Aspects of Structural Safety in General Aviation Airplanes

A review of 1547 accidents in general aviation was completed to determine whether structural safety is responsible for a significant portion of these accidents. IFR and turbulent weather conditions existed in more than half these accidents. In fleets with the greatest structural strength, this same result occurred. We concluded that the inability to negotiate severe weather suggests aerodynamic improvement may deserve special emphasis. Certain general aviation models were relatively free of one or the other of the two major in-flight failure modes.