Flight Safety

One of my fondest memories in aviation was the first flight I took in a Skyhawk. Even though my parents kept a kindergarten assignment where I said my goal in life was to be a pilot (after my career as an astronaut and a monster truck driver), I did not pursue aviation until after my […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

Two particularly nasty passengers have prompted the FAA’s recommendation of the biggest fines ever levied against individuals for acting out on an airplane. Both of the record-setters are women. The agency has recommended a fine of $81,950 for a female American Airlines passenger for a truly remarkable fracas last July and the other woman is […]

The FAA has replaced Earl Lawrence as the head of aircraft certification with Lirio Liu, who now runs the agency’s international affairs office. Lawrence has run aircraft certification for three years. Liu is an aerospace engineer and has been with the FAA since 1991. Much of that experience has been in aircraft certification and safety […]

King Schools announced at the 2022 Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo that it is now offering a “concierge” service to assist flight schools with new training initiatives. The service is designed for flight schools developing FAA-approved Part 141 training programs and is available to the schools at no cost. According to the company, the King […]

They have a cool factor that entices and can utterly disable the ability to make a rational purchase decision. More than a few pilots you hang with claim that you’re not a real pilot until you fly tailwheel. Plus, watching one slip down final to a deliciously soft touchdown on a grass runway just plain […]

Two pilots on a DHL Boeing 757 escaped injury when the aircraft departed the runway during an emergency landing at Juan Santamaria International Airport in Costa Rica on Thursday. The crew reported hydraulic problems after taking off for Guatemala City. After holding for about an hour, the aircraft returned to the airport and equipment was […]

Earning a pilot’s certificate involves more than just regurgitating book knowledge. A potential pilot must confidently apply that information in a variety of intense scenarios, while exercising good judgment. Air traffic controller training follows a similar path. Both can be long, grueling roads, and those who come out the other end with a certification can […]

The typical personal airplane lacks many creature comforts we’ve come to expect in private transportation. Perhaps foremost among them is air conditioning, but the cabin heat systems also can leave a lot to be desired, especially among piston singles. The primary reason is that the vast majority of these airplanes employ air-cooled engines, unlike the […]

We’ve all been trained to deploy full flaps when executing normal landings and flying airplanes that have them. The reason is fairly simple: the full-flap setting provides the most lift at low speeds, which is desirable when landing. “Normal” is doing a lot of work here, since what might be a normal landing to you […]