A General Aviation Tragedy Is No Cause for Overreaction

Listening to the news about John F. Kennedy Jr.’s tragic accident, you’d think that general aviation was the most dangerous method of transportation around.

In fact, pilots are trained to deal with emergency situations and to make every flight as safe as possible. Every aspect of private piloting, every item taught in ground school and every maneuver in the air is geared toward dealing with emergency situations calmly and capably.

It is true that visual flight rules, or VFR, pilots like Kennedy do not have the extensive training that instrument pilots receive before relying solely on their instruments to navigate. However, all VFR pilots can ask for flight following, in which controllers assign pilots unique beacon codes to track their blips on the radar screen and ensure that their planes remain a safe distance from any other traffic.

Flight following also gives pilots the opportunity for continuous radio contact with controllers, who can offer updated weather briefings along a specific route. Flight following is a favor controllers grant VFR pilots, and there’s no reason for pilots not to ask for it.

To ensure a safe flight, pilots must combine a healthy respect for the machinery they operate with the use of all available resources. Proper inspection of the aircraft, accurate weather briefings and frequent communication with air traffic controllers, in addition to full concentration in the air, are a pilot’s necessary tools.

The most important piece of advice my father, a pilot for 31 years, gave me when I earned my license was this: You never have to get there. We trade the convenience of going where we want, when we want, with the reality that we need cooperative weather.

I’ve had an emergency in the air, in a complex aircraft, alone and at night. Although my first reaction to the electrical failure was fear, I was able to push that aside. I had asked for flight following and was in contact with an air traffic controller who knew exactly where I was and who cleared the radio frequency of all other pilots. I landed safely.

Ironically, just hours later, after I had gotten into my car to drive home, a tire blew out, spinning the car around on the 405 Freeway and placing me squarely across three lanes of oncoming traffic.

When an accident occurs, we rightfully look at safety issues. When a celebrity is involved, we tend to overreact and launch major reform initiatives that may not be necessary. Kennedy’s death was a tragic accident, not an indicator of a major increase in general aviation fatalities. In the end, I feel safer at the controls of a small plane in the skies over Los Angeles than on its freeways.