Search Results for: Cessna 172

For the National Guard pilots assigned to keep Washington, D.C., safe from the air, an exercise called Falcon Virgo was conducted in mid-March near El Paso, Texas, to practice the kind of critically important flying needed to prepare for a certification process that occurs regularly for Guard members who will replace those currently on assignment […]

(This is the first of a four-part series of articles in which contributing editor Fred Simonds will fully explore common, oft-fatal mistakes that we pilots make. This first article merely relates a number of ultimately harmless incidents that will serve as illustrations on which we’ll build in subsequent articles. As I read Fred’s manuscript, I […]

January 1, 2020, Ada, Okla. Cessna T210L Turbo Centurion At about 1545 Central time, the airplane was substantially damaged during an off-field forced landing following a loss of engine power. The pilot and passenger sustained minor injuries. Visual conditions prevailed for the flight, which originated in Denver, Colo., with Shreveport, La., as its destination. At […]

Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron Misinstalled Aileron The right aileron outboard attach disconnected in flight due to improper installation. On inspection, pick-up points for aileron attachment had been missed internally due to difficulty in visual alignment in between skins where failed to engage hinge. Previous log book entries show the aileron had not been removed since 1990. […]

December 1, 2019, Union City, Tenn. Cirrus SR22 The pilot later reported the airplane encountered a crosswind gust and drifted left while landing. At touchdown, a second gust lifted the right wing, the airplane drifted off the runway centerline and the left wing dragged in the grass. The airplane left the runway, collapsing the landing […]

Editor’s note: Last month’s issue included a cover story on wake turbulence and how we may encounter it even when our training suggests it shouldn’t be a factor in our operations. This article is a companion piece, featuring a deeper dive into wake turbulence characteristics and behavior to help us predict where it is and […]

If you’re in love with the look of the traditional six-pack in your airplane—or don’t want to spend the cash on a new instrument panel—but want to incorporate the latest in glass multifunction capability into your cockpit, a new solution just dropped that answers that desire. Garmin has debuted on January 15, 2020, an electronic […]

Somewhere among all your stuff, there’s undoubtedly a stash of old logbooks. Mine are on a bookcase in the den—except the most recent of six, which is sitting open on the dining-room table, patiently waiting to be updated. It’s been several years since that’s happened, but I keep stickers for flight reviews and jot down […]

Vintage aircraft often have vintage owners. Familiarity being a source of contempt, long-time owners of aircraft seeing little activity may also see little need to perform preventive maintenance or conduct regular inspections. It was just fine when I parked it; what could possibly have broken while it was sitting in a hangar? can be a familiar refrain to pilots who have owned the same airplane for a significant time. After a while, the pilot/owner is so familiar with the aircraft, he or she can tell somethings wrong just by the slipstream noise.

Sure as the BRS Save-O-The-Month calendar flips to a new year, we here at the Department of Self-Righteous Finger Pointing, present the best of the dumbest ways pilots have contributed to keeping the skies safe by rendering as many aircraft as possible unairworthy. Today, we review the year 2016, which reflected a modest improvement in not crashing but still logged 1627 accident/incidents worthy of NTSB note. Thats 4.46 events per day or roughly one prang every 5.3 hours. As with past Stupid Pilot Tricks, we use NTSB probable cause results and dont report on fatal accidents.