And what does the doctor say?

[Bennie Vorster]

Morph

[Bennie Vorster]

A not so famous man ones said:"Paintball is: An addiction that needs no cure. What can we say about flying?

Believe you me, not even Google have the answer this time.

Can the Human body get addicted to flying

[Morph]

Can the Human body get addicted to flying

I have noticed a shortness of breath, heart pumping, cold sweats, mind racing to find a way, excuses being made to the loved ones, boss, friends, unbelievable willingness to part with the rent money, sweaty palms, shaking, inability to concerntrate, whenever the weather looks perfect for just one more flip..... But no I don't believe that flying is addictive at all

[Tumbleweed]

Well if you suffer from typical withdrawel symptoms then there has to be an addiction.

Now corporate business allows for staff to go stand outside in the cold and rain to smoke ( noticed all the 'voicemails)

If a few would grab the desk and simulate the final 'flair'( sounds would not be neccisary, they'll think you fu@$%ing nuts) I'm sure we could see some leeway here.

[Bennie Vorster]

I always wonder what are the main injuries when it comes to emergency landings or crashes with the different types of aircraft. I do notice a lot of broken leg and wrist injuries when it comes to Trykes. Also would like to know the type of injuries the pax might encounter and is there somebody like CAA that advice or enforce improvements onto the manufacturers of these planes or are they only concerned with flight legality and reasons why the accident happened. Do they research the type of injuries at all when they study cases

[ICEMAN]

Bennie,

Typically, injuries can be divided into three main catagories: blunt trauma, penetrating trauma and acceleration/deceleration injuries.

"Blunt trauma" essentially envolves a sudden and violent force that does not pierce or penetrate, the injury can "appear" to be minor, however the underlying injury to bloodvessels, nerves, bones and organs can be significant.

"penetrating injuries" are excatly that, something penetrates into the body, anything from a small splinter to your profile tube through your chest wall, once again the injury can appear failry insignificant as the entrance site may be small, however when major body cavities or blood vessels are are envolved these are usually very seriousrequiring promt attention.

Acceleration/ deceleration injuries happen when a body is suddenly throw foward/ or stopped. Structures within the body are damaged as they are moved beyond their usual range of motion. typical examples usually envolve the neck eg someone drive up your rear while you are stopped (rapid accelaration, head thrown backwards), or you drive into something stationary (rapid decelaration, head thrown foward). Another structure that is at risk of injury with this type of injury is a section of the main artery that leaves the heart (the aorta). a high speed impact in your trike could cause this type of injury.

Pilots can be exposed to any combination of the above mechanism of injuries with all of the associated problems. When encapsulated in a "blik", the occupants are typically surounded by a "crumple zone" ie the body of the A/C absorbs and disipates the intial forces of the impact, aswell as a physical barrier from debris thrown up eg broken props, however once the dust has settled, this very same "protective" barrier may become a prison, many crash victims have survived the crash only to be overcome by the secondary smoke, fumes and fire, with no way out.

A trike pilot is not protected by surrounding structures at all. The trike pilots body is exceptionally exposed to the forces of the impact, followed by the rest of the wing, motor, the prop and pax from above and behind so unfortunately the probability of severe injury is significant, the risk to pax is marginally lower as he/she has you, the pilot, to use as a "airbag".

It would be near impossible to draw up stats on the injury types as there are so many variable factors envolved with a/c crashes, just like car crashes, each and every one is unique. There are just so many factors and foces at play.


It would be howver fair to suggest that the risk (based on the mechanism) of head injuries, neck injuries, chest and back injuries injuries, abdominal injuries and lower limb (ie leg) injuries would be high risk. (have i left anthing out)

Helmets are a big plus here to protect your pip from above and behind, if you are really concerned about your chest/back then you could probably get some protection with a moto-cross chest protector and firm kidney belt... (although im not sure how practical this would be for flying).

The lapbelt type of seatbelts do not restrain the body from being thrown foward into the profile tube, (in addition to damaging the abdominal organs by blunt trauma), so a 3 point restrain system has benefit here aswell.

There have also been occurences of fuel tank ruptures with MP accidents and ensuing fires, unfortunately 50 liters of burning fuel does not give the pilot or pax much chance.

Hope i havent fueled any fears in you for future flights, just remember that all of the above applied everytime you drive your car to go and buy a loaf a bread.......

fly safe, land safer!!!

[Duck Rogers]

Good grief Stan!
Now look what you've done....I'm putting my êrrie up for sale

Duck Rogers

[ICEMAN]

all part of my cunning plan buy a plane at a good price

i know that bennie doesnt rest until he has all the answers!! :D

[afskies scribe]

Bennie Boekwurm - Hallo maatjie What fun having you share your with all the rest of us on the forum rather than keeping your for the selected few on your skyping circuit
Look, you even got Iceman to defrost up there in the DRC :D

[Bennie Vorster]

Thank you Ice Man, what you say is making sense.

