Features

Pipistrel Velis Electro: Certified Electric We purchased the Velis purely for R&D, not for use as a trainer, and for that purpose it has exceeded all expectations. As compared to the very limited Electro, the Velis has allowed us to complete a fairly rigorous series of test programs. We’ve operated the plane for more than […]

It’s not fun trying to make a left turn out of my neighborhood. It exits onto a busy, six-lane road. There’s no traffic light, just a gap in the median. Cutting across steady traffic demands patience, timing, and good judgment. Mistakes can be costly. The asphalt is littered with shrapnel from cars whose owners tried […]

On a recent trip, I came across the NOTAM shown above and had to chuckle a bit. Well, at least they’re not planning any indecent maneuvers. Or, perhaps they mean that their maneuvers will be properly performed. Almost makes you want to fly through to find out what’s up. David ChuljianPort Townsend, Washington

There’s so much buzz around the emergence of electric airplanes that it’s easy to forget what animates most of the enterprise is press releases. New airplane announcements fly fast and furious; the airplanes themselves, not so much. Cutting through this background noise is the innovative Slovenian company, Pipistrel. In 2020, as it promised it would, […]

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 […]

Sporty’s Launches Learn To Fly Month As a full-time flight instructor for over 20 years and a promoter of New-Starts in aviation, where we have used Sporty’s “Learn to Fly” Online program as a curriculum for the Coachella Valley Youth Education Aviation Program, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Sporty’s for their outstanding […]

I’m going to go out on a fairly stout limb with this statement: No pilot ever plans to become an accident statistic. Instead, we all approach every flight in the firm belief it will be successful or we don’t fly. Too often, of course, events conspire against us—or we screw up—and the flight’s outcome isn’t […]

On one of my first IFR flights, my filed route ended JFK‑COL‑KBLM but Clearance told me to drop the Colts Neck VOR (COL) and go direct KBLM after JFK. Later, passing over JFK, I made my turn direct to KBLM as cleared. This was my last waypoint, so as I made this final turn towards […]

Rewind to April 2016 when we attended Sun ’n Fun for the very first time and stumbled across a mockup shell of a rather intriguing and thought-provoking Experimental composite aerobatic aircraft. The Saurenman Aero Works (SAW) REVO left both of us asking questions, pondering the viability and performance of such an aircraft and thinking, “We’ve […]

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 […]