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The following is general information and does not address the circumstances of specific mishaps. I offer the information from the perspective of a Flight Instructor and EAA Flight Advisor, and constant student of tailwheel operations. This isn't a safety update from Bob, just me talking.
Something worth noticing is that the most common way to bend a Bearhawk is to lose directional control on the ground (one example is the “ground loop”). Let’s invent an acronym for Loss of Directional Control on the Ground, LDCOG. There have been three fatal mishaps in Bearhawks that I know of, and none of them have been related to LDCOG. However, there have been over a dozen LDCOG cases, perhaps as many as two dozen. We don’t know exactly how many there have been, for several reasons, but by far LDCOG is the biggest threat to a Bearhawk. Thankfully these mishaps are usually not as bad for the occupants as they are for the airplane, but in some cases LDCOG has resulted in serious injuries to people. In almost all cases they result in serious injuries to bank accounts.
Is the Bearhawk a “problem child” design for LDCOG risk? We can’t answer that without defining the children in the family. Among tailwheel airplanes, the Bearhawks are not problem children- they are the shining star children on their best behavior. But if we include tricycles in the family, the Bearhawk, and all other tailwheel airplanes, pose a high threat for LDCOG.
There have been Bearhawk LDCOG mishaps that could be credited with construction errors such as main wheel alignment, but by far and away the most common cause of LDCOG, and thus the most common cause of all Bearhawk mishaps, is the pilot’s choice to operate in conditions that exceed that pilot’s ability to control the airplane.
Is LDCOG related to experience? LDCOG isn’t directly caused by a lack of experience, but rather by a lack of competence for the conditions and/or a lack of good decision-making. Inexperienced pilots (less than, say, 50 hours in type) are at a high risk for lacking competence and decision-making, but the statistics show us that pilots with a very wide range of experience levels are quite capable of LDCOG mishaps. It may take a 30-knot gust to topple a 1000-hours-in-type pilot compared to a 10-knot gust for a 10-hour pilot, but regardless of pilot experience, Bearhawks can (and will) encounter environmental conditions that even the best Bearhawk pilot in the world can’t overcome, except by electing not to fly. The superior pilot uses superior judgment to avoid situations that require superior skill.
Are LDCOG mishaps inevitable in tailwheel airplanes? Data shows that LDCOG is common in taildraggers. Let’s use that data to motivate ourselves to fix the problem! Let’s consider the threat each and every time we untie the airplane. But let’s not accept that it’s normal or acceptable. Let’s find a way to truly embrace the possibility that “it can happen to me” without resigning and normalizing it.
How do we prevent LDCOG? The low-hanging fruit in the orchard of solutions is in improving pilot Aeronautical Decision Making (ADM) and in improving kinesthetic Skill (reflexes).
We improve ADM by:
-Constantly striving to study previous mishaps, and fostering a safety culture that encourages pilots to share about their mistakes so that we can all learn.
-Making high-integrity assessments of our pilot abilities before each operation.
-Making high-fidelity assessments of the conditions before we fly into them.
-Expanding our exposure to risky conditions in an incremental way, a little at a time.
-Always being ready to change the plan by diverting to a better environment or canceling the flight. Better environments for LDCOG include: less wind, less gusts, better wind alignment with the runway, bigger runways, grass instead of pavement, etc.
-Reading books, newsletters and articles
We improve our skills by:
-Flying frequently (legally current isn’t always good enough)
-Flying with and around people who will give us honest calibration about how we assess our skill level and the conditions
-Expanding our exposure to risky conditions in an incremental way
Keep in mind:
Experience is something you get right after you need it. Survival of yourself, your passengers, and your airplane depends on keeping the steps small and the gaps in check, so that our shortfalls don’t lead to an outcome as bad as wrecking the airplane or hurting someone.
As Bearhawk stakeholders we must all work to cultivate a safety culture and safe operations, lest we find ourselves owners of uninsurable airplanes, or worse, before we lose any of our Bearhawk friends.
Statistics show that pilots with high total time, but low tailwheel time, are especially vulnerable. If you find yourself in this category, proceed with extreme caution and humility.
One problem with forums is that we don't always know what experience level a poster has. Sometimes a poster speaks from an authoritative position and unless we know the person, we don't know if they have the experience to support that authority. I've waffled about how to best handle this especially in this thread, but based on our impressively mature group I'm thinking the best is to ask that if you'd like to reply here about flying technique, please include your total Bearhawk time and tailwheel time in your first reply, so that we can know where you are coming from. I'll start, I have 500 hours in Bearhawks and 550 tailwheel. Approximately 20 hours and 200 landings of dual given in type. There are certainly many more experienced folks around here that I hope we may hear from. Let's talk about it!
