Accidents/NTSB

The operator of a drone that collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in September didn’t see the aircraft because he was flying the drone beyond visual range, the NTSB said on Thursday. The operator also lacked adequate knowledge of the regulations and safe operating practices for drone flying, the safety board said. The […]

So how much would you have to be paid to intentionally ditch a perfectly serviceable airplane in the open ocean? Enough to buy a used SUV? We didn’t think so but Theodore Robert Wright III apparently thought it was worth the gamble and what makes his reckless behavior even more despicable is that he had […]

The pilot who died along with his four passengers in the crash of a Beech Baron on the Caribbean island of St. Croix last week apparently didn’t have the multi-engine rating or night experience that would have been minimum requirements for the flight. David Richardson was the owner of the Baron but the FAA airmen’s […]

After Icon reported that they were raising the price of a new A5, my inbox came alive with predictions that this was Icon’s last gasp. Comparison were many to Eclipse Aerospace, and its CEO Vern Raburn. One person described it as a corporate “suicide.” My favorite email on the topic from a reader ended: “You’re […]

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 […]

Although the NTSB has yet to offer its own judgment, the builders of a replica of the Bugatti 100p that crashed in 2016, killing its main proponent, say they’ve concluded a clutch failure on the forward propeller assembly of the unusual aircraft led to its crash. Scotty Wilson, 66, died when the aircraft crashed shortly […]

A pilot whose certificate was suspended when his L-39 sliced through power lines crossing a canyon in Colorado in 2015 is now saying the utility company is to blame for damage and injuries that resulted from the incident. Stars and Stripes is reporting that former Marine pilot Brian Evans claims in response to a lawsuit […]

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 […]

A U.S. Navy C2-A aircraft with 11 crew and passengers on board crashed into the Philippine Sea on Wednesday afternoon, the Navy has reported. Eight of the personnel were rescued by the U.S. Navy “Golden Falcons” helicopter squadron, and all were reported in good condition. Three people are missing. “Our entire focus is on finding […]

The accident rate in general aviation dropped below 1 fatal accident per 100,000 flight hours in 2016, for the first time in 50 years, the NTSB reported on Tuesday. Overall, aviation deaths decreased slightly, from 416 in 2015 to 412 in 2016. Nearly 94 percent of those fatalities, a total of 379, occurred in general […]