AOPA set the record straight with Florida media after a "rash" of aircraft accidents. In the past two months, three aircraft have made forced landings on southern Florida roads. With the latest incident Tuesday (a Mooney departing Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport had an apparent engine failure and landed in an intersection), some media stories worried about "airplanes falling out of the sky." In interviews with major media such as WTVJ-TV and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, AOPA explained that the chance of someone on the ground being injured in a GA accident are one in 50 million—you stand a greater chance of being bitten by a shark! Last year, there were only four minor injuries to people on the ground from GA accidents. The association explained how pilots are trained to handle engine failures and noted that mechanical failures are rare—less than 15 percent of GA accidents result from a mechanical failure.
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