Accidents/NTSB

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, […]

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 […]