Which Airplane Pilot Would You Trust More?

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by jmpet, Sep 13, 2010.

  1. jmpet Valued Senior Member

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    Which would you trust more- a commercial airplane pilot with 200 passengers, or a private aircraft with 12?

    Thoughts.
     
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  3. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    Since I had my own pilots licence , I'd trust myself.

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  5. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    Commercial. Commercial pilots log more airtime, have a co-pilot, auto-pilot, and fly a well maintained aircraft.

    Plus, I just don't do propellers.
     
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  7. MacGyver1968 Fixin' Shit that Ain't Broke Valued Senior Member

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    The one who didn't have a 5-martini lunch.

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  8. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Judging by the reports of plane crashes, I don't think the difference between the two types of pilots is important. Most crashes occur on takeoff and landing. Commercial airliners may undergo better and more frequent maintenance, and smaller planes sometimes land in places that are simply not quite as well prepared, lit and maintained as metropolitan airports. Business charter flights, in particular, sometimes fly under weather conditions that would ground a major airline.

    I don't mean to cast aspersions on the recreational pilots like Cosmic. Survival is arguably their primary goal and they typically inspect every square inch of their own airplanes. I wouldn't be surprised if those guys have a safety record that matches or surpasses the 747's. But the famous crashes that kill politicians and rock and roll bands: those are all small charter flights. It's a business and they run it on a risk/reward ratio. They go places where Lufthansa doesn't go, and I think they take risks that Lufthansa's pilots wouldn't take.

    I've been on one of those planes only twice. I had to go home or I wouldn't have gotten back on it. I'd feel safer getting back on a motorcycle after hanging up my helmet 30 years ago.
     
  9. sifreak21 Valued Senior Member

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    commercial... why? after 500 feet of elevation aprox.. autopilot takes over for the duration unless there is turbulance or an emergencey the plane is stabalized electronically.. no smarrerplanes have to be controlled 100% of the time. and there are manyyyyy more instances where small prop planes crash than large ones
     
  10. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Is that just because there are so many more of them? I'd like to know what the normalized rate is: aggregate number of miles between crashes for the entire fleet. This would be like saying motorcycles must be safer than cars because there are more car crashes.

    If anyone's trying to imply that propeller-driven aircraft are inherently more dangerous than jets, I doubt that very much. But I'm sure Cosmic has more knowledge on that subject. When's the last time a prop plane crashed because a goose was sucked into the engine?

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  11. Manimammal Death from the day I was born. Registered Senior Member

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    Any planes with more than one engine does it for me. It's not the pilot we should worry about.

    Although, the thought of dying in a plane crash doesn't bother me, dying in style, with the adrenaline pumping in my last moments as I topple to the ground, sounds alot better than dying of a heart attack.
     
  12. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    You are comparing apples to oranges. It depends on the pilot, it depends on the quality of aircraft maintenance, the age of the aircraft, the conditions in the air, all kinds of things. The pilot of the private aircraft could be a commercial pilot too. I would take a new private jet with an experienced and well paid pilot over an aging commercial jet with an overworked and underpaid pilot.
     
  13. Shadow1 Valued Senior Member

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    e-commercial plane with 200 passenger, because the pilote will be carrying 200 person, that's a big thing, not a game, unlike a private one carrying, hmm, 5? 10? still not like 200, so it's a big responsability, and he deferently had many flyets before, anyway, being a pilote, or an "hotesse" (in french) on a plane, is worse.
     
  14. adoucette Caca Occurs Valued Senior Member

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    With just that data to decide you would have to go with the commercial airline as their fatality rate per mile is 5 times lower than that of General Aviation.

    Commercial airlines on scheduled flights = 4.03 fatalities per million flight hours

    General Aviation (part 91) is 22.42 fatalities per million flight hours.

    Even Commuter airlines on scheduled flights flown by commercial pilots is quite a bit higher at 12.24.


    Fatalities in takeoffs & landing = 55% (but only if you include climb out and final approach) Climb with flaps up, cruise, descent and Initial Approach = 45%.

    As to bird stikes, not very common and get all kinds of aircraft:
    10/04/1960 Boston, Massachusetts Eastern AL During takeoff the aircraft struck a flock of starlings lost three engines and crashed. This was a prop plane.
    11/23/1962 Ellicott, Maryland United AL The aircraft struck a Whistling Swan tearing off the left horizontal stabilizer. Nothing to do with the engine.
    09/15/1988 Bahar Dar, Ethiopia Ethiopian AL Engine failure due to ingestion of 10-16 Columbia Guinea birds causing a crash.
    04/18/1990 Off Panama Aero Perlas Crashed on takeoff due to engine failure caused by bird ingestion.
    09/22/1995 Anchorage, Alaska U.S. Air Force Flew into a flock of 100 or more Canada Geese, lost two engines, and crashed.
    04/19/2000 Pepo, Congo Centrafricain Airlines Crashed after losing its engines after striking birds.
    01/15/2009 New York, New York US Airways Ditched in Hudson River after losing both engines after collision with Canadian Geese.


    Arthur
     

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