Aviation Safety

At about 12:15 central time, a Piper PA-30 crashed near Clarksville. The pilot was not injured and the second pilot suffered minor injuries. The pilot was flying the airplane as part of a prepurchase inspection, with the owner, who also held a CFI, riding in the right seat. The left engine failed on takeoff and the attempt to abort the takeoff resulted in a runway excursion. The airplane dragged a wing tip and cartwheeled. Both engines were torn from their mounts….

At 13:30 eastern time, a homebuilt Starduster Too struck trees while maneuvering near Watertown. The student pilot was seriously injured. Witnesses reported the airplane flying at an altitude estimated as 150 to 500 feet agl at a high rate of speed. They said the airplane made high-speed, steep turns at low altitude. A city police officer reported seeing the airplane performing low-altitude aerobatics. The pilot said his attention was distracted while he was trying to tune his handheld radio to the AWOS frequency and he flew into the trees. The pilots logbook contained 31.7 hours of flight experience, 17.9 hours of which were in the Starduster Too….

Researchers conclude instrument design can prevent disorientation and flight into terrain. Now to work it into cockpits.

Stress and depression can become debilitating enough to cost you your medical, but non-drug treatment can keep you safe and legal.

Oft-neglected when it comes to training and maintenance, autopilots rely on lots of stuff working perfectly.

Fly this trip? Heck, this Baron pilot belonged at home in bed rather than ducking below minimums.

Situational awareness is more than knowing where you are; it means knowing how the flights history affects its future.

How to pick a forced landing site so your field of dreams doesnt turn into a nightmare. Hint: Altitude matters.

This experience took me years to admit because of how close to disaster I came and how easily it could have been avoided.

So here goes. I was a newly rated IFR multi-engine pilot ready for the excitement and challenge on a beautiful fall day for a trip from Toronto to Venice, Fla. We headed to the airport with all the weather briefings complete, notams checked and IFR flight plan filed. We planned a stop at Charlotte, N.C., to clear Customs and refuel, with the next stop Venice.

I made a thorough walkaround, carefully checking the fuel tanks, both mains and auxiliaries via eye-balling them because everyone knows you cant trust fuel gauges. Our Seneca was ready to go.

Off we went…

The first time I tackled a real hill on snow skis, I stood at the top with a confident smile and thought, I can do this. Somewhere in the middle, I was riding a tiger and afraid to dismount. At the end, with shaking knees I screwed up my bravado and said, Lets do that again.

So it was with a recent flight. Except for the do it again part.I was flying on a day when thunderstorms were popping up throughout the southeast like fireflies on a summer night. Despite the best efforts of the National Weather Service and the Stormscope, I was heading right toward one as I flew toward my destination.

The approach controller had cleared me for the GPS approach and given me vectors toward the…