Careless Pilots & Instrument Failures
When their equipment doesn’t work, pilots need to work a little harder.
Aftermath
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A Case of Unstabilized Approach
The accident report highlights the culture of omertà among professional pilots that keeps them from blowing the whistle on incompetent or unsafe colleagues.
The Unknown in the Machine
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. […]
What Makes a Debatable Risk?
A questionable takeoff in fog by the pilot of a Cessna 340 ends in tragedy.
For Two Pilots, a False Reality Has Tragic Results
They aren’t the only ones who have been led astray by incorrect expectations in IMC.
A Pilot Asks for Tragedy—and Finds It
A pilot with a shocking disregard for personal safety comes to his inevitable demise.
Why Before-Takeoff Control Checks Are Important
Maintenance techs aren’t required to be pilots or aerodynamicists.
Sometimes It’s Better Just to Follow the Instructions
The 225-hour commercial pilot, 55, had built his JD-2 Dyke Delta in St. Louis and, after several test flights there, took it to Safford, Arizona. Originally intended as a roadable aircraft, the JD-2 had folding wings and sufficiently springy main gear and large tires to allow it to be towed behind a car. It made […]
Into the Dark of Spatial Disorientation
Do you believe your backside or your lyin’ eyes?
The Downwind Turn Revisited
In 2018, a Junkers Ju 52 crashed in the Swiss Alps while attempting to cross a 10,000-foot saddle from south to north amid gusting winds.
