Accidents

With a growing number of light aircraft taking on jet-A instead of avgas—from a diesel-powered Cessna 172 to the single-engine Cirrus VisionJet—a prudent pilot stays on guard to supervise fueling if at all possible. But anecdotally speaking, many of us have operated under the impression that misfuelling a piston airplane burning 100LL with jet fuel […]

The Boeing B-17 Nine-O-Nine crashed at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, during a week of an airshow featuring vintage aircraft. The airplane was operated by The Collings Foundation. The airport confirmed in a statement at 10:21 a.m. on Wednesday, October 2, that a Collings Foundation “World War II aircraft” had been involved in […]

In December 1996, a pilot and his companion checked out a Beech T-34 Mentor from the flying club at the Memphis Naval Air Station in Millington, Tennessee. They departed at about 4:15 in the afternoon on a 300-nautical-mile trip to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. By the time they approached the Gulf Coast, it was dark. […]

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } The stunning super STOL favorite, Draco, was totaled in a takeoff accident this week as owner Mike Patey attempted to leave Reno-Stead after the […]

There’s a reason pilots don’t train for some inflight failures. Sometimes those failures are so rare that the likelihood of a pilot encountering them is not deemed worthy of more than a mention during ground school. Then there are those failures for which no solution exists, as was experienced by a designated pilot examiner and […]

Remember the last time someone mentioned a bounced landing? Might not have been that long ago because we all bounce them in now and again. But somehow bouncing the landing in a Cessna 172 just doesn’t seem all that serious to most pilots, assuming of course the bounce didn’t begin by impacting the runway with […]

The NTSB has released information that brings some light to the accident that likely induced a lot more adrenaline than race car driving does to 44-year-old professional driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the son of the legendary NASCAR Hall of Fame competitor Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Earnhardt and his family, who were taking a quick 20-minute hop […]

While the National Transportation Safety Board does not normally determine a probable cause for an aircraft accident for months, or sometimes years after an event, the preliminary report the Board released of a July 11, 2019, accident involving an Icon A5 made it clear the pilot did not understand how to calculate the airplane’s actual […]

Aware that this column will have new developments by the time it goes to print, I hesitated to write about the subject. But I felt ­passionate enough that it would be a ­disservice to readers if this particular ­airline guy didn’t weigh in, especially for ­someone that spent an entire jet career flying Boeing products. […]

Seven people at a scenic overlook in California’s Death Valley National Park suffered injuries after a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet crashed on Wednesday, officials said. Aviation enthusiasts routinely come to see military fighters flying low through what has unofficially been dubbed Star Wars Canyon. Debris was scattered across the canyon as a dark billow […]