This is a revision of the similarly titled book first published in 1970. The whole work is highly readable, in a staccato style that condenses much wisdom into few words. It consists of a brief overview, history and explanation of a great many avoidable flying accidents.
This is a revision of the similarly titled book first published in 1970. The whole work is highly readable, in a staccato style that condenses much wisdom into few words. It consists of a brief overview, history and explanation of a great many avoidable flying accidents. These are grouped into chapters with headings like: ‘Engine Problems’, ‘Performance’ and ‘Contaminated Wings, Contaminated Runways’ and there is a good index.
The book is highly relevant to Pilot readers because most of these accidents were in fact caused by the hapless pilots themselves (the majority of whom were non-professional) rather than by the aerodynamics of their craft. To quote Roed, ‘Lack of awareness is a major, basic cause of accidents.’ He skilfully condenses the entire subject of the aerodynamics themselves into a usefully abbreviated 48-page chapter. Herein, among other hitherto poorly understood phenomena, he explains why you have to move the stick back faster, the deeper you get into the flare. Another useful chapter deals with the particular problems of helicopter aerodynamics.
Since he is a pilot himself, Roed’s text is full of distilled wisdom and accumulated experience, and continually enlivened by flying tales, many in the unlikely but true category. One such is that of the pilot who suffered a ‘bird-strike’ with an airborne fish over Stockholm. Dozens of quirky, but highly relevant little cartoons illustrate the already interesting text. The whole is absolutely crammed with solid information, lots of good tips, well explained, and many cautionary yet amusing aviation anecdotes.There are only a few photos, and most are of the torn and twisted remains of deceased lightplanes, but some are hair raising, like that of a Lake amphibian in the act of performing ‘the final porpoise dive’ beneath the waves. The worst picture has to be the airborne disassembly of a Partenavia twin through exceeding its design g limits.
Roed leaves perhaps the best bit to last, ending with a revealing chapter entitled ‘Ten Easy Do it yourself Accidents for Private Pilots’. Spend £20 to save yourself a fortune, or worse. Bob Grimstead.
