Jay Hopkins

(January 2012) Last month I reported the exciting news that the training required by the FAA SFAR issued in 2006 succeeded in turning the MU-2, an airplane that had been at the bottom of the accident statistics, into one of the safest turboprops in the air and, beyond that, into one of the safest airplanes […]

(December 2011) Three and a half years ago I wrote about the Mitsubishi MU-2 controversy (“Dangerous Airplanes or Dangerous Pilots?” — May 2008). For much of its life, the MU-2 had the unenviable status of having one of the worst turboprop accident rates and fatal accident rates. People wrote articles questioning the sanity of anyone […]

(November 2011) “Safety management system” — the very name sounds intimidating. I have to admit that I was not initially excited about the idea of a safety management system. I figured it was just another complicated set of rules, procedures and acronyms that would require a lot of time while not really accomplishing anything significant. […]

(October 2011) It seems like almost every organization supports safety. Posters proclaiming “Safety First” are plastered all over companies around the world, and many corporate manuals contain words saying something similar to “Any employee can call stop.” And yet the real world of corporate culture often strays far from this ideal. The intense pressure to […]

(September 2011) Most general aviation pilots operate by themselves. While they may experience internal or external pressures, the pilot basically determines how the flight will be conducted in total isolation from any other inputs or organizational pressures. Pilots who fly for a company, airline or other organization, on the other hand, typically operate within a […]

(August 2011) At the end of my previous article I wrote that “pressure is at the heart of most accidents.” As I read through the final proof copy of that article, it struck me that there is more to the story than that. Even though pressure seems to be a significant factor in many accidents, […]

There is plenty of pressure in life these days. Anyone who has been laid off knows how real the pressure is to find another job. When your boss says, “You’d better get this done by 2 p.m.,” the pressure can be intense, especially when it realistically should take at least until 4 p.m. to complete […]

(June 2011) In last month’s “Stuck for a Week,” I wrote about how an extended delay can eventually lead someone to diminish or ignore what should be obvious risks. Another common cause of faulty risk awareness involves failing to “do the math.” Risk factors seldom operate in isolation. Multiple risk factors will typically interact with […]

(May 2011) IN THE MARCH ISSUE OF Flying, On the Record reported on the crash of a Cessna 172S Skyhawk in January 2010, about 20 miles north of Bangor, Maine. The pilot had picked up the brand-new airplane in Independence, Kansas, and flown it to Bangor, where an additional fuel tank was installed for a […]

(April 2011) AFTER WRITING THREE articles on the subject of fatigue I figured I had pretty much covered that topic. Then I started receiving e-mails and phone calls from Flying readers, more than I have ever received before. It is obvious that fatigue is a critical issue for many people. Paul Reeves described his own […]