Aviation Safety

One of the high-profile, close-call incidents that occurred this year was a runway incursion at JFK, where an American Airlines 777 taxied across a runway without a clearance. This forced a Delta 737 crew to abort their takeoff. According to the NTSB, the aircraft came within 1400 feet of each other. An extremely visible event, […]

 (Editor’s Note: This is the first contribution to a multi-part series on going beyond the standard briefing to find the details underlying what our EFBs tell us. Look for subsequent installments in future issues.) Sculptors work with various materials, typically by hand. Chefs work with ingredients, also by hand. Pilots work with air, but instead […]

If you ask a pilot, “Have you ever panicked while flying?” and they respond, “No,” watch them closely. They’ll probably lie to you about other things, too. Speaking for myself, the times I experienced panic were a little more, uh, “justified,” maybe, and they hit me right quick. Just what is this thing called “panic?” […]

Tom Turner’s “Trapped Into VFR” article (May 2023) was excellent.  Now many years ago, flying a Cessna 172 on an IFR flight plan in VMC over North Dakota, South Dakota and into Nebraska, with three family members as passengers, I saw that the far horizon was obscured in haze, not unusual for summertime in the […]

Each month, we sort through scores of recent NTSB preliminary accident reports to develop our Accident Briefs feature, which begins on page 19 this month. We don’t use all of them—there’s never enough space—so many prelims don’t make the cut. It might be helpful for readers if we explain how we decide which ones to […]

Cessna 208B Grand Caravan Uncommanded Pitch Down The pilot reported the Garmin GFC 600 autopilot engaged uncommanded and pitched the aircraft nose down. Autopilot would not remain disengaged. At this writing, maintenance has not determined cause of failure. Autopilot system was installed 74.4 hours and 32 days before occurrence. Part total time: 74.4 hours Cessna […]

I was a new private pilot with about 100 hours, training for my instrument rating. A schoolmate asked if I wanted to go as a passenger to a very busy international airport to pick up a friend. He was supposedly well-trained with more hours than me, but did not feel comfortable flying into a busy airport. […]

April 2, 2023, Oxbow, Ore. Cirrus Design SR22 At 0950 Pacific time, the airplane was destroyed when it impacted mountainous terrain under unknown circumstances. The pilot and the passenger sustained fatal injuries. Instrument conditions prevailed; no flight plan was filed. The pilot requested flight-following services from ATC at 0934, while heading north at 11,900 feet […]

One of the riskiest everyday operations pilots are likely to encounter is an instrument takeoff and departure into relatively low clouds. The increased risk comes from the takeoff itself—we’re never really sure the airplane will fly until we try it—and the much smaller margin for any error that being close to the ground in IMC […]

I did my primary flight training at a slow, towered airport, where our flight school consisted of about 70% of the traffic taking off and landing. There was a commuter operation with three or four flights a day, and occasional private jet and corporate traffic. The controllers were fantastic about slowing down calls for student pilots, […]