Aviation Safety

The FAA on February 23, 2023 published a new, final airworthiness directive (AD 2023–04–08) highlighting a problem with new Continental engines manufactured between June 1, 2021, and Feb. 7, 2023. According to the agency, “The manufacturer has notified the FAA that 2,176 crankshaft assemblies are subject to the unsafe condition. The FAA estimates that of […]

As you should know by now, the FAA’s Airport/Facility Directory recently was renamed the Chart Supplement. It’s the same multi-volume reference with information like: “CAUTION—FISH SPOTTING ACTIVITY—CHESAPEAKE BAY AND COASTAL WATERS. Caution is advised for extensive fish spotter aircraft activity between May 1 and December 1 upwards from 1500 feet above the surface over the […]

When I began my ab initio training, it seemed to take forever to get off the ground. Working through the preflight, before-start, run-up checklists, step-by-step in the order provided seemed to take up a lot of time I wanted to spend airborne. Of course, with practice comes efficiency. Eventually I would complete the steps in […]

Everything seemed routine. My clearance included direct to the destination at a safe altitude for the high terrain along the route. Taxi and runup went smoothly. But before I switched to the tower frequency, ground called to say, “I have an amendment to your altitude.” Turns out the new altitude was too low for the […]

As a little boy, I always wanted to fly. I didn’t understand what it meant to be a pilot, just that to me, to be in the air was to be free. I grew up during the end of the Cold War, in the shadow of nuclear war with the USSR. I lived under the […]

Note: The following letter was originally sent to James R. Warmkessel, the author of November’s article, Seeing And Avoiding, and is used here with the writer’s permission. I just finish rereading your November 2022 article, “Seeing And Avoiding,” and want to thank you for your perspective and sending the message of “avoidance.” The occupants in […]

As this is written in late February 2023, U.S. aviation is taking stock of the remarkable safety record it has achieved over the last several years at the same time it’s wondering how the heck there have been two big-deal near-collisions of jet transports since the first of the year. On January 13, an American […]

Beech C90A King Air Worn Right Fuel Cap Crew noticed fuel leaking from right outboard wing fuel cap. Aircraft returned to departure airport and the fuel cap was replaced with a new cap. The aircraft has since flown multiple legs with no defects noted. Part total time: Unknown Beech 300 King Air Obstructed Fuel Cap […]

For 18 years, I flew a tricycle-gear Aero Designs Pulsar XP experimental out of a non-towered, high-altitude airport in Southern California, making at least 2500 takeoffs/landings at the airport. Last September, I flew a breakfast flight to an airport about 30 nm away, landed with buddies and all was well. Landing out of the return […]

December 2, 2022, Falmouth, Mass. Mooney M20J 201 At about 1504 Eastern time, the airplane was destroyed when it contacted terrain short of the intended runway. The private pilot was fatally injured; the commercial pilot in the right seat was seriously injured. Visual conditions prevailed. According to the NTSB, the commercial pilot “was not the […]