Aviation Safety

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, […]

Three men chartered a Beechcraft Bonanza for a late-night flight between Mason City (KMCW), Iowa, and Fargo (KFAR), North Dakota, about 200 nautical miles. The 21-year-old charter pilot’s initial review of the forecast that chilly February evening called for VFR weather with bases along the route at 5,000 feet and visibility of 10 miles. The only […]

GAPPRE is a mouthful even as an acronym. But the Flight Safety Foundation and its partner groups are hoping the Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Excursions will help create solutions to one of the most serious accident risks to both large and small aircraft, as well as their occupants. The International Air […]

I recently selected 32 accident analyses, from the nearly 500 that I have written since I took over Flying’s Aftermath column in 1980, and assembled them into a book called Why? Thinking About Plane Crashes. It’s available from Amazon as a paperback or an e-book. I hope someone will buy it. I would pledge that […]

Inadvertent VFR flight into IMC weather and the resulting fatal accidents are not simply a problem for aircraft pilots, but also for those flying helicopters. In a news release, the US Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) said, “Between 2000 to 2019 in the US, there were 130 fatal accidents directly linked to the issue of spatial […]

The media team at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, New Mexico, first reported the story of how a civilian air traffic controller—Wendy Smith—working in Kirtland Tower saved the six-person flight crew of an Air Force CV-22, and avoided a $90 million accident. Cassidy is a 12-year veteran controller at Kirtland. “They were taking off on a […]