Weather

The National Transportation Safety Board’s 2014 “Most Wanted” list of transportation safety concerns includes, “General Aviation: Identify and Communicate Hazardous Weather,” and “Address Unique Characteristics of Helicopter Operations,” as two of 10 issues the Board says deserve increased focus in the coming year. In the 2014 Most Wanted list released today, the NTSB stated: “The […]

The Challenger 600 that crashed in Aspen, Colorado, on Sunday afternoon was on its second approach to the airport after the pilots aborted their first landing because of an extremely strong tailwind on short final. The copilot was killed when the jet went off the right side of the runway during the second landing attempt, […]

When the U.K. Environmental Agency warned of high winds in northern England earlier this month, they weren’t crying wolf. The agency cautioned of 90-mph winds in the region and parts of Scotland, forcing ScotRail to cancel train service on December 5. The pilot of an Emirates Boeing 777 trying to land at Birmingham International Airport […]

Illustrations by Barry Ross| Climbing through 15,000 feet, I breathe a sigh of relief, slide my seat back and take a look around. Orange County, California, has one of the busier departure procedures in the country, and it’s a bit of a workout even when you’re familiar with it. But now that we’re high above […]

It’s a video that makes pilots cringe and prompts airline passengers to question the wisdom of flying coach. A Swiss BAe 146/Avro RJ four-engine jet made a rough landing at London City Airport, slamming onto the runway under what appear to be extreme crosswind conditions. The 48-second video then shows the regional jet skidding and […]

Dual Electronics’ XGPS170 combination GPS/ADS-B receiver is now compatible with WSI’s Pilotbrief Optima iPad app. WSI’s app, available through the Apple iTunes store or at wsi.com/pilotbrief, provides what the company describes as “professional-grade weather services at a private pilot price.” It also incorporates charts and flight-planning software. Adding ADS-B via the Bluetooth connection on the […]

The winds of fate can blow with a gentle moderate assistance, or they can be right on the nose at 80 knots. Fate is the hunter, as Ernie Gann so eloquently put it, and the winds are frequently the weapon of choice. No matter what you fly today, winds will have a heavy effect on […]

** | |Illustrations by Chris Gall**| In Joni Mitchell’s 1969 song “Both Sides, Now,” a haunting and sentimental little earwig, the singer laments that after looking at clouds “from both sides now,” she really doesn’t know them very well at all. The same could be said for many pilots. Even after thousands of hours in […]

An AgustaWestland AW109 crashed in thick fog into a construction crane atop a London residential high-rise on Wednesday morning, killing the pilot and one person on the ground and sparking a fire when the helicopter plunged to the ground. According to news reports from London, 13 others were injured in the crash near a busy […]

Nexrad radar is a wonderful tool for picking through areas of precipitation or diverting around thunderstorms. But like anything related to flying, good judgment is key. The information on the screen, whether you’re displaying it on panel-mounted avionics or a handheld unit, is not necessarily updated enough to be trusted to navigate through or skirt […]