Aviation Safety

Pilots know to avoid getting behind large, heavy ones. But the wakes of smaller airplanes can be hazardous, too.

If you do it right, most IFR flying is dull and boring. But being legally current doesnt mean youre ready to mix it up with the big boys.

Everyone makes mistakes, perhaps including the mechanic who last worked on your airplane. Find those problems on the ground before your test flight.

The best way to fully understand hypoxias effects is in an altitude chamber. But theres more to high-altitude flight than just being able to breathe.

In-flight emergencies may require us to divert but we still have to fly the approach

We have all heard the story of how a horseshoe nail was lost, leading to the loss of the horse and its rider, and the message he carried into battle. Because the message was never received, the battle and the war was lost. Its as apocryphal today as when it was written. Examples include the shuttle Challenger tragedy-caused by a defective O-ring-and the Eastern Airlines Lockheed L-1011 that crashed in the Florida Everglades because someone nudged the autopilot switch off while working on a simple landing-gear problem but didnt notice it.

The point is that accident chains usually start from very simple events, pick up steam from other links in the chain and then snowball out of contro…

Fly, Forrest, Fly!
Its spring here on the east coast, time when a young mans fantasies turn to flying. Unfortunately, some of those fantasies reportedly involve flying long distances without rudimentary flight planning or keeping tabs on the airplanes position and the airspace one might encounter.

So it was on May 11, when a Cessna 150 obliviously flew into the heart of the secure airspace surrounding the nations capital. The event involved a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) Black Hawk helicopter, a CPB Cessna Citation and two U.S. Air Force F-16s and thousands of panicked government employees. Thankfully, the incursion ended without further drama at the outlying Freder…

The following information is derived from the FAAs Service Difficulty Reports and Aviation Maintenance Alerts.

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Aeronca 7 AC
Cracked Wing Ribs
The submitter describes finding a crack in both the left and right wings number one rib located inboard of the ailerons. These ribs were …cracked along the radius of the attach tab where the rib is secured to the aft spar. This aircraft was subjected to years of prevailing winds quartering against the trailing edge of the left aileron. No gust locks were utilized. The ribs were repaired and wings recovered. The owner has erected a more suitable shelter.Part Total Time: unknown.

Aeronca;11 CC
Cracked Rear…