Aviation Safety

Recently I was level at 9,000 feet, hand flying through moderate turbulence, when the GPS in the panel decided to give up the ghost. No warnings, no flags, it just went black.

I was on an airway at the time and had the VORs tuned, so there was no navigational problem, but the GPS conveniently gives an instant answer when the voice from the back asks, How much longer? As I looked over to troubleshoot the unit, I got too engrossed in following the error messages the Apollo was spitting out on rebooting it. When I looked back at the instruments, I was banked 30 degrees and had just begun an 800 fpm descent.

With the turbulence, I didnt want to turn control over to the autopilot, so the…

In ancient Greek theater, playwrights used a mechanism called deus ex machina – god from the machine – to lower an actor to the stage like a god descending from the heavens to right whatever wrong was happening onstage and return order to the universe.

Divine intervention may have worked on theatergoers thousands of years ago in Greece, but it doesnt do diddly in aviation. Unfortunately, too many pilots rely on blind luck to save their skin.

Reading the NTSB accident reports month after month shows that boneheaded pilots are not in short supply. Their ill-conceived maneuvers generally fall into predictable patterns, with the occasional creative individual who finds some new way to har…

The following information is derived from the FAAs Service Difficulty Reports and Aviation Maintenance Alerts. Click here to view “Airworthiness Directives.”

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An FAA avionics inspector in the Scottsdale, Ariz., FSDO reported that he has found the ELT remote switch circuits to be defective on two separate new Cessna 172s.

The Pointer 3000-11 model ELTs were both factory installed as original equipment by Cessna. An investigation by the manufacturer determined that the internal fuse had failed, but the manufacturer claimed the problem had been traced to Cessnas post-production test procedure several years ago.

The problem was fi…

The following information is derived from the FAAs Service Difficulty Reports and Aviation Maintenance Alerts. Click here to view “Airworthiness Directives.”

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Fuel bladders in a variety of aircraft may be substandard.

The FAAs Manufacturing Inspection Office in Fort Worth says unapproved fuel bladders were sold and repaired by Duraflex Fuel Cells Corp. and Fuel Cells Maintenance Inc., both of Little Rock, Ark., for use in Twin Commanders, Raytheon Beech 65 and 90 series, Cessna 300 and 400 series, Piper PA-23s and PA-24s, and possibly other aircraft as well.

The FAA says the production and repair of these fuel cells do not m…

This letter is in response to Milovan Brenloves thought-provoking article on general aviation safety [Reality Check, June]. There is a fine line between disseminating information on the mistakes of others with the goal of improving aviation safety and keeping a pilot alive by scaring him or her out of the sky. I believe that with this article, that line may have been crossed.

Where the article failed was not in pointing out that general aviation is riskier than automobile travel – it clearly is – but rather for neglecting to point out more reasons why it is, and what can be done about it. In Avram Goldsteins book entitled Flying Out of Danger, he performs a similar comparison of aviat…

I enjoyed Paul Berges article on preflights [Systems Check, May]. Its good to see someone else concerned about taxiing out over the chocks, etc. Also, having recently bought a PA-12 after not flying a lot of stick controlled airplanes in recent years, the reminder about items obstructing the rear stick was timely for me.

I also often used the CIGARS check list, especially during flight reviews with pilots in their planes, but, I didnt realize the variations in meaning of the letters. I have used, Controls, Instruments, Gas, Attitude, Runup, and Safety. A pilot can elaborate to include fuel pump as well as quantity and tank selection under Gas, flap along with trim under Attitude, belts…

The following briefs were selected from the 224 preliminary reports filed with the NTSB in July 2002. Statements in quotes were taken directly from the NTSB documents. The information is subject to change as the investigations are completed. Click here to view “Accident Totals, July.”

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July 02, Houston, Texas
McDonnell Douglas MD-88
At 0922 central time, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 operated by Delta Air Lines collided with parked construction trucks at Houston Hobby Airport. There were no injuries. The flight had been cleared to cross runway 22 and taxi to the gate. The pilot taxied on taxiway Zulu, which is paralle…

At 0922 central time, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 operated by Delta Air Lines collided with parked construction trucks at Houston Hobby Airport. There were no injuries. The flight had been cleared to cross runway 22 and taxi to the gate. The pilot taxied on taxiway Zulu, which is parallel to taxiway Yankee, which was open. Taxiway Zulu was closed due to construction; however, the construction was not posted on the ATIS, NOTAM, or dispatchers release from the company. Ground control did not mention that taxiway Zulu was closed….

At 1500 central time, a Piper PA-28RT-201 struck power lines after takeoff from Lebanon Municipal Airport. The flight instructor and pilot-rated student were killed and a pilot-rated passenger suffered minor injuries. The passenger said he heard the instructor telling the student to keep the airspeed up, then the instructor turned to avoid trees and hit the power lines. Witnesses said the airplane took off extremely nose-high and never climbed much….

At about 1430 eastern time, a Mooney M20R crashed during an attempted go-around at East Cooper Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said he approached slightly fast, touched down a third of the way down the runway, and bounced. He added power and raised the flaps and the airplane yawed left and hit the ground. A witness said the airplane initially struck nosewheel first and porpoised three or four times before the pilot attempted the go-around….