General Aviation Accidents

Leonard Beale

MBAA 522 Business Research

Mid Term Project

April 20, 2012

This paper analyzed the research of two articles that reported on general aviation accidents that explored if age, gender, or experienced were causes of the accidents and the number of general aviation accidents that resulted in fatalities or severe injuries. The studies gathered data from U.S. accident sources and German accident sources. Six different criteria was answered or discussed in the paper.

In reviewing Bazargan and Guzha’s journal, no evidence was indicated that the authors reported any use of central tendency. Their analysis mostly described ratios as opposed to using central tendency in analyzing their accident data. The second journal article, which discussed general aviation accidents in Germany written by Neuhaus, Dambier, Glaser, Schwalbe, and Hinkelbein, utilized the mean as a measure of central tendency. By using the mean, the authors run the risk of errors due to the mean can be greatly affected by values that are greatly different from other values. In both studies, the median or mode would have been more appropriate for these types of studies. In Bazargan and Guzha’s journal, using the median or mode would have complimented the ratio reporting and provided readers a better understanding of the accident data.

The paper “Impact of Gender, Age and Experience of Pilots on General Aviation Accidents” by Bazargan and Guzha is a great example of applied research. The paper makes an effort to answer the question of whether a pilot’s age, gender, or experience is related to pilot error and fatal accidents in the general aviation area.

Bazargan and Guzha’s main data source was the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB). They also reference data contained from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which is a sub-department of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Bazargan and Guzha also used data from previous studies by other authors as...