Aviation Safety

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

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The FAA has recently been advised that engine fuel strainers are failing at an increasing rate in new-production Cessna singles.

The manufacturer recommends maintenance personnel exhibit care when reassembling the threaded gascolator/fuel strainer standpipe into the fuel strainer housing after internal inspections of these components. The standpipe should be replaced if the standpipe threads are damaged or there is an insufficient number of threads. The current configurations…

An excellent article on turnbacks [Airmanship, July]. John Eckalbar discusses this in detail in his books: Flying High Performance Singles and Twins, and Flying the Beech Bonanza. I attended the Bonanza Pilot Profiency Program in April and had the pleasure of hearing John speak in person. Part of the study material was a chapter on Turnbacks written by Eckalbar. Out of curiosity I later asked several members of a flying club I belong to about turnbacks, minimum altitude, optimum bank angle and optimum airspeed. I was surprised that many had no clue. I was shocked at how few had a plan for engine failure at low altitude.

The BPPP approach to the problem is similar to yours, they…

At about 19:50 eastern time, a Cessna 172M lost electrical power near Trenton and crashed in the ensuing forced landing. The pilot and two passengers suffered minor injuries. The pilot said he was in cruise flight when the electrical equipment began to fail. He checked the voltmeter and saw the red light was not illuminated. The voltmeter needle was slightly off the middle scale. He flew about 30 to 40 minutes while trying to locate an airport. A passenger called 911 on a cell phone to get assistance. The pilot spotted an open field and made a forced landing, but on the landing rollout the airplane struck a dirt mound….

At approximately 1610 central time, a North American T-28B crashed near Uvalde, killing the pilot. Witnesses observed the airplane flying inverted at about 800 feet agl prior to impact….

At about 1750 Pacific time, a Cessna 172N nosed over during a precautionary landing about 11 miles east of Madera. The private pilot was not injured. The pilot said he had been flying more than an hour when he became uncertain about his location and noticed it was getting foggy. He decided to make a precautionary landing. The pilot landed on a 650- to 700-foot airstrip used for radio-controlled airplanes. The airplane overran the strip and struck a berm. Responding law enforcement officers reported there was no fog in the area and that visibility was unrestricted. Other nearby airports reported clear skies and visibility of 10 miles. The accident happened right at sunset….

At 14:10 eastern time, a Mooney M20C lost engine power and struck trees while on approach to Gilmer Memorial Airport, killing the pilot. The Gainesville Unicom operator said the pilot reported a loss of engine power and said he was landing on runway 11. A witness observed the airplane rocking its wings and then nose down into a spin. The airplane struck the ground in about a 70-degree nose-down attitude. …

At 1730 central time, a Cessna 172P crashed while trying to land at Ferguson Airport. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The pilot reportedly attempted several approaches to runway 18 without landing, then stalled over the runway on his final attempt. Winds at the time were reported from 330 degrees at 12 knots….

At about 0900 eastern time, a Cessna 152 suffered a catastrophic engine failure about 10 minutes after takeoff, forcing the solo student pilot to make a forced landing. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said he was in cruise flight at 2,300 feet when he heard a loud bang and observed smoke coming up over the windshield. He started for a golf course, but noticed golfers in the way, so he transitioned to a road. On the rollout, the left wing his a sign. Examination of the airplane revealed a hole in both tops of the engine case halves in the vicinity of the No.3 and No. 4 cylinder, with a broken connecting rod sitting in the hole. The last engine overhaul was eight years ago, at engine tota…

At about 16:16 eastern time, a Beech 23-24R crashed near Armonk while maneuvering to land at the Westchester County Airport. The pilot was killed. The flight was headed from Portsmouth, N.H., to Philadelphia and was in cruise flight at 8,000 feet when it started to deviate from the assigned route. The controller advised the pilot of the deviation and provided radar vectors back to the airway. Shortly after that the pilot advised the controller he was having an electrical problem and would like to cancel his IFR clearance. In addition, the pilot said he would be proceeding direct to the Carmel VOR, and then to his destination. Radar data was limited for the last 15 minutes of the flight due t…

At 1505 eastern time, a Piper PA-16 a Betts RV-6A collided in mid-air while on approach to runway 27R at Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport during Sun n Fun. The Piper pilot was seriously injured and the RV-6 pilot was killed. The local controller said the RV-6 was in front of the PA-16 on the downwind and on base. He saw the PA-16 overtaking the RV-6 and twice instructed the RV-6 to sidestep to runway 27 left, but the pilot did not respond to his instructions. He then told the PA-16 pilot to climb and he did not respond to the instructions….