Training and Safety

It has always been the fundamental belief in aviation safety that incidents and accidents could be avoided by drawing on the (negative) experience of others. Reading about someone else’s mishap means maybe avoiding another similar incident, and has nothing to do with ‘rubber-necking’ or schadenfreude.

The intention is not to point fingers, but to learn from and avoid mistakes already made by someone. The accident reports here should be read with this in mind. They have been selected by Martin Burdan for their relevance to Tiger Moth, or generally tail dragger and vintage aeroplane operation.

The featured accidents span the last 15 years. They have happened in ‘modern times’ and reflect some problems not encountered by pilots in the classic period. But this is the environment we operate these aeroplanes in today.

If this still needed confirmation, these accidents prove how ‘dangerous’ (and expensive!) ground operations are in tail draggers, the majority of incidents consisting of hitting objects during taxi. The balance of events is made up by take-off performance issues, bounces and high rate of descent on landing, and some involving slow flight/stalls. This goes some way to explain the spin training program in which the Tiger Moth Club is involved (see spin training below).

Tiger Moth ZK-ALJ

Gipsy Moth ZK-AEJ

Tiger Moth ZK-BGP

Spin Training initiative, Spin avoidance and recovery

The ‘Spin avoidance and recovery’ website has been designed around a presentation on spinning. It disects the anatomy of a spin, i.e. its aerodynamics and mechanics, in order to better understand how spins develop, but also how to avoid this potential killer.

The presentation begins with a look at accidents (Taumaranui 2003 and Tauranga 2002) and a few statistics gathered on fatal spin accidents.

Regardless of the training philosophy aircraft still spin – and they still kill. The ability to perform a spin recovery is very often an academic argument. Simply put – the majority of spins occur at altitudes that are too low for recovery and generally have only one outcome.

Whilst the website examines the dynamic reasons of why an aircraft will spin, it can do little to reduce the inevitable outcome if you enter a spin at low altitude.

Therefore … whilst it is important to understand clearly why aircraft spin, one needs to understand that the first and most important line of defense for survival is to avoid the conditions that lead to the spin in the first place.

In examining spins, most pilots rely on misinformation, urban myths, outdated statistics, hangar stories or self-serving views. The website is intended to clear up many of those misconceptions and make pilots more aware of how they can …

The Tiger Moth Club, together with the NZCAA, is part of this spin avoidance and recovery training through experience. A number of highly experienced and trained instructors will take participants on training flights.

Spin Program hand-out

Download and view the Spin Training Programme pamphlet (NZCAA with the Tiger Moth Club).

Spin Training website

DH82 Type Ratings

It has always been the fundamental belief in aviation safety that incidents and accidents could be avoided by drawing on the (negative) experience of others. Reading about someone else’s mishap means maybe avoiding another similar incident, and has nothing to do with ‘rubber-necking’ or schadenfreude.

Flying an open-cockpit biplane is one of the most rewarding, exhilarating experiences available to pilots to this day. It can provide a new goal for the private pilot after the initial thrill of getting a licence, and presents a perfect opportunity for mature, professional pilots to go ‘back to the roots’ of flying.

A first step may be to acquire a tailwheel rating on a ‘normal’ aeroplane such as a Piper Cub. A number of Flying schools offer tailwheel conversions. Next step can be a type rating on the Tiger Moth.

The following Flying Schools and aeroclubs offer tailwheel conversions and Tiger Moth ratings:

Croydon Aircraft Company
Based in Mandeville, Southland, Croydon Aircraft Ltd. restores aeroplanes, and teaches you to fly them.

Classic Flights Wanaka
Peter Hendriks offers sightseeing flights in their Tiger Moth, type ratings on Tiger Moth and other vintage aeroplanes, and Full Flight training on Tiger Moth from scratch!

Central Hawkes Bay Aeroclub
Based Waipukurau, the CHB Aeroclub operates Tiger Moth BEF.

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