Soar Aviation – a major operator of A22LS Foxbat aircraft at Moorabbin Airport (Melbourne) and Bankstown Airport (Sydney) – place pilot & passenger safety at the top of their priorities. Recently, they approached me to write a short piece for them on what aspects I felt made the Foxbat a safe aircraft to fly.
Here’s a link to the article on their own blog – Safety in a Foxbat
Happy reading!
Thanks for the summary Peter.
When I was deciding on which aeroplane to buy and being new to recreational aviation I kind of took it for granted that all of those on offer would have basic safety aspects designed in. I’ve since realised that is not the case and there are some I look at now and think they are downright homicidal ! However, because of that naivety, safety didn’t figure strongly in my decision matrix – not directly at least. What DID influence my choice of the Foxbat was the low speed handling and control.
I did most of my early GA flying south of the ranges in Victotia and I really disliked those situations where by chance or poor decision making I found myself “scud running” under a lowering cloud base. It’s less of a problem in WA and I can mitigate it by the decisions I make. But what I really like about the FB is that, if I need to do a precautionary search and landing I can get low and slow and do it in an orderly fashion without the risk of loss of control in the last stages when that wire appears or the paddock turns out to be full of boulders or something. It’s that stall/spin near the ground that continues to kill more pilots than anything else. Because of that confidence I enjoy my flying more and that’s what recreational flying is all about.
Cheers,
AM
Well said Andy; I have had my FB for just over a year now, and look forward to every flight. Being an aircraft engineer, and went through the select process with my wife it can down to one aircraft type for the type of flying I would be doing, especially as I approach ceasing full time work – and more touring.