Aviation Safety

November 3, 2022, Mesa, Ariz. Eclipse Aerospace EA500 At about 1915 Mountain time, the airplane was substantially damaged when it departed the runway while landing. The pilot and co-pilot were not injured. Visual conditions prevailed for the post-maintenance positioning flight, which operated on an IFR flight plan. Both pilots later reported they touched down in […]

As new aircraft and avionics become more sophisticated and capable, a pilot’s learning curve becomes more complicated. Understanding how and why things work the way they do is a critical part of our training and study. Brian Sagi’s article beginning on page 12, “Automation Misbehavior,” explores some of the ramifications and remedial actions pilots should […]

Roper 35, traffic in your twelve o’clock, three miles, type and altitude unknown.” This ATC call got our immediate attention. We were blitzing along in a U.S. Air Force T-38 at 300 knots and about 3000 feet msl, southbound over the Sacramento Valley. The controller might just as well have said, “I hope you’re looking […]

Near Hernandez, N.M., headed south, I noticed the moon rising to my left. It reminded me of Ansel Adams’s iconic 1941 photograph, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico. I took out my phone and tried to snap a picture. My more artistic friends might be amused by the effort. Adams used a large-format camera with a very […]

We all saw the recent image of a Mooney 201 suspended 100 feet above the ground and tangled in an electrical transmission tower on a dark and gloomy night. Without knowing the details, we all probably asked ourselves, “How did that happen?”  The NTSB’s preliminary report on this accident is out, and tells us that, […]

I have dealt with paper chart updates both as a student pilot and a professional pilot, and I can safely say I prefer EFBs. The worst luck I ever had with paper charts occurred before my private pilot checkride. I ended up weathered out on my first attempt, and the charts expired a few days before […]

I enjoy your very good magazine quite a lot, but…I just read your editorial in November’s issue, “Bravo Foxtrot Delta,” as well as your reply in December’s UNICOM. You discuss in both cases the added weight’s effects on unusable fuel for empty weight only. Clearly the bigger issue is the added weight’s effects on full-fuel takeoff […]

While I write this, Southwest Airlines is losing a public relations battle over the thousands of canceled flights it racked up at the end of December 2022. The airline’s labor and management disagree about the underlying causes of the carrier’s inability to launch airplanes, and handle loading and unloading of luggage, but the worst aviation […]

Beechcraft 58 Baron Cold-Weather Failure While at cruise altitude of 14,000 feet on a very cold day, the Garmin G500 panel flagged the airspeed, altitude, AIS and OAT; heading and horizon were all “X’d” out. Loss of all data from the AHARS (p/n GDC74A). Pilot used the backup instruments to complete the flight. Whenever cold, […]

I was a “young” pilot, with barely 200 hours, practicing solo closed patterns in our Mooney M20J. After a solid landing on the first, I powered off the runway for the second. Then it happened. At 300 feet, climbing at VX, my engine faltered with no warning; I had lost all power at the worst time! […]