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When I was in junior high and going to Air Explorer meetings at the Des Moines Airport, I was like every other kid in our group. During breaks from the private pilot ground school, we’d go into the maintenance hangars and out on the ramp to get close to the airplanes that we dreamed of […]

Yes we all fumble for our glasses when we pull out the checklist. And while your distance vision is still sharp when ATC calls out traffic, things get a little fuzzy when you transition back to the panel. Maybe those drug-store cheaters aren’t hacking it anymore as you load your flight plan into your G1000, […]

My friend was flying his Mooney 201 around the world. Needless to say, it was way over gross weight, flying with ferry tanks under a ferry permit. On departure from an Australian airport on a hot morning, he was only able to manage about a 200 FPM climb to his initial altitude of 5,000 feet. […]

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 web site at www.ntsb.gov. Final […]

I’ve been privileged to fly the mountains of the southwest for more than 40 years—with many thousands of hours and more than 10,000 landings. But I’m not an expert, and I would be cautious of anyone who claims to be (Sparky Imeson comes to mind). I have become reasonably proficient at understanding the risks of […]

I had the following exchange with a tower controller immediately after takeoff. Me: Tower, I’d like to report a bird strike during takeoff. I don’t believe there’s any damage to the aircraft, but you’ll need to have someone check for any bird parts on the runway. Tower: Was it a small bird? Me: It is […]

In the process of obtaining a private, light sport or recreational pilot certificate most pilots feel as if they have to absorb an entire library of arcane aviation legal instruction and want to repeat the phrase from the student in the Gary Larson cartoon, “May I be excused, my brain is full.” Despite what feels […]

As construction of your project nears its end and you start thinking seriously about your first flight, there are some important things to consider. Paperwork comes first. You just can’t do anything that involves a government approval without the proper paperwork. Next, the plane must be truly ready to fly. The question is, what does […]

My friend Chuck, a recent solo student, got the following request from the tower on landing. Tower: “Expedite clearing the runway.” Chuck brought the C-150 to a halt on the runway. Chuck: “What does expedite mean?” Jeff B. Land

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 web site at www.ntsb.gov. Final […]