NTSB

Investigators at the site of the January 26 crash of a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter—which claimed the lives of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his young daughter and seven others—said the aircraft missed clearing the hill it struck near Calabasas, California, by some 30 feet. National Transportation Safety Board investigator Bill English made a point during a […]

While it is still too early to draw any final conclusions about what brought down the Pilatus PC-12 this past Thanksgiving weekend, the NTSB’s preliminary report published December 18 does highlight some disturbing facts about the single-engine turboprop’s short flight after it departed Chamberlin Municipal Airport, South Dakota (9V9). The accident killed the pilot and […]

Viewing the Manhattan skyline from any vantage point is impressive, but when seen from aloft the Big Apple skyline becomes a breathtaking experience. In March 2018, a New York tour operator launched an Airbus AS350 helicopter with a pilot and five passengers for what was expected to be a 30-minute dusk flight near the East […]

Following an accident on Southwest Airlines (SWA) Flight 1380 in April 2018 that resulted in the death of passenger Jennifer Riordan, the National Transportation Safety Board announced the probable cause during a public board meeting held last week. A fractured fan blade from a CFM International CFM-56-7B engine, powering a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, led […]

The NTSB last week said its preliminary data showed U.S. civil aviation deaths in 2018 rose from the 347 reported in 2017 to 393 last year with most of those 2018 fatalities occurring in general aviation operations. General aviation was in fact responsible for 1,275 accidents in 2018 that included 381 of the fatalities, fully […]

As the Collings Foundation’s crippled B-17, N93012, was approaching Runway 6 at Bradley Windsor Locks, Connecticut, a few weeks ago, the crew was already desperately pressed for altitude to try and align the World War II bomber with the runway for landing. Shortly after takeoff from Runway 6 just minutes before, the airplane never climbed […]

The pre-takeoff briefing in a transport category airplane always includes the flying pilot’s intentions should an emergency or anomaly occur during the takeoff roll. The reason to have all the duck’s in a row is that once the aircraft accelerates to decision speed, there are precious few seconds available for much thinking. Decision speed – […]

Handling emergencies and unusual situations is a significant part of learning to fly and remaining current to fly any airplane. Flight training can’t possibly teach pilots how to handle every single event they could encounter, however. With that concept in mind, pilots are often taught to look for the similarities between one event and another […]

John Goglia and Gregory Feith, two well-known and outspoken aviation safety insiders, this week released episode three of their new podcast the “Flight Safety Detectives.” The show looks in depth at aircraft accidents, aircraft technology and the big business of aviation around the world. The hosts will also provide important “backstories” to the flying public […]

In response to what the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) considers to be “far too many preventable accidents involving Part 135 flight operations in Alaska,” the Board convened a Part 135 Flight Operations Roundtable on September 6, 2019, in Anchorage. Since 2008, the NTSB has investigated 182 accidents involving fixed-wing scheduled and non-scheduled Part 135 […]