Accidents/NTSB

UPDATED: An Air National Guard WC-130 Hercules crashed near the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV) in Savannah, Georgia, on Wednesday. It has been confirmed that there were nine people onboard, all of whom were killed in the accident. A press release from the National Guard 165th Airlift Wing stated that the aircraft was on training […]

A new FAA Airworthiness Directive responding to the recent engine failure on a Southwest 737 will require initial and repetitive inspections of the fan blades in CFM56-7B engines, based on the accumulated fan-blade cycles, the FAA said on Tuesday. The AD (PDF), scheduled to be published on Wednesday, aims to “address the risk of fan-blade […]

In the ultimate act of jabbing a finger into the eye of fate, I’m writing today’s blog from seat 19D on a Southwest Airlines flight from Tampa to Denver. I tried to get the window seat directly abeam of the fan section of one of the engines, but passengers similarly casting caution to the wind […]

One of several safety-related issues that has emerged from the fatal engine failure on Southwest Flight 1380 is passenger response to safety briefings. Perhaps most striking in this instance is that in spite of the usual preflight run-down on the proper use of oxygen masks, video from the Southwest emergency shows several passengers with masks […]

According to a report from XinhuaNet, aerobatic pilot Elgin Wells was killed on Wednesday when his aircraft crashed during a practice flight before the Zhengzhou Air Show in China. The report states that the plane was 300 feet above the runway at Shangjie Airport when it “plummeted to the ground.” An investigation is underway to […]

A Piper Navajo carrying four passengers and two crew members made a successful emergency landing on a two-lane Calgary road after experiencing a loss of engine power early Wednesday morning. Although the aircraft sustained some damage to its wingtips, no injuries have been reported. Witnesses say they saw the plane fly under street and traffic […]

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 […]

An F-22 Raptor attempting takeoff at Naval Air Station Fallon may have lost an engine and ended up touching down with the gear up last week. The aircraft slid and came to rest on the runway. The jet was from the 3rd Air Force Wing at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. After the incident, […]

In the wake of the uncontained engine failure that killed a passenger on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 earlier this week, the FAA has announced that it will issue an AD requiring inspections of certain CFM56-7B engines. This statement comes after NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt said during a media briefing that a preliminary inspection of the […]

About a month after Chesley B. Sullenberger had ascended into sainthood after his skillful 2009 ditching of US Airways 1549 into the Hudson River, a network reporter took a few moments to ask him in depth what he thought about the mantle of heroism that had been thrust upon him. His response was memorable. He […]