We have had many “safety” and “risk” related threads, and searches for these two words dig out a lot of really great stuff.
This one is a new report.
On a quick read, it is basically saying that nothing needs to be done because the root causes of accidents are not addressable by regulation. I agree with that 
It suggests that pilots should seek periodic training
There are some interesting bits in the report, peripheral to the topic but still very interesting…
729 N-regs in the UK, among 19810 total GA aircraft
They categorically state that N-regs are no less safe, or worse maintained
This is probably wrong – although to be expected from a CAA study
I reckon the fall in accidents is due to
There is interesting data on overall activity in hours flown – that came up in the GA decline thread
Do they say anything about EASA Vs Annex I ?
You can search the PDF for “Annex 1”. Some text is in there.
Peter wrote:
They categorically state that N-regs are no less safe, or worse maintained
Well at last an official report that attempts to dispel the maintenance-safety shy N reg lot. Still a number of UK ham heads wandering around that believe that the N Reg lot are still maintenance dodgers but they are a dying breed.
I was slightly surprised at how few N reg there are in the UK. 729 is not a large community. Interesting.
Peter wrote:
This is probably wrong – although to be expected from a CAA study
Agree
.
Pilots should self-train, like athletes. Yes it is not reachable by regulation.
To be really safe within the PPL privileges, one should do its own work-out every week or so.
Something like :
But this would mean 40 just-for-practice hours per year 
Basically, a pilot rusts as fast as an engine. So owning a plane makes a lot of sense !
Jujupilote wrote:
To be really safe within the PPL privileges, one should do its own work-out every week or so.
Something like :working on some theory
a solo practice flight with some slow flight, steep turns, landings, engine-out descends etc…
But this would mean 40 just-for-practice hours per year
I have a friend with I have no idea how many hours (25,000 hours?) as a military, airline and private pilot and he says exactly the same thing… and does it weekly in his RV, as well as his other flying
I cannot say I am so rigorous in my flying, but I try to do a bit of the above on every flight.
Silvaire wrote:
I have a friend with I have no idea how many hours (25,000 hours?) as a military, airline and private pilot and he says exactly the same thing… and does it weekly in his RV
Silvaire, you know Europeans are jealous by nature, so please stop here
My wife says “well, if you were in any sport club, you would spend an evening there every week. So you can spend it flying if you wish”
729 is not a large community
I think that out of ~20k planes in the UK, an awful lot aren’t flying. Just look at how many ~10hr/year pilots there are; the annual average often quoted in briefings is 20-30hrs, and if you have a bunch of 100-300hr pilots then you need an awful lot of very low hour pilots to drag the average down that far.
I reckon the UK has at most 5k pilots who fly a reasonable amount. The other 15k do just enough to feature in the “valid medicals” count which is all the data the CAA has for the number of pilots (~20k). The GA decline thread has a lot more stuff on this.
Nearly all light GA N-regs went N-reg for the FAA IR (including, I am sure, Grant Shapps) and not for STC/maintenance/mod certification reasons so these 729 will be largely high-hour flyers.
So 729 is quite a lot, relatively speaking.
There are lots of places in Europe where you land in your N-reg and where your plane is the only one parked which looks airworthy
What is interesting is that the FAA “knows” about the 729. Years ago they didn’t; they had only the trustee details. They started a new process a few years ago whereby the identity of the beneficial owner (“trustor” in US-speak) must be disclosed to the FAA.
Jujupilote wrote:
Silvaire, you know Europeans are jealous by nature, so please stop here
You can console yourself by knowing that my friend has heart issues, and is going through a struggle to regain his medical. I’m flying with him on his proficiency flights and learning from his experience. He is so good and it kills me to think of him not flying.
I should probably learn to land his plane from the back seat given that I’m PIC!
Jujupilote wrote:
But this would mean 40 just-for-practice hours per year
Could not agree more – unfortunately that is more than a larger share of GA pilots fly at all…
