Search Results for: general aviation inc

What is this voodoo? I’d been glancing outside the airplane, a last check for traffic on short final, as Eric Smedberg, chief pilot for Innovative Solutions & Support, swung the Pilatus PC-12 onto the runway and engaged the autothrottle system with a simple press of a button. I looked down just in time to see […]

Hartzell Propeller announced it has entered into a partnership with Eviation to produce customized propellers to drive the company’s electric commuter, an 11-seat airplane called Alice, currently in the development phase. The airplane will be powered solely by electricity stored in high-energy density batteries with motors spinning three five-blade carbon fiber pusher propellers approximately 65 […]

Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) is considering moving smaller general aviation operations to other fields, according to local news sources. The idea was recently mentioned during a general aviation master plan update focused around Salt Lake City International, South Valley Regional Airport (U42) and Tooele Valley Airport (TVY). Steve Domino, a consultant with RS&H […]

Six major aviation associations yesterday jointly published, “Know Before You Go,” a number of best communications and business practices designed to make FBO pricing more transparent to customers. The KBYG list includes potential prices, fees and charges pilots might face at an airport. The awareness campaign is designed to improve the overall customer experience. “While […]

It would be tough for anyone even remotely close to the aviation industry not to realize there is a shortage of well-qualified pilots here in the United States. The effects of the age-65 retirement adjustment in 2009 really began grabbing airline pilots out of the cockpit the past few years. Adding to the problem is […]

With the understanding that building airplanes is just one facet of its overall business, Cirrus Aircraft has launched what it calls Cirrus Services, a division “created to build lifetime relationships with customers by addressing their needs before, during and after initial aircraft ownership,” the company said. The new business unit combines flight training, service and […]

Experimental amateur-built aircraft in 2017 achieved their safest year ever, according to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). The association based its findings on the recently finalized results of the FAAs 2017 General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey (GA Survey). Pilots of experimental amateur-built (E-AB) aircraft were involved in fatal accidents at a lower rate than has ever been recorded, with 2.63 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours last year, the association said. That fatal accident rate-2.63-breaks a record set the previous year, when E-AB pilots were involved in 3.6 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours, EAA added.

A witness observed the airplane make a normal landing aligned with the runway centerline. His attention was momentarily diverted and when he looked back, the airplane was established in a gradual left turn, maneuvering at a slow speed in a three-point attitude. The airplane then collided with the airport perimeter fence and came to rest about 600 feet past the touchdown point. The pilot stated that, despite application of brakes and right rudder, the airplane veered off the runway. Damage included the right wing strut.

Looking back, the results were predictable, but the pilots and operators of earlier aircraft rarely had a choice. Advances in technology today allow precise engine monitoring and data evaluation so as to accurately predict and prevent upcoming partial or complete engine failures. In fact, monitoring has improved to the point that its rare for a modern and properly maintained-and operated-piston aircraft engine to fail without some kind of warning. The operators job is to conduct appropriate monitoring and analysis, and then to act when the data indicate a problem. Establishing an engine monitoring program and the minimal investment in equipment and training can be a significant factor in improving safety and reducing the overall cost of operation.

Lets start by dispensing with the obvious: Loss of control in flight is a lousy explanation, and not much better as a description. Eventually well come up with something better, which hopefully will reflect the myriad ways pilots can let aircraft get away from them. Spatial disorientation in IMC is as different from a moose stall as wake turbulence is from sloppily flown S-turns on final. At best, the ICAOs accident taxonomy-adopted by the FAA and NTSB, presumably in the name of harmonization-provides snapshots of how accident sequences end with negligible insight into what triggered them or how they developed. As a safety strategy, Dont lose control is about as useful as Dont let the engine quit.