Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

Flight accidents

Asked by: 2135 views General Aviation

Have a student that is developing a fear of flying and is because she keeps seeing all of these GA fatal accidents on the news. 

How do some of you deal with these incidents and not let them affect your life as a pilot? 

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

3 Answers



  1. KDS on Feb 26, 2019

    The same technique won’t work with everyone and there are some who will not benefit from any technique. However, I’d start by talking with her about specific accidents she has seen. Start with leading questions along the line of what do you think could have caused this accident. From there progress into asking what she could do to ensure she isn’t involved in such an event. Add your own suggestions of risk management and accident prevention along the way. With the exception of a catastrophic structural failure there are few accidents that cannot be avoided.

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Kris Kortokrax on Feb 26, 2019

    Does your student not drive because of all the motor vehicle accidents?

    One life insurance website I just visited states that homes are the second highest location for fatal accidents. Where can she go where she would be guaranteed of being safe?

    Life is full of risk. Explain that if she is traveling in a vehicle/aircraft as a passenger, she has little control over risk and mitigation. If she becomes a pilot, she gains control of the situation and can make decisions to mitigate the risk (i.e. don’t push fuel, get an instrument rating or avoid flying in questionable weather, don’t buzz friend’s houses, to name a few).

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. ayavner on Feb 26, 2019

    It might also be worthwhile mentioning that as she develops into a pilot, before long others (outside the aviation community) will look to her for advice and opinions about these accidents, and that she has the opportunity to be an ambassador. Whether that is right or wrong, we all know it happens. Now she can use that opportunity to do the research and in the process separate fact from hyperbole. Those fears will begin to sound as unfounded and ridiculous to her coming from other people as they do to us over time.

    She’ll be in a position to understand the facts, and that should be of comfort.

    it is definitely not without risk, but nothing really is. Sometimes i give myself a break from reading the accident report section of my magazines… it can get in your head.

    +4 Votes Thumb up 4 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.