Safety

Some element of human interaction, or lack of one, is responsible for nearly 70 percent of all aircraft accidents. Most of those involve violating a least one FAR, like flying a VFR aircraft into IFR weather, busting minimums on an approach, or a pilot flying when common sense said they weren’t in physical shape to […]

Both the FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) recently issued airworthiness directives to operators of Gulfstream’s fly-by-wire aircraft, with an additional warning of potential applicability to the company’s G500/ G600 fleet. The initial ADs were issued against the G650/G650ER, G500 and G600 fleet regarding continued flight after a flight control surface shutdown. […]

The FAA last week ruled the Collings Foundation could no longer accept money from people who wanted to ride on the organization’s World War II aircraft. The ruling included a critical look at the NTSB and the agency’s finding following the October 2, 2019, crash of the foundation’s B-17G, “Nine O Nine” at Bradley International […]

The cover story in The New York Times magazine for September 22, 2019, was entitled, “What Really Brought Down the Boeing 737 Max?” The writer, William Langewiesche—son of the sainted author of Stick and Rudder, Wolfgang Langewiesche—is a veteran of Flying, an experienced pilot, and a thorough and technically savvy researcher of his wide-ranging articles […]

On March 8, 2017, the FAA granted Boeing an amended type certificate for the 737 Max 8, the 12th derivative of the 737 and the first successor aircraft to the 737 NG series. The first fatal crash of a Lion Air 737 Max 8 occurred just 17 months later near Jakarta, Indonesia. Another Max 8, […]

Transport Canada and the FAA are looking for input on the operation of the cargo doors on certain models of the Cessna 206, particularly those involving floatplane installations. An August 2018 accident in the Northwest Territories, Canada, trigged the request. The pilot of the Simpson Air Limited Cessna U206G had four passengers on board the […]

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 […]

FlightSafety International announced on January 27 it is expanding its helicopter training programs and services by adding new Level-D-qualified simulators for the Airbus Helicopters EC145 and Leonardo AW139. Level D certification is only assigned to the highest-fidelity simulators, capable of night, dusk and day visuals, as well as movement through multiple axes of motion. The […]

The Raytheon Company was recently selected to improve the usability and reduce operational costs for the FAA’s Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System, a critical element in the efforts to modernize the national airspace system. Raytheon’s STARS team, collaborating with the FAA’s NextGen modernization program, aims to achieve a historic first—a single national software and hardware […]

Santa Paula Airport is a 20-minute flight from my home base, Whiteman Airport. The fuel there is $1.25 per gallon cheaper, however, so when I’m flying around the local area, I often stop at Santa Paula to refuel. The precise economics of fuel tourism are an SAT-level problem, but if I’m over Santa Paula anyway, […]