Aviation Safety

The US Government Accountability Office recently published a report about the methodology used by the FAA’s Office of Aviation Safety to assess the competency of its engineer and inspector force. The GAO says there’s a need to respond to workforce changes brought on by retiring personnel, as well as the host of new technologies needed […]

An adventurous pilot falls for his aircraft with fatal results.

Premier Aircraft Sales, the Diamond Aircraft dealer for much of the eastern US and the Caribbean said in a news release that it recently delivered the first Diamond DA40 NG with a brand new jet-fuel-powered Austro engine (at 168 hp) to UFLYVI, based in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. The news release said, “UFLYVI is […]

The crash of a T-6 Texan II in Alabama last week—in addition to the loss of an F-18 Hornet near China Lake California earlier in the week—was enough for the head of Naval Air Forces to call for a one-day safety stand-down that grounded all non-deployed units in an attempt to determine the cause of […]

A Daher TBM 700, N965DM, departed Manchester, New Hampshire (KMHT), on October 2 at approximately 19 minutes past 10 am bound for Buffalo, New York (KBUF), some 374 miles to the west. The pilot, a prominent New York attorney, held a private pilot certificate with an instrument rating and filed an appropriate IFR flight plan […]

The AOPA’s Air Safety Institute last week published the 30th Nall Report, an annual look at safety statistics surrounding GA flying. The latest report looks at 2018 safety data gathered from both the NTSB and the FAA. The report began, “Although 2018 saw an increase in total accidents, the good news is that the overall […]

A court in the Russian Federation recently handed down prison sentences of between five and six years to three air traffic controllers for their roles in an October 2014 accident at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. The court said the controllers violated Russian safety rules for transportation by allowing a Falcon 50 to strike a snowplow during […]

It’s a well-known fact too much alcohol can alter a person’s mood, behavior and coordination, not to mention impairing their decision-making abilities. Aviators are not immune to the complications surrounding alcohol as some professional pilots have learned when they were removed from revenue flights after another crewmember or gate agent smelled alcohol on their breath. […]

The National Business Aviation Association last week recognized two pilots, Bruce Monnier and Gerald Downs with its first-ever NBAA Above and Beyond Airmanship Award, for their heroic efforts to land their Cessna Citation 550 at Savannah’s Hilton Head Airport (KSAV) following the complete failure of both engines. One of the Citation’s engines flamed out at […]

Uncertainty makes for an accident waiting to happen.