EAA Sport Aviation

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Lessons to Be Learned

I APPRECIATE MIKE BUSCH’S discussion of the lessons to be learned from Tony Durizzi’s Lancair accident. I spend a lot of time flying at 1,000 feet AGL and lower over mountainous ter- rain. While I wear leather boots, Nomex suit and gloves, and a shoulder harness on these flights, I’ve recently added a helmet to my gear. I know several people who’ve survived engine problems at low elevation and one friend who died in a classic coyote turn while on a search and rescue mission.

The pilots who wore helmets got bounced around but walked away. The others either spent some serious hospital time or went to the morgue. The Alaska Region of the FAA completed a retrospective study of fatal accidents between 2004 and 2009. They looked closely at the medical reports, the circumstances of each accident, and the survivable space within the cockpit environment. Helmets alone would possibly have saved the lives of 20 percent of those who perished. Four- or five -point harnesses were almost as effective. ...

Tony’s accident is another data point in an already con-
vincing data set that says clearly and unequivocally, “Wear a
helmet…and your shoulder harness, too.”

John Townsley, EAA 637117, Spokane, Washington

CORREC TION: The photo of the Kitfox on the cover of our May issue
should have been credited to Marc Cook and Paul Bertorelli/Kitplanes.

Airport Car of the Month

OFF IN THE PURSUIT of that $50 breakfast and some hangar talk, a gaggle of three Legend Cubs turned east toward Benson, Arizona. After tying our planes down we were greeted by Roy of Southwestern Aviation. Much to our surprise Roy gave us the keys to a 1955 Dodge [Coronet] for our trip to town. A real classic it was, with that old V-8 and a manual transmission with “three on the tree.” Not wanting to give away the actual ages of the pilots involved, suffice it to say we were all very com-fortable driving an automobile with the shifter on the steering column, no power steering, and brakes that had no assist. We loved it! After a great breakfast and trip back to the airport in this sweet ride, we thanked Roy for the excellent service, and back in the air at 500 feet AGL we enjoyed the view below as one can only do from a Cub.