gyro with only 350 hrs total.

 

[WaspAir]

Everybody starts out with zero hours in gyros, whether a new student pilot, a retiring airliner driver, or a mid-career Coast Guard rescue helicopter fellow.

Time in category/class matters quite a bit. Aviation experience in other craft gives you airmanship and enhances judgment, but there is no reason not to try gyroplanes.

 

[Therapy]

Everybody starts out with zero hours in gyros, whether a new student pilot, a retiring airliner driver, or a mid-career Coast Guard rescue helicopter fellow.

Time in category/class matters quite a bit. Aviation experience in other craft gives you airmanship and enhances judgment, but there is no reason not to try gyroplanes.

OK. Then it is mainly general cognitive ability. Do you sell any?

 

[WaspAir]

Special discounts for cash.

 

[Doug Riley]

Supply chain for cognitive ability is all jammed up. Drastic shortages in the political sphere...