Features

You successfully executed the approach; the engine is shut down and the wheels are chocked. Another successful flight is over. Or is it? To me, every flight is a learning opportunity. Being safely on the ground is the best time to reflect on the latest dance with the elements. Just because you landed without incident doesn’t […]

Heard on ground frequency at Oakland‑Pontiac, Michigan, airport. Oakland Ground: “Ground vehicle 1, we’ve had a report of a hawk and a fox fighting at the approach end to 9R. Please investigate.” Ground One (minutes later): “Oakland Ground, this is Ground Vehicle One. The fight is over. The hawk won.” Ground (in his best movie […]

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 […]

Rudy And The J-3 TP Massacre Paul, What a wonderful story and so typical of dad. If you came to the airport, he would treat you like a star. Even if you did not bring an airplane that he wanted to fly. We grew up with the TP maneuver. At a Frasca Field Airshow, the […]

“May you live in interesting times.” The purported Chinese curse is a most suitable understatement for what we inhabitants of this fragile blue marble have been experiencing as the year 2020 grinds on. Here in the pilot’s lounge at the virtual airport the regulars have been staying in touch electronically and flying little. COVID-19 has […]

Technologies develop, sometimes slowly over time, with the kind of sloth that makes you wake up one day, see an evolved landscape, and question your strongly held beliefs. Such as: For any airplane you’d consider flying in instrument conditions, at least a modicum of redundancy is required. We used to want fully distributed systems to […]

This story originally appeared in KITPLANES. By LeRoy Cook The Whisper motorglider from South Africa, designed by Russell Phillips in 2004, served admirably in its intended role as a long-winged self-launching soaring aircraft boosted aloft by an 80-hp Jabiru, Limbach or Rotax engine. But with over 30 Whispers flying, there was obviously a potential for […]

On a beautiful day last fall we were flying a practice ILS at Winnipeg International Airport. We had been cleared for a low approach when I asked the tower: Me: Does the local airport authority charge the $10.00 landing fee if one does a touch and go? Tower: I don’t know but I will check. […]

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 […]

Hey, Tower, Do I Amuse You? I’m a controller, enroute and I work in Safety. I think every controller should be pilot rated and I think the FAA should pay for it. Some of our best trainers are pilot rated controllers. We have had several aircraft saves in the past with a pilot rated controller […]