Conference

FEDERATION FRANCAISE D’ULM

Symposium on the safety 10.10.10

Actual situation

• The heavy accidentology progressed in the ten last years in a very favorable way

• The level of safety is reached and is maintained with that of certified light aviation

• The light accidentology (without victim nor collateral damage) remains higher– Regarded as familiar to ultra light aviation,

this parameter is however not regarded as worrying ..... FOR THE MOMENT.

Findings Safety seems not to progress

It does not decrease but the progression of the accidents follows from

now on that of the number of practitioners

Situation in France

Findings Safety in instruction is alarming

Statistically, the instruction is no longer safer than the other

federal activities (+/- 12% of the flights which causes 18% of the fatal accidents - annual

report BEA 2009)

However it is the portion of the activity theoretically best

framed

Circumstances of the accidents

Not the factors on which the ULM is systematically attacked causes the significant accidents

•The indisputable structural fractures in stabilized flight are extremely exceptional

Circumstances of the accidents

Not the factors on which the ULM is systematically attacked causes the significant accidents

•Engine failures did not result in more really serious accidents than in the cases of certified planes

Circumstances of the accidents

Not the factors on which the ULM is systematically attacked causes the significant accidents

•The proven weaknesses of medical nature are exceptionally and are not greater than in the certified aviation

Circumstances of the accidents

Not the factors on which the ULM is systematically attacked causes the significant accidents

•Errors in mastering the basic control and operational techniques, characterizing a lack of training, are fewer than in the other branches of light aviation

Circumstances of the accidents

Not the factors on which the ULM is systematically attacked causes the significant accidents

•Structural fractures•Engine failure•Medical shortcoming •Lack of training

ARE NOT THE MAJOR CAUSES OF THE ACCIDENTS

Conclusion

The causes are in a very great part identical to those of the other branches of the leisure aviation

Conclusion

If we assume the pilot is qualified and sufficiently trained

Largest vulnerability is situated in the field of the decision-making Has to do mclusionore or less with the level of exceeding the

self-confidence or stress

Circumstances of the accidents

• Intention of flight too ambitious with respect to the performances

• Intention of flight too ambitious with respect to the competences

• Intention of flight incompatible with the regulation

Can cause : • Flight in incompatible meteorological conditions• Voluntary operations in the limit of flight envelope• Evolutions with low height • Voluntary violation or unconscious of the regulation

and the good practices

In accidentology

When the major causes concern violations of the rules,A more strict legislation does not bring additional safety

Circumstances of the accidents

Exaggerated confidence

•To the GPS•To the parachute

Encourages to

The continuation of dangerous options

Sometimes unrealizable

The parachute

Look to the video about the release of parachute

Lien web

The parachute

How to analyze this example? The pilot was certainly saved, BUT:

•Because of the structural rupture in dynamic evolution, at the time of the opening, the conservation of the attachment of the parachute with what remains of the cell wasn't guaranteed

The parachute

How to analyze this example? The pilot was certainly saved, BUT:

•It takes 8 seconds between the unfolding and the stabilization of the parachute. The loss of altitude was estimated at 450 feet

The parachute

How to analyze this example? The pilot was certainly saved, BUT:

•The place where the ULM touched the ground was far from being ideal

The parachute

• The parachute has certain limits of use which must be respected (min height, speed, max weight, …)

• The only fact of its deployment can’t be enough to save you, even when its specifications are respected

We have at least one example of non-deployment because the parachute was damaged by the collision in flight which

required its opening

The parachute

The parachute is not a safety device !

Contrary to a balustrade which can prevent you from a turn over in the vacuum, and with a non-skid which can avoid you from slipping,

THE PARACHUTE CANNOT AVOID THE ACCIDENT

The parachute

The parachute is not a safety device !

It is only a possibility of rescue

But at the same time let us remind that it is also an ultimate chance

which saved more than 80% of the pilots who

made use of it

BUTThe parachute being only a possibility of

rescue

The safety of the flight is thus assured only if it is carried out

from beginning to end, as if there was no parachute

End

THE END