Accidents/NTSB

Video shows a Piper Aerostar apparently buzzing a neighborhood east of Denver, Colo., before pitching up and then diving into the ground where it exploded, killing the pilot and setting a two-acre grass fire. The aircraft owner and pilot have not been identified; however, the airplane had been based in California until two weeks ago […]

In watching the wall-to-wall coverage of MH 370, Ive been struck how, absent any information, most sources discussing this event want to assume it was the work of a rational person, that it was carefully planned and that there was some overarching goal. Those who believe the airplane was flown into Central Asia and landed, […]

Malaysia’s air force chief said Wednesday that military radar had tracked an unidentified object over the Strait of Malacca early Saturday morning, and investigators were trying to determine whether it was the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Chief Gen. Rodzali Daud said the object was detected […]

Update: On Feb. 7, the FAA announced that it has appealed the dismissal of its civil penalty action against commercial drone operator Raphael Pirker to the full National Transportation Safety Board. The appeal has the effect of staying the law judge’s decision until the full Board rules. NBC Newsreported that a National Transportation Safety Board […]

Ten out of every 100 Army helicopter pilots are women – but they account for only three out of every 100 accidents. Thats the bottom line in an Army report that, in an effort to study the impact of women on the front lines, compares accident rates of men and women flying U.S. Army helicopters […]

During March, the NTSB will offer two courses related to accident investigation and one on accident response and victim family support at its training center in Auburn, Va. The Aircraft Accident Investigation course will run from March 31 through April 11 and is designed to provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the procedures and […]

In the first penalty of its kind, federal transportation officials docked Asiana Airlines $500,000 for failing to promptly contact passengers’ families and keep them informed about their loved ones after a deadly crash last year at San Francisco International airport. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the U.S. Department of Transportation said it took the […]

The one-day NTSB investigative hearing into the Aug. 14, 2013 crash of a UPS jet on approach to the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth (Alabama) Airport included evidence that the flight crew was fatigued, and that the captain had said the schedules were “killing him” and he “couldn’t keep this up.” According to the San Francisco Chronicle, documents and […]

A lightning strike that injured an air traffic controller at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has exposed a potential vulnerability at air traffic control towers during storms. It has prompted Federal Aviation Administration officials to inspect hundreds of towers nationwide, according to The Associated Press. The FAA said in a statement that the accident was […]

The National Transportation Safety Board has scheduled an investigative hearing on February 20, 2014 into the crash of a UPS Airbus A300-600 on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 14, 2013. The two flight crew members were killed and the airplane was destroyed when it impacted the ground less than a […]