Risk Management

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 […]

A December 1, 2020, article published by Bloomberg Quint, “Rusty Pilots Making Flying Errors Is Next Aviation Headache,” highlighted a September 15, 2020, event involving an Indonesian Airbus A330 that experienced a runway excursion on landing. According to the article, an investigation found “the pilot had flown less than three hours in the previous 90 days. […]

If you’re not familiar with Alaskan aviation, an analogy might be to compare it to operations in the Lower 48, but with more weather and terrain, and fewer paved airports. Because general aviation often is literally the only transportation available, external pressures to complete a proposed flight can be much greater. Predictably, the accident rates […]

Aviation has always been a breeding ground for technological, social and economic change. Many of these changes, such as the jet airliner, shrank the world and transformed how we see it. The airliner’s influence may be on the wane, however, as challenges in the workplace and the effects of climate change—two major factors among many […]

Personal aviation opens up a world of interesting and beautiful places to visit and recreate, places that reward us for the time, training and skill to get there. Some places would be inaccessible except by horse, foot or airstrip, like the canyons, rivers and vistas of the Mountain West. Some places beckon because they offer […]

The first Airman Certification Standards (ACS) were issued in 2016, after a five-year gestation period, replacing the Practical Test Standards (PTS) system that previously governed checkrides for airman certificates and ratings. Implementation has proceeded smoothly, and according to designated pilot examiners (DPEs), the ACS is not more burdensome than the PTS. The big unknown, however, […]

Unless you’re flying a tailwheel-equipped airplane, you really don’t want the tail to touch the ground. It’s potentially dangerous, not to mention embarrassing. And a tail strike—when the tail section of an airplane contacts the surface while taking off or landing—can result in significant damage to the aft section of a tricycle-gear airplane. The good […]

Environmental risks, one of the four broad hazard categories the FAA identifies in its PAVE acronym (see the sidebar at the bottom of the opposite page), typically involve weather and terrain, but also can include traffic, navaids, obstacles and even wake turbulence. When several such hazards are present at the same time, they can easily […]

Growing up in the pre-9/11 era, I was fortunate to take international family vacations. Going through a commercial airport without TSA, high-sensitivity metal detectors and the spirit-deadening routines of today is something I never thought would have happened. September 11, 2001, was a turning point, of course, and governments worldwide responded, forcing flight and ground […]

Thanks in part to requirements in the new Airman Certification Standards (ACS) for applicants to demonstrate proficiency with it on practical tests, risk management is becoming an integral part of the training process. Outlined in every task of every ACS for certificates and ratings, applicants are evaluated on their ability to identify, assess and mitigate […]