Reddit reviews The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die

Aviation is almost the worst for that. It even has a name for it, the 'killing zone', that period of time from 50 to 350 flight hours in which new pilots are on their own but don't yet have the skill necessary to recognize potentially dangerous situations.

In short, their mental estimation of their personal skill is significantly higher then their actual skill level. Similar with young people who just got their driver's license.

I'm a fairly low-hour pilot, but here are mine. Two of them. Both were avoidable, and both were really, really good lessons.

1. I was flying along the south shore of Lake Erie east of Toledo at 2,500' in VFR. I had checked the sectional grid to make sure that I was at a clearance for the highest obstacle at 2,200'. What I didn't check was if it was in my flight path or not. It was. But it was hidden by my cowling. My passenger asked, "Should we be that close to that tower?" I turned us to the left and hit the power to climb, but we cleared it by about 400' vertically, and maybe 800' to the north. WAAAAAY to f*cking close, and lesson learned. My passenger was cool with it, and there was no panic in my voice or actions, but I was shitting my pants on the inside. I didn't even see the tower in my route because it was obscured by my cowling for most of the way towards it. Since then, I've not only checked the obstacle height in each grid, but scoped the exact locations of obstacles within 4nm on either side of my intended route if I am more than 1000' lower than the clearance height on the grid square.
   
   
2. The second one was actually on my very first solo flight with a passenger. We flew from KARB around the DTW Bravo on the south with flight following, and up the Detroit River. We were stopping at KVLL (Troy) to meet a friend, and then flying back to KARB. When ATC terminated radar services, I squawked VFR and turned to the CTAF frequency and called all of my traffic properly. Winds were calm, so I chose a runway and entered base to a 1 mile final. As I turned to final, I saw another aircraft taking off towards me. Luckily, it was a long final, and I didn't see the aircraft on the runway due to trees and buildings. I swore, and climbed out to the right so he could take off, and re-entered the pattern, and was cursing those NORDO's who didn't transmit properly on CTAF. I even double checked my radio - and it was clearly set to CTAF 123.5...
   
   123.5...
   
   When I switched to 123.05, and was on the correct frequency, I gave an apology to the pilot I'd flown in to, and said I was on the wrong frequency. He was very cool about it, and let me know we were using Runway 9, not Runway 27 that morning. I've hit the wrong frequency a few times, which happens, but that one was a real eye opener to actually write down all the frequencies I'll encounter on a short flight ahead of time, and to double check them if there is nobody else on them at all when I announce.
   
   EDIT: Also - read this:
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404
   
   I am about 1/2 way through (started it last night and couldn't put it down).

The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071798404/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_4Mr6CbNZCBHET

This is a good read and addresses your question.

Have you read this book?

Congrats!

I always recommend this book to new Private pilots. Understand your certification, your legal and personal limitations, and don't put yourself in a bad position. Stay away from "get-home-itis", aka pushing the limits of your abilities (primarily weather related) just because you need to get home.

Have fun!

The Killing Zone suggests that 200 - 500 is the danger zone in terms of hours. Essentially the author suggests:

• < 200 hours: Pilots still have a healthy amount of fear and are overly cautious.
  
• 200 - 500: Pilots now have confidence and complacency sets in, however they are still (relatively) inexperienced and thus can get in over their heads.
  
• 500+: Pilots have seen enough that they are not complacent and are careful, and have the experience to get them out of tight spots should they arise.
  
  I'm at about 400 hours and just knowing I'm in this "Killing Zone" is a great voice in my head to be extra careful still.

50-350 hours

Read "The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die." You'll learn a lot about flying safely.

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404

The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071798404/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_2n0oybTT453VQ

So this is going to be a bit macabre but I'll tell you about one on my list.

It is an established fact that most fatal aviation accidents occur between 100-350 hours of total flight time. It seems to be a interval where the confidence curve of the pilot and the competence curve of the pilot separate (delaminate if you will). To that end, a book has been written that discusses why and how this happens. In the interest of being a safer pilot, I think it'd be a good pic.

It may seem like a weird choice for a gift, but I find most pilots are pretty academic in their perspectives on the nature of the activity, so I think you'd find it appreciated.

The Killing Zone by Paul A Craig:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Killing-Zone-Second-Edition/dp/0071798404

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404

That’s exactly the way you should be thinking. Do yourself a favour and get this book to help realise you are always going to be a learner. I can tell just by the way you are thinking you have not read it, or anything like it.


https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JQX5QCK3M3S2&keywords=the+killing+zone&qid=1558028284&s=gateway&sprefix=The+killing+zone%2Caps%2C229&sr=8-1

I'm by no means an expert and don't have my own opinion. I have been reading an amazing book:

The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071798404/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_gMkYCb331JW3F

This looks at general aviation crash reports and breaks down the trends. The guy has basically determined most crashes happen as a result of pilot error.

The TLDR is most deaths occur after a pilot gets the PPL and leaves the protection of having a CFI, up to about the couple hundred hour mark. Most of these causes fall into a few categories: VFR into IMC causing CFIT; slow flight maneuvering, take off and landing.

