REFLECTOR:Accidents, statistics and random thoughts

[Tony Babb]

Given that Velocity Aircraft is a US based company they are, unfortunately,
subject to US law and (sorry Chris) US lawyers so liability is clearly an
issue they and ourselves need to be sensitive to. It doesn't help any of us
if they get hit with some major judgment against them just because they
happened to be the deepest pockets around and go belly up as a result.

I don't know about everyone else but I subscribe to numerous flying mags and
assiduously read the incident reports, often shaking my head and thinking
"what was (s)he thinking of" and occasionally thinking I could have easily
done that. It's through these that I learn from other people's experiences.
The "stupid builder tricks" in VV is always helpful - although the
commentary could be toned down a little - and a factual recitation or
defense by the builder might also be illuminating. I don't believe that
anyone installs anything badly deliberately and it would be helpful to learn
about the chain of events or piece of missing information that led up to the
situation discovered during the Condition Inspection. Like many, or most, of
you I'm trying to build a safe reliable airplane, I've never done it before
and I'll probably never do it again. I take as much care as I can but
there's always going to be something that I was completely unaware of that
may trip me up hence the "second pair of eyes" approach.

Those of you in the US may subscribe to the FAA ASRS program, pilots can
report their own "stupid tricks" and because they shared their experiences
voluntarily are spared any FAA enforcement action that may ensue - unless
they did something illegal or knowingly. Would it be possible for us to use
an anonymous posting service so that builders can share their "stupid
tricks" or lessons learned with the rest of us. I'm thinking maybe tvbf.org
might be a suitable repository.

Tony
SEFG
Nose Gear install