Accidents

Unresponsive Cessna 421 Pilot Crashes in Gulf of Mexico

Authorities have suspended the search for the body of the Cessna 421 pilot who crashed into the Gulf of Mexico Thursday afternoon after remaining unresponsive to air traffic control calls for several hours. The Cessna 421 took off from Slidell, Louisiana, on Thursday morning and headed southeast over the Gulf, but drew concern from air […]

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The Human Factor: The Dangers of Confirmation Bias

Each month I receive the NTSB Reporter (ntsbreporter@aol.com), which provides an abbreviated version of some of the more interesting NTSB reports that have been issued recently, along with a paragraph or two on a number of recent accidents and other stories of interest. As I read through the weather and other information available to a […]

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Aftermath: Too Low, Too Slow

The photograph is haunting, if you know when it was taken. Most of the upper part of the frame is filled with a bright yellow wing, banked fairly steeply to the right. The flap is down a notch; the aileron too is deflected slightly downward. The lower part of the picture contains a patch of […]

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Howard Pardue Crash Update: Low-Level Acro on Departure

The ** crash of an F8F Bearcat** at Breckenridge, Texas, last week that claimed the life of well known air racer and airshow performer Howard Pardue came during an abortive aerobatic maneuver. According the NTSB’s preliminary report on the crash, Pardue was executing a low-level manuever that somehow went terribly wrong. A witness, a pilot […]

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Photos of F/A-18 Crash Show Extent of Damage

Photos released by the U.S. Navy of the fiery F-18 crash on Friday show a stark contrast between the extensive material damage caused by the aircraft when it went down in a Virginia Beach residential area and the surprising lack of any serious injuries on the ground. Officials announced on Saturday that all residents of […]

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Jose Wejebe, Popular TV Host, Dies in Light Airplane Crash

Jose Wejebe, host of the Outdoor Channel’s popular Spanish Fly fishing show, died on Friday when his homebuilt Comp Air 8 crashed shortly after takeoff from Everglade Airpark (X01) and caught fire. The aircraft was destroyed and Wejebe, who was 54 years old, died at the scene. He was the sole occupant of the airplane […]

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GE Culpable in 2008 Sikorsky Crash, Jury Says

A jury on Tuesday ordered General Electric to pay $70 million in damages for its role in the August 2008 crash of a Sikorsky S-61N helicopter. The verdict came after the surviving pilot and the family of the co-pilot killed in the crash filed a $177 million lawsuit against General Electric for negligence associated with […]

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Video Captures Dramatic Apache Crash

A video showing footage of a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache crash that took place in the mountains of Afghanistan last month has made its way onto the web. The footage, captured in the village of Marzak, shows the helicopter flying low and fast over a U.S. outpost before pulling up, doubling back and descending sharply. […]

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Cessna Citation Crashes After Landing Goes Awry

Five people died on Thursday afternoon when a Cessna Citation 501 crashed while attempting to land at Macon County Airport in Franklin, North Carolina. According to the Miami Herald, eyewitnesses said the aircraft appeared too high during its first steep, fast descent into Runway 25. On the second attempt, the Citation, again according to witnesses, […]

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Wingwalker’s Early Move Caused Fatal Fall, Report Says

Wing-walker Todd Green, who was killed in front of thousands of spectators last August when he fell from a Boeing Stearman during an attempted helicopter transfer, let go of the airplane too early, the NTSB concluded in its recently published accident report. According to the report, both the A75N1 Stearman and the Hughes 269C helicopter […]

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Pilot in aircraft
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