Its 100% worth the read.

Statistically, GA has a crash rate 10x that of car crashes (as best the author could figure - source that book.)

Motorcycle crash rates are 75x that of cars however. (Source very quick Google-fu: https://www.askadamskutner.com/motorcycle-accident/how-do-car-accidents-compare-to-motorcycle-accidents/)

> In the FAA eyes it is taking away business from those pilots that have worked for the ratings

This might be a controversial set of facts, but here goes. The FAA doesn't give a rat's ass who makes money. What they do care about is protecting the public from inexperienced and statistically less safe pilots.

As a low-time (under 1000 hrs) private pilot you are statistically far less safe than your ATP certificated counterparts, even flying the same machinery. The public doesn't know that, but it's true. It's the FAA's job to protect them from us until we're safe enough to be entrusted with the lives of those who don't know an ATP from a CPL.

I highly recommend you read The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die

Stick and rudder would definitely be appropriate. Although I would add it probably wouldn't translate well into x-plane. In general, VFR flight doesn't translate well into sims outside of some procedural stuff. If you want, get him an IFR book to practice with in the sim (I like this one).

One other book that you may want to consider is "The Killing Zone": https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-Pilots-Aviation/dp/0071798404. You'll have to decide if it's appropriate or not. Some of the statistics are debatable, but it really opened my eyes to being risk averse and how a lot of the dangers of flight are avoidable.

The Killing Zone

http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407429030&sr=1-1&keywords=paul+craig

A book that that statistically explores GA accidents and why pilots with 100-350 hours (or something like that) are so much more likely to have a fatal incident.

The number of people who make the same mistakes that end up fatal is astounding. A lot of things you hear and say "obviously that's stupid and I would never do it" are explained and it's easier to get into those situations than one would think.

It's called The Killing Zone.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Killing-Zone-Second-Edition/dp/0071798404

A good book on aviation crashes and statistics is The Killing Zone: How and Why Pilots Die. It offers great analysis of the statistics of crashes, common mechanical/pilot causes, and offers dozens of case studies to go along with it.

It didn't seem too math heavy at all, but I'm an engineer and my view may be a little skewed.

Stick & Rudder is great, although if you are really going to go from sim to IRL, check out The Killing Zone: Why Pilots Die

Figure 4.2a shows the fatal accident rate for owner-operated corporate style aircraft as one in 200,000 hours. So at 100,000 hours, your odds are pretty much 50/50. If you expect a reasonable 10,000 hours in your flying career, you have a 1/20 chance of dying in your airplane. Not what I would call "astronomically low."

This is actually safer than most general aviation, which had a fatal accident rate of 1.29 per 100,000 hours for the period of 2000-2009. That's roughly one fatal accident per 75,000 hours. So if you plan to fly a ten thousand hours, you've got about a 13% chance of dying.

Someone showed me this book that goes into the details of some fatal crashes and looks into what happened and why, all in a respectful yet analytical way. https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404

You should read The Killing Zone, then you'll fully understand the reasoning behind the guess.

EDIT: Link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Killing-Zone-Second-Edition/dp/0071798404

It was my first guess because often low time pilots, according to the book mind you, become overconfident. The video showing the maneurvers he was doing so close to the ground, I just thought it made sense.

Someone on /r/flying guessed a suicide flight.

Where do you fly from? I haven't started training yet, just a lot of reading. I'm still working on funding.

Not exactly a fun subject, but The Killing Zone: How & Why Pilots Die is a great book.

"The Killing Zone" is a good book for student pilots in General Aviation. The tagline of the book is "how and why pilots die." Here is an amazon link. https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404

It's $20, and if you use Amazon Smile donations, please consider Candler Field Museum. Our founder, Ron Alexander, recently died in a Jenny crash here in town and the museum can use all the help we can get.

Glad to hear it... As long as you never put yourself in a position where you have to fly for whatever reason, should be fine.

Also, check out the book "The Killing Zone" ( https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404 ). Apparently, some of his numbers are off, but its a great overview of how pilots get themselves killed and how to avoid those situations.

The Killing Zone

It's drawn from real world NTSB reports and does a very good job of going through all the factors contributing to pilot fatalities, especially in the 40-340 hour window that remains the deadliest experience level in aviation.

I recommend the book "The Killing Zone: How & Why Pilots Die" by Paul Craig (non-affiliate link); it has some good discussion of how accidents and incidents can happen.

You should read https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404

I'm going through it now so I understand the risks as I'm learning to fly.

I am still in my studies but you may want to read The Killing Zone. They discuss situations such as this..in particular, there is a section on the dangers of complacency with new autopilot technologies. Always worth keeping yourself honest now that you've gotten yourself out of trouble once with technology that you don't up your personal limits because you know the tech is there to save you.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Killing-Zone-Second-Edition/dp/0071798404

Most crashes are those outside of the inexperienced ranged and before the highly experienced range. Between 50-350 hours.

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404

I recommend you read The Killing Zone - Why pilots die