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.
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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.