Experimenter

April 2013

Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.

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S a f e t y W ir e Safety in Experimental Aviation Part 4 By Stephen L. Richey As I work to compose this next installment, I am moved not only by aviation safety concerns but also by professional and personal reasons. I hope you will forgive me for going off topic for a moment. In a previous career, I worked on ambulances. In the past few weeks, my colleagues and I suffered a great loss. Two very bright young paramedics—both of whom I am proud to say I met and respected—were taken from us by a driver who made the conscious decision to drink and then drive. She ran a red light here in Indianapolis, Indiana, and crashed into the ambulance. While not specific to aviation, this accident drives home the point that crash survivability is not something to be taken lightly and that what is learned from one field may be able to save lives in another field. 28 Vol.2 No.4 / April 2013 Our efforts in aviation could pay dividends beyond our immediate field, should we decide to apply the creativity and fortitude of homebuilders to the cause of safety and crash survivability. We only need the motivation to put it into practice. That said, this article is dedicated to the memory and honor of Timothy McCormick and Cody Medley. Rest well, men; those of us who are left behind will carry on the mission of looking out for our fellow man. In the last installment of this series, we discussed the importance of adequate restraints in providing the best possible chance to survive a crash. One of the major issues with current aircraft and restraint designs is that they are designed for a set of loads that are unrealistic in terms of real-world crashes.

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