Features

Many of today’s workplaces seek to create a formalized “safety culture,” an environment where employees practice behaviors that minimize accidents, look out for their co-workers and where reporting unsafe conditions is encouraged, not subject to retaliation, and frequently rewarded. It can be a great goal, but it often creates an exaggerated sense of safety where […]

I recall an instructor, who before signing students off for the commercial checkride, would explain a few things he felt were critical when exercising commercial privileges. First, commercial pilots had to be smooth. After all, paying passengers would not be impressed if we could not fly the airplane well. Second, commercial pilots had to be […]

A few days ago, departing Minot North Dakota for Duluth in a Skylane, I asked ATC if the NOTAM for military training at Duluth had the airport closed, or whether it was open to GA traffic. He asked me to stand by for a minute, and then said, “It’s closed at the moment, but will […]

Winter Flying Just a quick note to say I really enjoyed Paul’s recent article on winter flying. Having just returned from the frozen wasteland of Hoth or Iowa. Whatever they are calling it these days, I could appreciate his sentiment. I was supposed to be painting an airplane here in NC, where it blessedly says […]

Time for a pop quiz: What do these three accidents have in common? (Our descriptions omit the phrase “the pilot of” as redundant.) 1) A Piper PA-32R-300 Lance attempted to take off from a 3200-footlong grass runway on a June morning with flaps retracted. It lifted off at the end of the runway, then descended […]

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 in the NTSB’s website atwww.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the accident, although some take longer. […]

Drones Cause Newark Ground Stop For what it’s worth, I am a retired air traffic controller, non-current (as of three years ago) private pilot, and very active drone operator. I find it ironic that when a human being is accused of being a mass murderer, the press gives them the benefit of the doubt by […]

Eastbound through Chicago O’Hare’s Class Bravo, we were on frequency with a controller rattling off instructions to several airplanes in rapid fire. We heard him say in mid‑stream, “But wait, that can’t be right! No it is … Sometimes I amaze myself.” He then continued with his rapid fire instructions. Carmen Fria Santa Fe, NM

I basically live at an airport, and taxi to and from the airpark’s runway over what are residential streets the rest of the time. My normal taxi route includes a stand of bamboo, decades-old oak trees, mailboxes, a power pole and assorted fences. Tuesday is trash-collection day, and it can be a deal if your […]

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 in the NTSB’s website atwww.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the accident, although some take longer. […]