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That is a list of “typical” accidents? Thank goodness I’m not typical.

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“The FAA has yet to issue guidance to flight instructors on how to teach practical risk management.”

At the risk of being a horse’s ass (gotta do what you’re good at), may I suggest that it’s unlikely that you’ll successfully manage that which you do not see.

For far too many, it’s a very brown world.

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This analysis is good as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. A common misconception among aviation safety analysts is that pilots are rational, knowledgeable, risk-averse and teachable. Those who go to informal pilot gatherings – not big events and conventions – know that much of the pilot population just doesn’t want to be bothered. If you listen to conversations at those events, safety is never even discussed. You frequently see the same attitudes in Flight Reviews and in transition training. Indeed, roughly 99.99% of flights avoid loss of control, so LOC isn’t on most pilots’ radar. Those pilots susceptible to loss of control are most unlikely to seek or receive risk management classes for something they never encounter and don’t care about. Dr. Bill Rhodes at the start of his safety lectures asks how many people know somebody who killed themselves in a small plane, show of hands; and then, another show of hands, how many of those accidents were not a surprise. He says that the typical percentage is about half. The conclusion from all this is that new approaches are needed, not regulatory or training, but in the more difficult arena of pilot psychology and the even more difficult arena of pilot sociology. In other industries, this is called customer focus. Much of today’s safety emphasis uses shame and blame, and, predictably, is ignored by pilots. More effective would be an approach that values pilots. As the saying goes, if you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.