The National EAA and our own Chapter 105 take aviation safety very seriously, especially as it pertains to the design, construction and flying of “experimental” aircraft.
Recently the FAA has launched a study to investigate accidents within the experimental category. Preliminary findings have shown that the safety record for experimental aircraft are significantly worse than that for “certified” aircraft. One might have expected a little deviation, since it is after all “experimental.” Any significant deviation, however, is unacceptable, especially because most of those building and flying in the experimental category are not trying to put together their own design, but rather they are building tried and true designs from major kit manufacturers.
What, then, is going on? Why is the accident rate significantly higher? Even though there is some debate about the statistical analyses done, and of the data used, the truth is that even if it was mistakenly off by half, it is still too high. We need to address this issue head on, not make any excuses, and begin to make a significant impact in the opposite direction. Thus this Safety page.