Aviation Safety

The temptation sometimes strikes to beat that big airplane to the runway. Hope those two minutes you save are really important to you

Sometimes it happens. Youre cleared for an approach when, well, there isnt an approach for you to fly

Hangar rash and other airplane bashings can do substantial damage quickly. The good news is that prevention is fairly simple

Pilot had been there, done that. On this VFR trip the weather forecast was good enough – and it was wrong

Regardless of what the manufacturer or the FAA might say, your POH is full of data you need to verify before you can trust it

I was flight planning from Monroe, N.C., to Augusta, Ga., on a morning that was 8,000 feet overcast with unlimited visibility and 20 knot winds out of the south at my cruising altitude of 3,000 feet.

I called for a standard weather briefing and was told that, while my destination of Daniel Field was reporting clear weather, Augusta Regional about six miles away was reporting freezing fog and a ceiling of 100 feet.The two airports are so close together it seemed impossible that there could be such a disparity. The briefer was also incredulous and checked some other nearby airports. They also reported clear conditions with visibilities greater than 10 miles.

He didnt know what to make…

Fuel system contaminated by drilled-out rivet heads grounds experimental

I just finished reading my May issue and I had two questions.

In Burn, Baby, Burn it says the average daily consumption rate of automotive gas in 1999 was around 360 million gallons. Is that in the U.S. alone, or worldwide? Its a statistic Id like to quote to (non-aviation) friends, but I want to get it right.

In Roll your own O2 System on page 5, when you mount the O2 tank in the baggage compartment, doesnt that require an STC or form 337, at least? I have seen the FAA declare an aircraft unairworthy because it had a non-STCd panel mount for a portable GPS, and this seems like a bigger modification to me. It affects the aircraft weight and balance and empty weight, at the ve…

Selected recent general aviation and airline accidents

At 1930 eastern time, a Beech A36 hit terrain shortly after takeoff in instrument conditions from Mount Airy/Surry County Airport. The pilot and four passengers were killed. The wreckage was found after a nearby resident reported hearing what sounded like an airplane crash. The wreckage was found in a ravine 1.85 miles south of the airport. The airplane was found in a near-vertical attitude, with the engine and propeller embedded eight feet into the ground….