Pilot Proficiency

South African airshow pilot Nigel Hopkins, who is in France getting prepared for the 28th FAI World Aerobatic Championships, is fortunate to be alive after his MX Aircraft MX2 airplane broke up in flight. Hopkins was on a practice flight in preparation for the competition, which is set to take place August 20 through 29 […]

When flying into uncontrolled airports, you rely on other pilots in the area to help avoid midair collisions by following the recommended procedures and communicating intentions on the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF). Without a controller providing guidance, it is important to follow the recommended arrival and departure procedures to minimize the risks. While radio […]

A tragic accident happened on Sunday morning as a result of a midair collision northeast of Brown Field Municipal Airport located in the suburb of Otay Mesa 13 miles southeast of San Diego, California. Five people were killed when the two airplanes, which were both approaching the airport to land, plummeted to the ground in […]

Rescue workers in Indonesia have reached the crash site of an ATR-42 twin turboprop that went down in a mountainous area with 54 people on board, a senior government official told reporters. The teams on the ground have so far found at least 38 bodies at the scene and haven’t found any survivors, according to […]

The Coast Guard has suspended its search for the pilot of a Lancair Evolution that went down in the Pacific Ocean 460 miles off the California coast Thursday night. Coast Guard aircraft and ships searched for the crash site for five hours on Friday, reporting spotting aircraft debris but no signs of the pilot. They […]

A landing Ryan ST-3KR collided with a lawn mower Thursday morning, killing a 75-year-old man who was mowing the grass runway at Frazier Lake Airpark in Hollister, California. The WWII taildragger, traveling from Monte Sereno, California, had already touched down when it struck the lawn mower on the landing strip. The FAA and NTSB are […]

Some pilots aren’t totally sure of the differences between a spin and a spiral dive. That’s OK in the classroom setting when discussing aerodynamic theory, but it can be dangerous in the cockpit should either flight condition be allowed to develop and the pilot doesn’t immediately know what’s going on or the corrective actions to […]

The National Transportation Safety Board released aviation accident statistics for 2014 showing a slight increase in fatal general aviation accidents, which rose from 222 in 2013 to 253 in 2014. The overall number of GA accidents dropped slightly from 1,224 in 2013 to 1,221 in 2014, but the accident rate increased from 6.26 per 100,000 […]

A traffic conflict with a microlight is being considered as a factor in an unstable approach flown by the pilot of an Embraer Phenom 300 that overran the runway at Blackbushe Airport outside London last week, crashing in a fireball and killing the 11,000-hour pilot and three members of Osama Bin Laden’s family. UK accident […]

Just Aircraft, maker of the SuperSTOL bush plane that crashed last week in South Carolina with company co-founder Troy Woodland at the controls, issued a statement blaming the mishap on water contamination in the fuel. The company also heaped praise on the airplane’s steel tube cage for allowing Woodland and a passenger to escape the […]