Accidents/NTSB

Air traffic controllers need better training in how to assist aircraft in distress, the NTSB says in a report released this week. The safety recommendation is based on an analysis of five general aviation accidents, from 2012 to 2015, in which seven people were killed. In each case, the pilot was communicating with ATC but […]

The FAA has issued its final rule on the controversial airworthiness directive that will require the replacement of cylinders on 6,200 high-displacement Continental engines. It takes effect on Sept. 15. The AD, which scraps thousands of aftermarket cylinders made by ECi, was initially proposed in 2013 for 520, 550 and some 470 model Continentals that […]

A total of 12 people died in two separate crashes of light twins over last few days. A Beech Baron crashed at Shannon Airport in Fredericksburg, Virginia, at midday on Friday and a Piper Navajo went down in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Sunday morning. In both cases, all six aboard each of the aircraft died. Local […]

I was on AVweb news watch last week when a bulletin on a balloon crash in Texas came pixeling into my inbox. The headline said, “All 16 believed dead.” That can’t be right, I thought. And that’s been the reaction of nearly everyone in aviation whom I’ve talked to or corresponded with about this accident. […]

The builder of a replica of the Bugatti 100p racing plane was killed in the crash of the aircraft in Oklahoma on Saturday. NewsOn6 reported Scotty Wilson, of Tulsa, was flying the aircraft when it went down near Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base in west central Oklahoma. The aircraft was copied from a 1930s design by […]

The stats are in, the tallies tallied and the totals have been summed up: Loss-of-control tops the list of general aviation accident causes. Recent studies by industry and government point to loss-of-control (LOC) accidents in all their variations are the leading cause of GA accidents, both fatal and otherwise. According to the U.S. Government Accountability […]

When Los Angeles Times reporter Nigel Duara was fishing for a third-day lead on the tragic balloon crash in Texas Monday, the graph practically wrote itself: “The pilot of a hot-air balloon that crashed into a Texas pasture had four convictions for drunken driving on his record, but was not required to submit to the […]

The NTSB said Sunday that the hot air balloon that crashed in Texas early Saturday killing 16 people likely hit power lines before the balloon’s basket crashed to the ground. Although witnesses reported hearing popping sounds and seeing a fireball, it still hasn’t been determined whether the fire occurred before or after the balloon appeared […]

Witnesses in Texas say that a fiery balloon crash that killed 16 occupants Saturday may have been caused by contact with high-voltage power lines at the crash site. The balloon’s envelope was found nearly intact three quarters of a mile from the crash site and the gondola was completely charred nearby. The balloon crashed about […]

With cameras everywhere these days, it was no surprise that one recorded dramatic video of a single-engine airplane crashing into a house in East Haddam, Connecticut, on Saturday, badly injuring the pilot. The airplane, which hasn’t yet been identified, had just taken off from Goodspeed Airport on the bank of the Connecticut River, 25 miles […]