Flight Safety

Mexico says it has signed an agreement with the FAA to get its safety rating back in order. Last May, the agency reduced Mexico to a Category 2 safety rating, putting it at the same level of Third World countries with sketchy safety records. In downgrading the country, the FAA stopped Mexican airlines from starting […]

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 […]

Dale “Snort” Snodgrass, one of the warbird world’s most respected pilots, was killed on Saturday in the crash of a Marchetti SM.109 in Lewiston, Idaho. Details remain sketchy but the crash occurred just after noon. The aircraft is a high-wing STOL design based on the Cessna 0-1 Bird Dog and built by the Italian manufacturer. […]

We all know—or should know—that an airplane’s wing stalls at its critical angle of attack. While that value varies from plane to plane and wing to wing, once that value is exceeded, the stall occurs, every time. What happens next depends on a variety of factors, including aerodynamic loading, attitude, bank angle, power and control […]

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) is planning to upgrade nine of its Frasca-built flight training devices (FTDs), according to an announcement from Frasca International on Tuesday. The update will include switching from the Garmin G1000 to the G1000 NXi avionics, an upgraded instructor operating station, a new control loading system, updated aerodynamic modeling and new computers […]

The FAA opened a new field office in Houston, Texas, on Monday designed to expand its oversight of commercial space operations in Texas and New Mexico. According to the agency, the Space Safety field office will allow it to more efficiently monitor testing programs and commercial space tourism operations conducted by companies including SpaceX, Blue […]

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 […]

One of hot air ballooning’s most respected pilots died in a bizarre incident that also sent three of his passengers on a free flight over rural Vermont and into New Hampshire. Brian Boland, 72, took off from Silver Maple Lodge in Fairlee, Vermont, on Thursday with four passengers who had purchased the flight through the […]

AOPA is warning flight instructors they can’t provide instruction for free in limited, experimental and primary category aircraft without risking sanctions from the FAA. AOPA says the agency has gone after CFIs who have given instruction as volunteers, citing regs that say money doesn’t have to change hands for them to have received “compensation.” According […]

Reuters is reporting the FAA has grounded Rhoades Aviation, whose Boeing 737-200 ditched off Honolulu July 2, and has also revealed that action against the operator has been in the works since last fall. The company, which operated the 737 cargo flight under the Trans Air name, was notified on June 13 that it was […]