Something worth noticing is that the most common way to bend a Bearhawk is to lose directional control on the ground (one example is the “ground loop”). Let’s invent an acronym for Loss of Directional Control on the Ground, LDCOG. There have been three fatal mishaps in Bearhawks that I know of, and none of them have been related to LDCOG. However, there have been over a dozen LDCOG cases, perhaps as many as two dozen. We don’t know exactly how many there have been, for several reasons, but by far LDCOG is the biggest threat to a Bearhawk. Thankfully these mishaps are usually not as bad for the occupants as they are for the airplane, but in some cases LDCOG has resulted in serious injuries to people. In almost all cases they result in serious injuries to bank accounts.
Is the Bearhawk a “problem child” design for LDCOG risk? We can’t answer that without defining the children in the family. Among tailwheel airplanes, the Bearhawks are not problem children- they are the shining star children on their best behavior. But if we include tricycles in the family, the Bearhawk, and all other tailwheel airplanes, pose a high threat for LDCOG.
There have been Bearhawk LDCOG mishaps that could be credited with construction errors such as main wheel alignment, but by far and away the most common cause of LDCOG, and thus the most common cause of all Bearhawk mishaps, is the pilot’s choice to operate in conditions that exceed that pilot’s ability to control the airplane.
Is LDCOG related to experience? LDCOG isn’t directly caused by a lack of experience, but rather by a lack of competence for the conditions and/or a lack of good decision-making. Inexperienced pilots (less than, say, 50 hours in type) are at a high risk for lacking competence and decision-making, but the statistics show us that pilots with a very wide range of experience levels are quite capable of LDCOG mishaps. It may take a 30-knot gust to topple a 1000-hours-in-type pilot compared to a 10-knot gust for a 10-hour pilot, but regardless of pilot experience, Bearhawks can (and will) encounter environmental conditions that even the best Bearhawk pilot in the world can’t overcome, except by electing not to fly. The superior pilot uses superior judgment to avoid situations that require superior skill.
Are LDCOG mishaps inevitable in tailwheel airplanes? Data shows that LDCOG is common in taildraggers. Let’s use that data to motivate ourselves to fix the problem! Let’s consider the threat each and every time we untie the airplane. But let’s not accept that it’s normal or acceptable. Let’s find a way to truly embrace the possibility that “it can happen to me” without resigning and normalizing it.
How do we prevent LDCOG? The low-hanging fruit in the orchard of solutions is in improving pilot Aeronautical Decision Making (ADM) and in improving kinesthetic Skill (reflexes).
We improve ADM by:
-Constantly striving to study previous mishaps, and fostering a safety culture that encourages pilots to share about their mistakes so that we can all learn.
-Making high-integrity assessments of our pilot abilities before each operation.
-Making high-fidelity assessments of the conditions before we fly into them.
-Expanding our exposure to risky conditions in an incremental way, a little at a time.
-Always being ready to change the plan by diverting to a better environment or canceling the flight. Better environments for LDCOG include: less wind, less gusts, better wind alignment with the runway, bigger runways, grass instead of pavement, etc.
-Reading books, newsletters and articles
We improve our skills by:
-Flying frequently (legally current isn’t always good enough)
-Flying with and around people who will give us honest calibration about how we assess our skill level and the conditions
-Expanding our exposure to risky conditions in an incremental way
Keep in mind:
Experience is something you get right after you need it. Survival of yourself, your passengers, and your airplane depends on keeping the steps small and the gaps in check, so that our shortfalls don’t lead to an outcome as bad as wrecking the airplane or hurting someone.
As Bearhawk stakeholders we must all work to cultivate a safety culture and safe operations, lest we find ourselves owners of uninsurable airplanes, or worse, before we lose any of our Bearhawk friends.
Statistics show that pilots with high total time, but low tailwheel time, are especially vulnerable. If you find yourself in this category, proceed with extreme caution and humility.
One problem with forums is that we don't always know what experience level a poster has. Sometimes a poster speaks from an authoritative position and unless we know the person, we don't know if they have the experience to support that authority. I've waffled about how to best handle this especially in this thread, but based on our impressively mature group I'm thinking the best is to ask that if you'd like to reply here about flying technique, please include your total Bearhawk time and tailwheel time in your first reply, so that we can know where you are coming from. I'll start, I have 500 hours in Bearhawks and 550 tailwheel. Approximately 20 hours and 200 landings of dual given in type. There are certainly many more experienced folks around here that I hope we may hear from. Let's talk about it!
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