Accidents/NTSB

The pilot of an Airbus AS350 helicopter that crashed in July 2015 failed to perform a preflight hover check, the NTSB said in a synopsis of its probable-cause report on Monday. If he had performed the hover check, as required by operational procedures, he could have found that he hadn’t returned the yaw servo hydraulic […]

The NTSB should conduct an internal review to determine why several recent reports regarding general aviation accidents included “speculative” conclusions that aren’t supported by factual data, AOPA said on Tuesday. In a letter to the safety board’s acting chairman, Bella Dinh-Zarr, AOPA’s government affairs vice-president Jim Coon objected to reports that cited medical incapacitation of […]

The pilot of a Turbine Otter that crashed in Alaska in 2015, killing all nine aboard, had turned off the terrain awareness and warning system before the aircraft hit the side of a mountain near Ketchikan. The NTSB released the factual docket on the crash of the Promech Air crash, which occurred in marginal VFR […]

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 […]

NTSB investigators have found that the right elevator was jammed on the chartered Ameristar Boeing MD-83 that ran off the runway on March 8 at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan, with the Michigan men’s basketball team, the Wolverines, on board. In an update released on Tuesday, the safety board said their post-accident examination revealed […]

The FAA’s decision to issue a Part 135 certificate to a charter operator in Alaska, despite the pilot’s history of accidents, incidents, re-examinations and checkride failures, was a factor that contributed to a 2014 accident that seriously injured all four on board, according the NTSB’s final report, which was released this month. One passenger died […]

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 […]

No one was injured when a U.S. Air Force A-29 Super Tucano crashed in suburban Georgia earlier this week. Air Force Public Affairs officials said both pilots safely ejected and were released from Clinch Memorial Hospital after evaluation. The single-engine turboprop attack aircraft was operated by the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base […]

Senator Charles Schumer, of New York, called on the NTSB this week to investigate general aviation safety and “determine whether additional steps are necessary to help ensure safe skies.” Schumer cited crashes last week in New Jersey and Long Island, and said at least 18 other small planes crashed in New York over the last […]

Normally it’s a good thing when a pilot walks away from a crash but a Missouri man may have pushed that sentiment a little. Rather than trying to find the wrecked aircraft, Kansas authorities found themselves looking for its pilot last week. According to the Kansas City Star, Randal S. Shannon’s shattered Maule was in […]