BUT

Lets look at the motor industry, what do the manufacturers do to their vehicles and what developments are been done on Micro light aviation to ensure the continuous improvement of safety in the construction of the contraptions we fly in. For example, where do you see any improvements made according to injury categories as you named it about? The changes I find are more small changes made to cause the plane not to crash at all. I might be ill informed, but is there any trice manufacturer on the moment playing around maybe with a light weight roll cage or a sort of a skid plate on the under carriage of a tryke, or a high back seat with an airbag for the pax safety. Motor manufacturers are also encountering problems with weight, but then they are forced to use other types of materials and put cone like structures into doors rather than solid bars for strength.

It is one thing for an engineer to create something that can fly; it is another storey when those same engineers have to continuously look at improving their crafts and not just for keeping them in the air, but also to minimize injury types that are very common on different impacts. Or are we all too happy to except the fact that a crash is a crash and the rest is left to your” luck, karma or destiny”.

[ICEMAN]

Bennie,

As far as i understand, many of the accidents have been preventable, not based on the features/ failures of the trikes, but rather the choices of the pilots, that would be the first place to start with in my humble opinion...........



yes, there have been accidents as a result of engine/ structural failure and unfortunately that is part and parcel of the nature of the beast, some things are under the pilots influence (eg regular services), and some are not (eg sudden wx turning bad)......
Even NASA with their multimillion dollar programs, scentists, engineers, professors, multiple backup systems etc etc etc etc have accidents with their take offs (blast off's) and landings (re-entries)..... and that is despite every concieveable saftey and back up device that man can think of.....

As pilots we need to change the things we can, accept the things we cant, and have the wisdom to know the differance.......

your constant unrelentless search for a zero accident scenario is what keeps you (and some of us) safer when we fly by creating a constant awareness and reminder that at all time, each circuit, each flight , no matter how short te flight etc etc we must always respect the sudden stop at the bottom.

well done

[Bennie Vorster]

Iceman my friend.

Agree totally with you on the about posting, BUT the question is ........ when the Popo strikes the prop for what ever reason, what does the MANAFACTURERS have up their sleeves to protect lives and limps from the injury types incurred.

The next question is that if CAA does study these injuries at all, WHY IS HELMITS NOT ENFORCED. Things as simple as that can save lives and limbs.

[Bennie Vorster]

a Quote form Junkie on AVCOM forum. This is the way we should start thinking.



Junkie
Preflighting


Joined: 18 Feb 2006
Posts: 21
Location: Cape Town
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 12:45 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

... BV that way you can HUNT for your own food n' take hostages to keep u warm at night after you come down in hostile territiory

If kit plane mfg's aren't taking this seriously, then probably time for them to build this into their design /calcs and still leave room for some 'baggage'
(not that this is an issue in a weightshift trike though )

Boet - where to fit the ShuuT in the Explorer ? there's hardly any place for 'baggage', except on the pax seat and flying solo. Where would you install canister/bag - what about outside under the floor between the main gear

Nice 'shootin the breeze' with ya all again

[ICEMAN]

Bennie,

I agree, looking at the incidents over any given period of time, helmets would make far more of an immediate impact (no pun intended)on saftey than perhaps a transponder would........ been far more crashes into the ground than there have been air to air collisions...

As for the manufacturers and a/c designs: i suppose its like comparing a citi golf to a volvo with airbags in every concievable place....... or a motorcycle to a car........ its reduced to what the customer can afford and performance issues....... although i havent seen/ heard of any development in our choice of sport, perhaps you are onto something here!!!

[Bennie Vorster]

Aa Haa !!!

Shall we get the Cart blanch team to investigate or think of setting up a task team from a Micro light association working hand in hand with CAA to look at upgrading safety standers and legislation.

You know one thing I know, is that SAFETY SELL'S.
If you can sell your plane as the proven safest little plane in its class, can you imagine how your sales will increase? At least it will not cost the manufacturers and arm and a leg.

And as bad as it might sound, if some of us will not be able to upgrade to the latest safety technology, may be we should not be flying at all. Coz we are a danger to our selves and a potential murderer of every pax we are taking up for a flip and it is done all in the name of having fun.

We are all very worried about the bad name Micro light and light aircraft flying might get coz of accidents, well how does 8x accidents, 6 persons passed away over the last seven days sound to you I smell a rat, shoot me and to the guys telling me I should stop flying when I feel like this, tell it to any of the loved ones of the people that passed away or were injured over the last seven days in aircraft crashes