New Initiative Seeks To Improve Loss-Of-Control Safety Record

If pilots get quality training from day one on how flight maneuvering actually works, GA can reduce the rates of loss-of-control accidents. That's the message CFI Rich Stowell gave during his remarks at the NTSB's Oct. 14 forum on LOC, a safety issue that's on the board's "Most Wanted List" this year. To that end, Stowell has launched a "Learn to Turn" initiative with a new launch page to gather supporters for the effort. So far, about 60 individuals and organizations have expressed interest in the project. Stowell told AVweb in a recent interview he hopes that improving the quality of flight training will, in turn, improve flight safety as well as student retention rates.

"It's clear that except for the ability to mimic only the most basic of turns, pilots, as a group, remain unconsciously incompetent with regard to maneuvering flight," Stowell said at the forum. "Simply stated, we have a training delivery problem." Among the root issues are flight instructors who are not motivated to teach more than what they themselves were taught, leading to low student retention, as well as certificated pilots who did not receive the flight instruction they should have to be safe, proficient and motivated to further their training, he said.