Safety in Figures - BSV no.49
The table below summarises the accident statistics recorded from 1st January to 30 May 2018, ranking victims by severity and distinguishing purely material-damage accidents.
The monthly statistics are updated according to the latest known information (see the graph below), although not all low-severity accidents may appear for the current month as they sometimes reach us late.
Number of events by severity and by month (for all microlights registered in France)
Since the start of the year, two accidents with fire breaking out on impact have been recorded, the crews were able to get out in time, and a third crash seemed to involve a fuel leak but without fire.
Our attention has also been drawn to certain accidents, not necessarily fatal but which seem at first sight to originate in a lack of speed during manoeuvres close to the ground (for example: stall when returning to the runway after an engine failure on take-off). On this point, it may be noted that statistically, the severity of impacts following stalls a few metres above the ground is generally much greater, and therefore logically more fatal, than following landings that are too long.
Moreover, the flying season has fully begun and, according to statistics from previous years, we know that accident numbers generally rise in April-May to peak in the summer period. We will therefore all need to pull together to try to keep up the best possible standards, both in the technical condition of our machines and in our flight objectives. So let us not forget that the major quality of a pilot is not measured by courage, but rather by the wisdom he knows how to show.
Wishing everyone pleasant flights.
Pierre Kolodziej
Flight Safety Committee
Editorial
"Go-around"
How hard it is for all of us to accept that events do not always go the way we hoped, and that sometimes we have to rethink the whole plan we had made and tied up...
If this is true in everyday life, it is all the more true in our favourite pastime of microlight flying.
The Analyst's analysis
In September 2017, the BEA published its report on the accident of the paramotor microlight registered 08-NR, which occurred on 17 April 2016 at Raucourt-et-Flaba (08). The pilot, alone on board, was killed.
Training Corner
When everything falls apart, even the weather
About ten years ago, when I arrived in the south of France, many people told me: you know, it's simple here, the mistral is 3-6-9… describing the number of days it would blow for.
What about doing a REV? > video guide
A question about the REV programme? > see our dedicated FAQ
