LAKEWAY AIRPARK FACTS
115 Flying Scot St. Lakeway TX 78734
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FOR OUR
SAFETY STATS
By the Numbers
Lakeway Airpark and nearby residents enjoy a 99.91% compliance with after sunset landing rules.
But that 0.09% is something the Airpark Board and membership work hard to reduce.
We send letters, approach pilots, educate visitors & ask the city to help us enforce their rule.
Pilot Note: FAA trains pilots on "Civil Twilight:, not "Sunset". Civil Twighlight is about 25 mins after sunset.
Apprx 9000 operations in 2021.
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19 landings or take-offs were within 1-25 minutes
after sunset or 1-25 minutes before sunrise (when
it is light out).
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5 landings or take offs between sunrise and
sunset were 25 or more minutes after sunset or more than 25 minutes before sunrise.
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4 night landing operations were conducts in 2021 by 1st responders practicing for emergency
rescue and operations. 1 of these was the US Army.
Source: FlightAware
Starting Jan 1, 2020 the FAA required ALL aircraft operating in almost all airspace to be equipped with "ADS-b Out". This is a technology that allows both ATC and other aircraft to know the location, altitude and tail number of aircraft in the airspace, regardless of ATC radar services. If anyone is relying on ADS-b information to show that 3R9 got busier, they first need to:
(1) normalize for non-ADS-b prior to Jan 1, 2020 (and the years prior as pilots installed it over time from 2010 onward and
(2) recognize that post-Jan 1, 2020 aircraft are still installing and turning on their ADS-b, post FAA deadline, for various reasons (example: brand new planes coming online, older planes not flown in years, etc.)
Bottom line: ADS-b stats will artificially and incorrectly make it look like Airpark traffic is growing much faster than it is.
ATTENTION!
Lakeway Airpark isn't growing much lately. Note: yellow line is low due to covid Alpha and Delta waves.
Pilot Note: The Airpark can never get big or busy because it has a small ramp/plane parking area... so there is a natural upper limit - and we're approaching it.
General Aviation Pilots are 27% safer in 2019 vs. 2010 Source: AOPA Annual Nall Report
General Aviation Overall is 15% safer in 2019 vs. 2010. Source: AOPA Annual Nall Report
Lakeway Airpark is not busy.
From FlightAware: Average daily operations at comparable airports in Texas and at Lakeway.
An "operation" is either a takeoff or an arrival.
Note: Lakeway is 60% less busy. If we account for the fact that we don't allow flights at night, and others on this list do allow that, we are about 40% less busy.
Pilot Note: The Airpark can never get big or busy because it has a small ramp/plane parking area... so there is a natural upper limit - and we're approaching it.
Lakeway Airpark is 215% safer than the average accident rate for all phases of flight in the U.S.
This is especially remarkable as Airports tend to have higher, not lower, accident rates than cruise flying, which is included in the baseline comparison for the national averages below.
Findings
Airplane accidents are measured by the number of accidents per 100,000 flight hours flown by general aviation airplanes in the USA. Today this rate is 3.5 total accidents per 100,000 hours flown by general aviation airplanes in the USA.
Both the overall airplane accident rate and the fatal rate have decreased steadily in the last 30 years. The Lakeway airpark has experienced only three airplane accidents beyond the airport boundary and within the greater Lakeway community in the last 30 years.
Using the data from the FlightAware tracking source as of February 2, 2022, for arrivals and departures from the Lakeway Airpark (3R9 identifier), there were 3553 arrivals / departures in the six-month period from July 2, 2021 to February 2, 2022. Projecting this out for a 12-month period, this would be 7106 arrivals / departures. Using an average of 52 minutes flight time per sortie base on the averaging of flight times shown in the FlightAware data, this gives 7106 X 52 minutes of flight time or 0.865 hours of flight X 7106 flights = 6146 hours flown into or out of 3R9 in 12 months.
Again, Lakeway has experienced three airplane accidents beyond the airport boundary and within the greater Lakeway community in the last 30 years. 30 years X 6146 hours (30 X 6146) = 184,380 flight hours wherein there were 3 accidents. This is an accident rate for 3R9 of 3 accidents per 184,380 flight hours.
Again, the national rate is 3.5 accidents per 100,000 flight hours compared to the accident rate for 3R9 of 3 accidents per 184,380 flight hours.
Math
Taking national average: 100,000 / 3.5 = 28,571. 1 accident every 28,571 hours.
Taking 3R9 actuals: 184,380 / 3 = 61,460. 1 accident every 61,460 flight hours.
Comparison: 61,460/28,571 = 2.15 times or 215% safer.
Comparing this data to the average flight time per flights to and from Lakeway, the accident rate for the Lakeway airpark is lower than the overall USA rates by a factor of approximately one half. Again, these conclusions are estimates and the flight hours can only reflect the current rates.
Data Sources:
FlightAware flight report for 3R9, Lakeway Airpark (FlightAware.com)
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association 31st Annual Nall Report (AOPA.org)
National Transportation Safety Board (www.ntsb.gov)
Special Thanks to Bill Gunn, Safety Board Member
27 years as a contract instructor for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
21 years in the USAF flying the RF-4C reconnaissance aircraft worldwide. 21 years as compliance manager for the state of Texas Aviation Division, dealing with community relations and contract compliance for the 276 public use general aviation airports in Texas. Contract instructor for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Institute for 27 years teaching flight instructor refresher clinics and pilot safety seminars in the USA. Guest instructor for the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) 1991 to assist creating re-currency training for Australian flying instructors. FAA flight instructor of the year 1993 for the Southwest region of the USA. He is an Airline Transport Pilot, Certified Flight Instrument Instructor, Multi Engine Instrument Instructor, Commercial Glider Pilot, and a former Airman Certificate Authority for the FAA. He is a graduate of the FAA's compliance management course and assisted in technical corrections to the FAA's compliance handbook, FAA Order 5190.6B. He holds a BBA from UT Austin and a MS degree from Troy University, Europe.