Aviation Safety

The following information is derived from the FAA’s Service Difficulty Reports and Aviation Maintenance Alerts. Beechcraft/Raytheon G36 Bonanza Misaligned Nosegear Attach Points During a landing gear retraction test, the nose wheel assembly would contact the right nose gear door’s aft hinge. It was also noted that the nose wheel assembly would contact the nose wheel […]

After the couple of years it took for me to get through the private pilot checkride, I flew as much as my meager budget and family responsibilities allowed. I took a few friends aloft, and flew the family, including trips to visit relatives. After a couple of cancellations for weather, I decided I needed to […]

November 1, 2020, Fernandina Beach, Fla. Raytheon 400A BeechJet The airplane was substantially damaged at about 1400 Eastern time when it failed to stop on the landing runway and rolled off the departure end. The pilot, copilot and four passengers were not injured. Visual conditions prevailed for the FAR Part 135 on-demand air taxi flight. […]

Fly long enough, and you’ll eventually find yourself on top of a broken or solid undercast, wanting to be beneath it. To get there, you either need to obtain an instrument clearance, find a hole, wait for one to appear or divert, perhaps far out of your way, to an area with better weather. If […]

Following the Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Pfizer, Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, the FAA has determined that pilots may receive the vaccine under the conditions of their FAA-issued airman medical certification. FAA Air Traffic Controllers, who are subject to FAA medical clearance, may also receive the vaccine.” So reads the […]

One pilot’s romantic ideal of flying might be the soft, sighing touchdown of a taildragger on freshly mowed grass at the end of a warm summer day. Another’s could involve a floatplane splashing down next to a favorite Alaskan fishing hole, or a sailplane working the thermals. No matter which of these might be your […]

Editor’s Note: NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) publishes a monthly newsletter, Callback, which highlights recent reports received by the organization. The newsletter can be of limited utility to typical general aviation operators, but not the December 2020 issue, which focused on GA pilots who inadvertently found themselves flying VFR into instrument conditions. These reports […]

Initial reports on the crash of a Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron on June 28, 2013, were depressingly familiar. The aircraft was flying VFR through Broad Pass, near Cantwell, Alaska, and Denali, in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) when it impacted terrain, killing all three aboard. A pilot who was waiting out the weather at nearby Summit Airport […]

We all know—or should know—that an airplane’s wing stalls at its critical angle of attack. While that value varies from plane to plane and wing to wing, once that value is exceeded, the stall occurs, every time. What happens next depends on a variety of factors, including aerodynamic loading, attitude, bank angle, power and control […]

After resolving a glitch in my subscription dating back to March, I sat down to catch up with the back issues I missed. I began reading the April 2020 issue last evening. In “Hear Me Out,” the article covering communications with ATC, Mr. Burnside supplied a sidebar about operations at non-towered airports. He stated, “Personally, […]