Aviation Safety

Seatbelts are in many ways more important in airplanes than cars. To stay off the panel, replace your webbing and use belts and shoulder straps right

The new shop made the right call based on the information in front of them, but add in the information I had and it added up to something else.

Spare us, please, from the inclination to stuff our flight bags with frivolous flying flotsam

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

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Meridian Electronics
Piper Meridian turboprops experienced another bout of teething pains with a new airworthiness directive requiring electronic control modules to be replaced with new ones.The airworthiness directive comes on the heels of reports of smoke in the cockpit and a loss of electrical system function. The electronic control modules can short circuit, with internal electrical arcing. In characteristic FAA understatement, the agency says the combination of smoke and loss of function could lead to the inability to properly control the airplane…

Dump the Overheads
After reading Chuck Griswolds letter, Danger from the Overhead [Unicom, February] and Mr. Bertorellis response, what disturbs me most was Mr. Bertorellis comment regarding ..merely in the service of lowest common denominator behavior…

The LCD reference, at least to me, has always implied less intelligent or less skilled. And it seems to in this case as well. If that was the authors intent, then I take strong exception and I think your editors should as well, for what he is suggesting is that this is a technique that can be used by better pilots as long as they use common sense. On the assumption that that was the intended message, allow me…

At 0854 Pacific time, a Wing Aircraft D-1 crashed in the desert about 11 nm from Rosamond. The ATP certificated instructor and student pilot were killed. The student was enrolled in a preparatory course at a civilian test pilot school prior to beginning an 11-month-long test pilot program. The accident flight was part of the courses multiengine aircraft familiarization training and, according to the lesson plan and flight card, was to include stalls and Vmc maneuvers. Investigators used airport surveillance radar from the High Desert Tracon at Edwards AFB to identify the flight track of the accident airplane. The airplanes track indicated maneuvers between 6,000 and 5,200 feet msl over 2,6…

At about 1708 Pacific time, a Piper PA-28R-200 collided with hilly terrain about six miles southwest of Chino while en route from Long Beach to Corona, Calif. The pilot and passenger were killed. Instrument conditions prevailed in the area. The airplane departed Long Beach in VFR conditions with a 1,300-foot overcast. At 1653 the pilot requested a transition through the Fullerton airspace, which was VFR with a 1,700-foot overcast.. At 1700, the pilot requested a frequency change from the Fullerton frequency. The last recorded radar contact was 1707. The Long Beach and Corona airports are separated by a range of low hills, which rise to 1,781 feet msl. The accident site was located at an elev…

At about 0630 Pacific time, an Iniziative Industriali Sky Arrow 650 TC crashed on takeoff from the Placerville Airport. The pilot was killed. An arriving aircraft spotted the airplane wreckage off a steep slope on the southern side of runway 23 at about 1100. Rescue crews found the airplane 100 yards down the slope where it had collided with a large oak tree. The flight control surfaces were in working order and there was fuel in the tanks. According to the Airport Operations Officer, the accident pilot usually left Placerville early on Monday mornings for the San Francisco Bay area. Local pilots said that there was heavy frost and light ice on other planes at the airport during the early mo…

At 1756 central time, a Piper PA-28-140 was destroyed following a loss of control during a dark night approach to the Livingston Municipal Airport in high winds. The pilot was killed and the student pilot-rated passenger was seriously injured. Witnesses reported that the airplane was flying at a low altitude before colliding with a tree and power lines. The airplane came to rest approximately 2,600 feet southeast of the approach end to runway 30. At 1750, a wind monitor located about one mile from the accident site registered 42 mph northerly winds with maximum wind speed of 52 mph. According to local law enforcement officials, the 70-hour private pilot was seated in the right seat, and the…

At about 1245 eastern time, a Beech BE-55 was substantially damaged in a hard landing at Stroudsburg-Pocono Airport. The pilot was not injured. According to the pilot, the airplane ballooned during the landing flare. The pilot applied a nose down correction and subsequently landed hard on the nose landing gear, which collapsed. When asked what could have been done to prevent the accident, the pilot stated that he should have performed a go-around….