go to Accident Reports — Propeller Safety — Tributes

Risk is the inevitable price for our kind of fun. How much risk depends on what we do. Boating around up high in the calm edges of daylight incurs minimal risk, but even then you’ll eventually encounter surprises. This chapter aims to expose real risk and help cope with the unexpected.

Misunderstandings persist–even among some instructors–as to what causes most accidents. For example, training is a particularly dangerous part of a pilot’s career. That can be mitigated, though, by choosing an instructor as recommended in Chapter 1. It points out the dark corners, how to avoid them, and when appropriate, how they can be minimized or recovered from.

Some things that look crazy really aren’t, while some seemingly benign stunts are really asking for it. We help sort out the difference. Not all the nuances can be covered in this material (or the book) but a good instructor will.