Accidents/NTSB

Sixteen media organizations filed a brief (PDF) with the National Transportation Safety Board in support of aerial photographer Raphael Pirker. Pirker was fined $10,000 by the FAA for flying a drone near the University of Virginia to make a commercial video in October 2011. An administrative law judge ruled in March that the FAA can’t […]

After initially refusing to release the preliminary report on the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 (callsign MH370), the Malaysian government has made it available to the public. In five pages, the report outlines the facts known about the history of the flight, the disappearance and search. It recounts details of the departure from Kuala […]

In an unusual move, the National Transportation Safety Board today identified a single owner, HoTH Inc., of a number of Alaska air carriers operating under FAR Parts 135 and 121 and issued an urgent safety recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration regarding the oversight of HoTH Inc.s operations. The urgent recommendation was issued as a […]

Dreadnought, a heavily modified Hawker Sea Fury race plane and a Cessna 210 were flying together when they touched over San Francisco Bay on Sunday. NTSB spokesman Howard Plagens told local media the accident happened in a “passing maneuver” and that the unidentified Sea Fury pilot felt a “thump” and saw the other aircraft fall […]

In Mondays blog, I dissected the impact of the under-dressed sim instructor CNN used for its round-the-clock MH370 coverage, but what of the simulator itself? Like many, I assumed the simulator, which looked impressive on camera, was the sort of machine used to train and type rate pilots looking to find a 777 seat. Not […]

By the time a person finishes training for a pilot certificate, he or she has gotten a good introduction to a small corner of the FARs, has probably learned nothing about whats involved in buying or owning an airplane and had an immersion in aviation Old Wives Tales (OWT) regarding legal obligations and potential liabilities […]

Our weekly survey of aviation news turned up an announcement of certification of the newest Airbus Helicopter, tighter rules regarding helicopter ambulance operators, an NTSB seminar on loss of control accidents and a new Pilot Welcome Center at Friday Harbor, Washington. Friday Harbor Airport, Washington announced the opening of its new Pilot Welcome Center in […]

Malaysia’s government has begun investigating civil aviation and military authorities to determine why opportunities to identify and track Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 were missed in the hours after it vanished, according toReuters. The internal inquiries come as tensions are rapidly escalating between civilian and military authorities over who bears more responsibility for the initial confusion […]

The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 shifted hundreds of miles northeast on Friday because of new radar data, and U.S. officials said the FBI had found nothing of interest in its much-awaited review of the pilot’s flight simulator and other computer files taken from his home. Australian authorities leading the multinational hunt moved their […]

One of the ongoing bright spots in the world of public perception of general aviation is the growing recognition that pilots are quietly volunteering their time, skills and aircraft to make flights that benefit others. The purposes of the flights vary widely-they may help many people at once, such as through documentation of environmental degradation, […]