Rob Mark

Dalton Caldwell, a native of Brownsboro, Texas, was not one of those kids who lived and breathed airplanes from the time he was born; it took a couple of years for that passion to take hold. When his mom first introduced him to his soon-to-be stepfather, she mentioned he was a pilot, a Boeing 747 […]

Now that Harbour Air’s electric de Havilland Beaver has completed a full-power static runup, and installed all its battery management and other new systems, the crew needs little more than Transport Canada’s signature on the test flight permits in order to launch. The company expects the airplane to slip into the water at Vancouver Harbour […]

This year’s Thanksgiving holiday weekend turned tragic on Saturday, November 30, when a Pilatus PC-12–N56KJ–carrying 12 people crashed into a cornfield shortly after takeoff from Chamberlin Municipal Airport (9V9), approximately 50 miles southeast of Pierre, South Dakota. The aircraft was destined for Idaho Falls, Idaho. All aboard were members of the same Idaho family. Nine […]

A regular highlight of the NBAA conventions—which this year took place in Las Vegas—is the well-attended Single Pilot Safety Standdown, typically held the day before the show begins. The topics focus on single-pilot operations like fatigue, the intricacies of dealing with complex cockpit technology and loss of control inflight, still the largest single cause of […]

For Boeing, 2019 has evolved into the worst year for the company’s reputation in its history, beginning of course with the grounding last March of the 737 Max over the airplane’s faulty MCAS (maneuvering characteristics augmentation system). Since then, the company has continued building new 737 Max aircraft at the rate of 42 per month […]

The NTSB last week said its preliminary data showed U.S. civil aviation deaths in 2018 rose from the 347 reported in 2017 to 393 last year with most of those 2018 fatalities occurring in general aviation operations. General aviation was in fact responsible for 1,275 accidents in 2018 that included 381 of the fatalities, fully […]

Each year for the past 24, Bombardier has sponsored its safety standdown, an event that borrows its name from the military recognizing a pause to all operations so a team can focus on safey topics unhindered by life’s daily distractions. Military aviation standdowns normally occur following an accident, or after the identification of a hazard […]

LaGuardia, New York-based Flight Safety International, in collaboration with IBM, yesterday unveiled a new, fully-integrated training tool called FlightSmart that employs artificial intelligence and machine learning to evaluate a pilot’s ability as they perform critical tasks and maneuvers during all phases of flight. The new product is an attempt to leave qualitative-based instruction behind in […]

In January of 2019, NAV CANADA announced it will be implementing an ADS-B performance requirements mandate in three phases that will affect U.S. aircraft headed north. Only the third and final implementation phase, due for activation by 2023 will actually impact U.S. GA aircraft. Because NAV CANADA uses Aireon’s space-based ADS-B signals to provide much […]

For decades, pilots holding a first or second class medical were automatically disqualified from flying commercially if they were diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetic pilots are subject to losing consciousness and suffering seizures if their illness is not properly treated. To the FAA, the risk of a pilot passing out at the controls was always too […]