Features

To the owner of an Experimental Amateur-Built (E/A-B) aircraft, any accident is a tragedy. However, the FAA monitors the homebuilt accident rate based on fatal accidents only. It’s understandable, in some ways. Unlike owners of production aircraft, builders of homebuilt aircraft are usually very familiar with disassembling and transporting a bent bird. A minor enough […]

By Doug Rozendaal Photos: Joe Copalman, Mariano Rosales, Courtesy Legend Aircraft This story originally appeared in KITPLANES. “It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true.” This well-known phrase, attributed to such luminaries as Walt Whitman and Bear Bryant, applies here as well as it does anywhere else you’ve seen it. In the words that follow there may […]

One day on my way to Nashville, I overheard the following: American 1234: “Good morning Atlanta Center. American 1234 checking in. Out of 23 for 12 thousand.” Atlanta Center: “Good morning American 1234, say indicated airspeed.” American 1234: “320 knots.” Atlanta Center: “For spacing into Charlotte, I need you to slow to 260 knots.” American […]

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 […]

Accident Probe: Unwarranted I and another innocent passenger once survived an 18-hour trip through hell with a clown act ‘pilot.’ The pilot was a coworker and fellow aviation enthusiast who owned a C-182. Turns out he was reckless, careless, all wrapped in a ‘what’s the matter you scared,’ attitude. There were no regulations he didn’t […]

Pilots are aware of the rules and regulations defined in the Federal Aviation Regulations and the Aeronautical Information Manual. If you have devoted much time reading them you understand that for every reg demanding what to do, there may be another citing the opposite. This is a story of a pilot who followed the FARs, […]

Pilots fly for different reasons. For some, it’s a living. For others, it’s recreation or personal transportation. Some want to go fast to distant destinations; some want to go slow because they’re not going anywhere anyway. It’s not uncommon for pilots to want to do all of these things at one time or another. There’s […]

On final to Boeing Field 14R on a blustery Pacific Northwest fall day a Gulfstream reported wind shear upon landing. Gulfstream 123: “15 knot wind shear.” Tower: “What was your location when you encountered the wind shear?” Gulfstream 123: “About 300 feet.” Tower: “Baron 581CB did you copy that?” Baron 581CB: “Affirmative.” Tower: “Citation 425 […]

Common Sense vs. E-Everything Austin Meyer here from Laminar Research. I wrote the flight simulator X-Plane and I am currently using it to evaluate a number of eVTOL aircraft, including several that I am consulting or otherwise working on. Jason Baker recently wrote a blog here titled “Common Sense vs. E-Everything” In this blog, Jason […]

It is nearly impossible to mention the AIM in a discussion of proper procedures without hearing “the AIM is not regulatory!” as a retort. Often, implicit in the response is, “so we don’t really have to follow it.” But is that true? What is the difference between “regulatory” and “non‑regulatory”? Does “non‑regulatory” mean we are […]