Features

So what can you do with a multi-engine seaplane rating? You can fly firefighting aircraft that scoop water from lakes and dump it on big fires. You can fly an air taxi at a couple of small operations in Florida or Washington. You can fly PBYs with the Commemorative Air Force. Or, perhaps best of […]

On a recent trip from the West Coast to the Midwest, I’d just checked in with Center after a couple sectors in NorCal. A few minutes later, the controller gave us a climb to our final altitude, FL230. Then, after another few minutes: Center: “Uh, 40N, did I give you FL230? I know I thought […]

One of general aviation’s most time-honored practices involves two or more pilots being aboard the same airplane at the same time. The purposes vary—from training and proficiency, to boring holes in the sky, to chasing down a $100 hamburger, and everything in between—but it’s not at all rare to find more than one pilot seated […]

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: Exceeding Capabilities […]I flew the Classic Whale for 16 years plus 16 years in the C-141. They both are hot wings, of course, and icing wasn’t a real problem because we passed through those icing levels quickly. My flight experience in the T-29 and C-118 (CV 240 and DC-6) was a different case. […]

While pilots and air traffic controllers work with each other daily, perhaps we don’t often think about the nitty-gritty details and problem-solving taking place on the other side. When everything appears to be running smoothly, there’s nothing to worry about, right? If I’m your controller for the moment and tell you, “Proceed direct [FIX],” it’s […]

I work at a TRACON with a busy satellite airport nearby. Over the years it’s gotten rather tedious to get asked for higher so often. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to remain low after departing that airport due to the surrounding flow of traffic. A specific King Air I got to recognize would check in: “Departure, […]

A deterrent for using supplemental oxygen—especially in tight cabins—is having to deal with the hardware, including the bottle and oxygen lines strung every which way. Aithre, which has been cranking out decent portable solutions, has developed a hard-mounted system called the AVI C. I took a look at the system at AirVenture 2022 where it was […]

One of the truisms in aviation is that there’s weather no airplane should tackle. The addendum is that if you want to go shoot approaches in your Cessna 150 through relatively benign IMC, there’s probably not that much that can go wrong. But even a 747 likely won’t tolerate extreme icing. And we all (should) […]

FAA Concerned Lightning Could Cause 777 Explosions It is quite a challenge to try and put this sort of problem in proper perspective for the “Monday Morning cockpit crowd” without sounding callous. Actually, airline maintenance personnel perform dozens of tasks on a repetitive basis, similar to tasks associated with this fastener, to “inspect and correct” […]