Safety

Jean-Claude was in the left seat. He was senior to me, but I was flying. We were near the equator, where Mermoz and Guillaumet had once flown — but they, poor fellows, had not been at 35,000 feet! We entered the clouds at what looked like a soft spot in a squall line. At first […]

“That’s what notams are. They are just a bunch of garbage that nobody pays any attention to.” It would be a dramatic statement regardless of who said it. But this was Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, speaking at a hearing. Sumwalt had reason to be upset. An Air Canada jetliner had […]

When Cirrus aircraft began entering the market around the turn of this century, some pundits were certain the new-age, glass-cockpit airplane was just what the industry needed to improve the single-engine safety record. As it turned out, the first decade or so of Cirrus operations were marred by more than a few fatal accidents, despite […]

Should pilots be napping in the cockpit? Safety experts say maybe yes, but the FAA isn’t so sure it’s a good idea. The Flight Safety Foundation has published a guide developed with an industry “fatigue countermeasures” working group that details the “best practices for implementation of a policy allowing for controlled rest (CR) on the […]

One topic that sometimes receives scant attention during flight training is the effect of temperature on a pilot’s ability to understand just how much air separates them from the ground. Aircraft altimeters don’t operate normally when subjected to extremely cold temperatures. In cold regions of the globe, failure to compensate for extreme cold can induce […]

Loss of Control, also referred to as LOC, is one of the most common causes of fatal general aviation accidents, representing more than 1,200 fatal accidents in the past 10 years, according to the FAA. As such, it is one of the focuses of the FAA’s effort in reducing the risk of flying. The effort […]

The FAA is warning drone operators to fly clear of areas that have been affected by Hurricane Florence. According to statements released by the FAA on its website and Twitter, flying drones in the impacted regions could interfere with local, state, and federal recovery missions. Drone pilots caught breaking this rule could be slapped with […]

The latest safety report published by the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, the aviation arm of the United Nations, says 2017 was the safest year on record for civil aviation, excluding general aviation. The report provides a high level summary of ICAO’s safety initiatives and achievements to enhance aviation safety last year, along with […]

There’s truly good news for the GA community in this year’s Nall Report and analysis of general aviation accidents; GA pilots are flying more hours and having fewer accidents. The editors of the Joseph T. Nall Report view their goal in gathering and reviewing accident data pretty much the same way they have since the […]

A whistleblower has come forward with allegations that the FAA allowed unsafe airplanes to fly commercial operations, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which said it investigated the complaints and uncovered troubling abuses from within the agency. In a June 13 release, the OSC described that the whistleblower uncovered that the FAA approved […]