Features

A few months ago, I was at the virtual airport watching the aviation world go by through the picture window of the pilot’s lounge when a sharp-looking Grumman Tiger taxied in and shut down. The canopy slid back and two old friends, Jayne and Dan, based at an airport a couple of hundred miles away, […]

In aprevious article on altimetry we discussed various matters that affect the accuracy of the barometric altimeter. The major factor being atmospheric pressure, and to compensate we dial the “altimeter setting” or QNH into the Kollsman window. However, another factor typically ignored is the effect of temperature—perhaps because it’s less crucial compared to atmospheric pressure. […]

AVweb’sGeneral Aviation Accident Bulletinis taken from the pages of our sister publication,Aviation Safetymagazine. 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 atwww.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the accident, although some take longer. […]

Boeing 737 MAX Accidents Another facet of this preliminary report that the media is missing – and I don’t fault most them as they are often not aviation experts nor qualified B737 pilots – is that from the moment the aircraft lifted off it had an unreliable airspeed emergency. Disparity between the Captain and FO […]

Recently during the government shutdown, Atlanta Center had a hard time communicating with a Citation who seemed to be out of range. They asked me to call up the Citation and tell him that he needed to go to another frequency. We reached the Citation and relayed the message. We reported this back to the […]

At one a.m. local time on November 11, 1995, an MD-83 was making a VOR instrument approach to RWY 15 at Bradley Field (KBDL) in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, when it struck trees on a ridge line about 2.65 miles from the runway threshold. Before we continue, let’s review a few altimeter terms. Altimeter Settings There […]

During my primary training, one of my mentors was fairly adamant about the threat of weather. If I had the skills, wisdom and experience, and the airplane was in good condition with sufficient fuel, he would point out, the only other big thing that could be a safety-of-flight problem was weather. The primary concerns he […]

April Fools’ Arrest I just read your article “AVweb Editor Arrested” with horror; I just really couldn’t believe what I was reading. I mean, it’s so outlandish that it reads like it should be a complete joke. I mean, this can’t be real. It just can’t. There’s no way that… … wait … What’s the […]

A few months ago, we heard this on Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Approach as we were flying through the area: Controller: “Cessna 123, traffic three o’clock, two miles.” Cessna 123: “Looking.” After a couple of minutes the controller came back with: “Cessna 123, disregard traffic advisory; that was a truck.” As I’m doubled over in laughter, the […]

As a flight service specialist, I was trained to understand National Weather Service charts, radars, satellite pictures and data. My job was to stay on top of how weather would affect flights primarily in my own geographic area, and in general throughout the country. I studied how terrain and upper air movement would affect weather […]