WE AVERAGE EIGHT midair collisions a year in general aviation, two of them fatal-a relatively small number compared to the 25 million or so flight hours and tens of millions of flight operations in GA aircraft every year. The troubling news is the annual average appears stagnant and we have a worrisome number of near misses. Our training in visual scans, radio use, and procedures in cruise and the traffic pattern have helped to make midairs rare, but we can make them extinct and reduce the number of close calls. We'll need to capitalize on new technologies, such as ADS-B; learn how and when to use them most effectively; recommit to discipline on established procedures; and utilize new techniques when appropriate to drive midairs to zero.
展开▼
