Aviation Safety

The FAA has opened the comment period on a nose-gear airworthiness directive (AD) for the Tecnam P2006T piston twin that follows onto a mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) initiated under EASA in March 2019. The proposed AD and MCAI address an unsafe condition driven by a manufacturing defect in the nose landing-gear (NLG) piston tube. […]

In its preliminary report, Transport Canada’s Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS) says a police drone caused “major damage” when it crashed into a Cessna 172N near Buttonville Municipal Airport (CYKZ) in Toronto on August 10. The 172, which had an instructor and student on board, was on final approach into the airport. It […]

“We swung over the hills and over the town and back again, and I saw how a man can be master of a craft, and how a craft can be master of an element. I saw the alchemy of perspective reduce my world, and all my other life, to grains in a cup… And I […]

It was a dark and stormy night; my electrical system had failed, and the battery was dead. Descending lower and lower in the murk, looking for familiar landmarks, I saw—dead ahead—the magnificent Jeremiah Morrow Bridge spanning the Little Miami River on Ohio’s Interstate 71. My only option was to fly beneath that high-and-wide span and […]

A de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver crashed Thursday, August 5, eight miles northeast of Ketchikan, Alaska. The pilot and all five passengers were killed. The aircraft is owned by Southeast Aviation, which provides sightseeing tours, including one to the Misty Fjords National Monument. According to a news release from the U.S. Coast Guard, an EPIRB (emergency […]

Just ahead of EAA AirVenture 2021, Garmin released two products for the general aviation marketplace—one, Smart Glide, is a safety enhancement to engage during an engine power loss, while the other is an improved GI-275 engine indicator system. When the pilot of a single-engine aircraft experiences a sudden power loss—whether instructor induced or for real—they […]

A July 7th report from the Alaska State Troopers in Aniak confirmed there were no injuries after an 18-year-old man—Jaden Lake-Kameroff—attempted to wrestle the controls of a Cessna Caravan away from the pilot and pushed the aircraft’s nose down. The incident occurred at approximately 1444 local time when the aircraft was about 5 miles from […]

The 1960s were a time when young people growing up during those years were pretty skeptical of authority. The motto I remember was: “Never trust anyone over 30.” I never figured out if that actually made sense, not even after I passed through my 30s and beyond. What I did learn for sure as I […]

Think about some of the performance numbers you use to operate your aircraft—climb or descent rates, airspeeds, and so on. In a jet, most of those numbers normally increase, significantly. In a Cessna 172, a descent rate of 3,100 fpm would be frightening to anyone on board, not to mention the nose down angle required […]

Appareo announced its AIRS-400 airborne image recording system at the Aircraft Electronics Association convention in Dallas, Texas, on June 22. The 4K ultra-high definition system captures video and ARINC 429 aircraft information—including pilot intercom and ambient audio—which can be offloaded via a cellular data connection. The lightweight unit is suitable for a full spectrum of […]