Aviation Safety

The FAA in January 2021 sent a letter to Pedro Fabregas, president and CEO of Envoy Air, Inc—American Airlines’ largest regional partner—that the agency’s safety assurance system inspectors had identified nine potential operational safety concerns related to flight crew performance. The letter and other documents were anonymously sent to Flying magazine, but were believed to […]

Three people walked away unscathed on May 12 after a Cirrus SR22 and a Swearingen Metroliner collided in midair about three miles north of the threshold of Runway 17L at Denver Centennial Airport (KAPA) located a few miles southeast of the city of Denver, Colorado. The AvHerald reported the Metroliner—Key Lime Air 970—was inbound to […]

“What’s it doing now?” If you haven’t said or thought it in the cockpit, you’ve almost certainly heard it from someone else. The question often has to do with new technology in the cockpit or automation not doing what you think it should. With more and more advanced systems—particularly with regards to navigation—expectation bias is […]

When you can say, “Been there, done that!”

Whatever may be said about the FAA, it produces some useful publications. One of them is Advisory Circular 90-109A, Transition to Unfamiliar Aircraft. Not to be confused with its sister publication, AC 90-89, Amateur-Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook, AC 90-109A is directed at pilots beginning to fly an airplane of a type with […]

Aerox creates the latest product in the company’s line of aviator’s oxygen gear, the PrO2 Plus.

Dr. Scott Dennstaedt says, “General aviation has been plagued with a deadly virus for many decades called VFR into IMC. Flying visual flight rules (VFR) into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) continues to be the leading cause of fatal weather-related accidents.” Dennstaedt says his new product EZWxBrief is a cure for this virus. “Many general aviation […]

The FAA recently published advisory circular 91-92, a guide to assist pilots in completing a comprehensive preflight briefing. The AC, aimed at Part 91 operators, will serve as an educational roadmap for the development and implementation of preflight self-briefings, including planning, weather interpretation, and risk identification/mitigation skills. The guide says, “Pilots adopting these guidelines will […]

The Canadian Air Traffic Control Association (CATCA), the union representing all Canadian air traffic controllers in the country, recently raised serious public safety concerns that could result from the anticipated control tower closures and service reductions being suggested in an ongoing NAV Canada system review. CATCA said in a news release, “Despite prior assurances from […]

We’ve all been there. You land at an unfamiliar airport and—after squinting at the airport diagram on paper, panel, or iPad—you try to sort out the best place to park. At times, you’ll get lucky and an intrepid FBO golf cart will zoom out to fetch you and guide you in—but then the question arises, […]