An amusing and depressing part of the job here at the magazine is scouring the accident reports for the safety data we assemble in the Used Aircraft Guide. If we didn’t laugh, we’d cry. There is some horrific and fascinating stuff, all of it making me wish I had gone to work for the NTSB. Both amusingly morbid and educational, one thing I like to do is Monday-morning quarterback wrecks with other pilots. It’s another learning channel and good for brainstorming things you might or might not have done if it were you at the controls.
And so one Saturday morning at my local EAA chapter meeting I got to hear the dirt firsthand from a pilot who balled up his tailwheel RV on an icy runway when the winds got squirrely. And that got me thinking: This is why we pay for aircraft insurance. Good pilot, good airplane, stuff happens to all of us. Now let’s fix my airplane so I can fly it again.