by Rich Stowell

In 1998, the FAA unveiled its Safer Skies Agenda. The agenda represented a renewed commitment between the FAA and industry to minimize aviation accidents. Six broad categories were established to classify the majority of accidents. Under general aviation, “loss of control” came in second behind “pilot decision-making”; loss of control ranked second for commercial aviation as well, edged out by “controlled flight into terrain.” The loss-of-control category includes accidents resulting from stalls, spins, and upsets—where “upsets” typically refer to uncontrolled or uncommanded changes in an airplane’s pitch attitude and/or bank angle not necessarily associated with a stall/spin. …