Accident Probes

The AOPA has amassed a wealth of material on how pilots change as we grow older. Among other challenges aging pilots may face, decision-making skills may not be what they once were, and a brief section on decision-making caught our eye. As AOPA notes, “You have grown older and gotten wiser through experience. However, aging […]

The NTSB recently updated its rolling 10-year look-back infographics to reflect data from CY 2017, including the bar chart at right. This graphic compares the phases of flight in which personal-flying accidents occurred over the period, and shows maneuvering accidents are fatal roughly half the time.

December 2, 2020, Lufkin, Texas Cessna 551 Citation II/SP At 0843 Central time, the airplane was substantially damaged when it departed the runway while landing. The airline transport pilot sustained minor injuries; two passengers were not injured. Instrument conditions prevailed; the flight was arriving on an IFR flight plan. After an uneventful flight and approach, […]

From time to time, pilots are confronted with a set of circumstances posing a significant challenge to their ability to complete a mission. It might be a mechanical problem, but it most often involves uncooperative weather. The time-honored act of launching into poor weather to “take a look” sometimes works out, but the chances of […]

November 1, 2020, Fernandina Beach, Fla. Raytheon 400A BeechJet The airplane was substantially damaged at about 1400 Eastern time when it failed to stop on the landing runway and rolled off the departure end. The pilot, copilot and four passengers were not injured. Visual conditions prevailed for the FAR Part 135 on-demand air taxi flight. […]

Fly long enough, and you’ll eventually find yourself on top of a broken or solid undercast, wanting to be beneath it. To get there, you either need to obtain an instrument clearance, find a hole, wait for one to appear or divert, perhaps far out of your way, to an area with better weather. If […]

Editor’s note: The following is a first-person account of an inadvertent gear-up landing and its aftermath, written by the incident pilot and adapted from a series of posts at BeechTalk.com, an online resource for Beechcraft owners and pilots of all aircraft types.  On August 5, 2020, I landed my much-loved Beechcraft F33A Bonanza gear-up at […]

October 1, 2020, Burlington, Wash. Zenith CH601 Experimental At about 1500 Pacific time, the airplane sustained substantial damage when it crashed short of the runway. The solo private pilot was not injured; visual conditions prevailed. After taking off on the first flight of the day, the pilot remained in the traffic pattern. During the turn […]

Most of my mountain-flying experience comes from frequent trips across or parallel with the Appalachian range in the eastern U.S. I’ve flown my share of trips to Las Vegas and California, though, and at least since an episode over North Carolina in a 160-hp Skyhawk, I’ve always tried to plan for and avoid related turbulence. […]

September 1, 2020, Walker, Minn. Piper PA-28-235 Cherokee 235 At about 2007 Central time, the airplane was destroyed when it collided with terrain while maneuvering near adverse weather. The solo pilot was fatally injured; flight conditions were unknown. The airplane departed Kirksville, Missouri, at about 1303 after adding 76.1 gallons of fuel, with an intended […]