Features

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine, and is published twice a month. 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 at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports […]

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the April 2016 issue of our sister publicationAviation Consumer. The day had started out so well. You flew out to meet with a client and wrapped up a big sale. On the way home you got some time in the clag and shot an approach to your non-towered […]

Last month we began our occasional series on personal flight simulators with an introduction to the world of flight simulators and, more specifically, the ones that a pilot might reasonably have at home that are capable of doing a good job of simulating the airplane the sim owner usually flies—which means matching the cockpit, including […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine, and is published twice a month. 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 at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports […]

You’ve focused intently on pre-flighting the airplane, and you’ve paid attention to passenger safety and comfort. But that twinge in your lower back as you line up on the centerline gives you a moment’s pause. Taxi back to the ramp or press on? If it’s a kidney stone, and the pain only gets worse at […]

Electric Airplane Lessons Would I take lessons in an electric airplane? I might take initial instruction for a private pilot ticket or instrument rating in an electric airplane. The basics of angle of attack and so on won’t change because of the power plant but I simply cannot see advancing to cross country work in […]

(This article originally appeared in the April 2016 issue ofKitplanesmagazine. Ed.)This month our ongoing introduction to engine technology begins an examination of the lubrication system by considering the stuff it pumps: oil. Lubrication is a background concern to the average pilot, but it is a must-have because without it, metal-to-metal wear soon reduces any engine […]

Spring brings with it the beginnings of rough air season, especially in mountainous terrain. This recent PIREP near Jeffco Airport in Colorado puts it in vivid terms. BJC UA/OV BJC180010/TM 1823/FL075/TP C182/TB MOD/RM PILOT STATES/GETTING SHOOK LIKE A BUG IN A JAR

One of the comments made by some pilots when a group of them gather is that their spouses or significant others and family members won’t fly with them. While riding in little airplanes is certainly not to every person’s taste—and rising above the planet does generate a concern about returning to it less than gracefully—some […]

For pure fun in aviation, not much beats flying seaplanes. The pilots I know who have found room in their aeronautical budget to get a seaplane rating have been uniform in telling me that they had a ball doing so and were glad they did it. As winter weather starts to retreat from the northern […]