Occupant Injury Severity in General Aviation Accidents Involving Excessive Landing Airspeed

BACKGROUND: Of all phases of flight operations, accidents during landings are the most frequent. Of these, poor speed management during landing has ramifications for injury severity since: 1) impact forces increase as a square of forward velocity; and 2) an aerodynamic stall, associated with inadequate landing speed, imparts high vertical G forces. Herein, the proportion of landing accidents involving deficient airspeed control and occupant injury severity was determined.METHODS: General aviation landing accidents (1997-2016) were identified from the NTSB database. An accident involving high-airspeed (high-energy) was one for which the NTSB cited airplane porpoising, multiple bounces, or floating, whereas an inadequate airspeed related (low energy) mishap was one citing this term or in which an aerodynamic stall occurred. An anonymous online survey of certificated pilots was used to inform landing technique. Statistical analyses used Poisson distribution and Chi-squared tests.RESULTS: Relative to the earliest period (1997-2001), the landing accident rate was undiminished for more recent years (2007-2016). Of 235 accidents, 38% involved high-energy, whereas 4% were inadequate airspeed-related. For the former, 17% resulted in occupants with fatal-serious injuries, twofold higher than for mishaps with no evidence of mis-speed. Of 1392 survey respondents, 73% selected a landing airspeed higher than required for an under-maximum weight airplane.CONCLUSION: For landing accidents involving airspeed mismanagement, those related to excessive energy predominate and are associated with more severe injuries. Two mitigating strategies are advanced: 1) pilot training should discuss landing airspeed adjustment for aircraft weight; and 2) installation of inflatable restraints for reducing injury severity should be encouraged.Boyd DD.