Features

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

I, Taildragger Bigot As you say, being a taildragger or glider pilot doesn’t by definition make you a better pilot overall. But I do believe getting some glider (which I have) and taildragger (which I haven’t – there really aren’t many of them to train in in my local area) training will help. It’s not […]

Before glass panels, specifically Primary Flight Displays (PFD) and Multi-Functional Displays (MFD), partial panel in round-gauge, six-pack panels meant losing the attitude (AI) and heading (HI) indicators as a result of losing the only vacuum pump. We dreaded when the CFII or examiner pulled out those pesky round rubber instrument covers with suction cups and […]

I could tell something was different when I walked up to the airplane. Aside from it being bright red instead of the standard Sonex yellow, the new Waiex B-Model (also available as a straight-tailed Sonex) just looked larger. Not a lot larger—just where it counts—in cabin room, seating position, and up front, where you hang […]

Overheard on Austin Approach: AA123: “What’s going on down there? That’s the second time we’ve been vectored through the localizer!” This was followed by a long pause. AUS Approach: “Previous controller no longer a factor.” Paul Millner Berkeley, CA

Some mentor, long ago, explained aviation weather to me: “There are two kinds of weather you never want to fly in no matter the aircraft,” he said. “Icing and thunderstorms.” He wasn’t wrong. But until we gain some experience, sometimes it’s hard to tell when we’ve gotten too close to either weather situation. Put another […]

Cheap Money Boosts Aircraft Sales Another interesting aviation paradox. Cheap money to finance the late model used airplane, with a significant percentage of loans going to those who have the means to pay cash, more likely are an older demographic, and yet are harder and almost prohibitively expensive to insure. Or, if a younger demographic, […]

“Unusual” is a subjective,‭ ‬time-sensitive evaluation inspired by something that is rare or exceptional‭, ‬something not common or usual‭. ‬This certainly describes the maroon two-seat biplane tied down in front of Homebuilt Headquarters at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019‭. ‬With its negatively staggered wings‭, ‬it was equally exceptional when its designer‭, ‬72-year-old Miles Westfall‭, ‬flew the […]

Get it out of your system now. Mock this XCub’s distinguishing feature. Ask if you can get it without the training wheel. Remind us all that Piper did this once and the result was an airplane so unlovely that they built the Cherokee (or maybe it was the Comanche) as an apology. Proclaim to everyone […]

Returning from Oshkosh 2019 (“AirVenture” has not quite captured the imagination), while going through security at the Appleton, Wisconsin, airport (KATW), the TSA officer asked me if I had cheese or sausage in my carry-on. I must have given a quizzical look and the officer said: “Oh that’s a Wisconsin thing.” Well, we all had […]