Stop Blaming Airfield for Pilots’ Errors

This letter is written in response to “Safety Records Bleak at Rural Airfield,” March 20. The story lists six fatal accidents that have occurred in the last four years at Santa Paula Airport. Not one was a result of the airport, not one. All are the result of poor judgment or just plain pilot error.

As a young pilot at the ripe old age of 17, I have accumulated 100 hours of flight time in the last year and a half. I also have made some 450 takeoffs and landings at Santa Paula Airport. I was taught to keep my head outside and watch where I was going. People need to realize that a personal responsibility is put forth when you fly anywhere. You must see or be seen.

It is the quality of the pilot that either avoids or causes accidents, not the airport. If more people were taught how to fly like I was, we would all be a lot safer.

JEFFREY EMORY DICKENSON

Santa Paula