Flight Safety

At least 50 people, including 42 combat soldiers, were killed in the crash of a Philippine Air Force C-130 in the southern part of the country on Sunday. Three of the dead were civilians on the ground. Initial reports suggest the aircraft, an ex-USAF Herc that was recently transferred to the Philippine military, overran the […]

Both pilots are reported to be safe, but seriously injured, after they ditched their Boeing 737 cargo plane off Honolulu early Friday. The FAA has confirmed that a Rhoades Express 737 (operating as Transair Flight 810) hit the water about 2:30 a.m. local time shortly after leaving Honolulu. “The pilots had reported engine trouble and […]

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Robert Sumwalt retired from government service on Wednesday after nearly 15 years with the Board. NTSB Member Jennifer Homendy has been nominated to succeed him in the position. Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg will serve as the Board’s acting chairman pending Homendy’s confirmation by the U.S. Senate. “The NTSB’s role […]

This maze of hallways is the archives of aviation’s greats—not the Stupid Pilot Tricks Repository. We’re awed by images of the Montgolfier brothers and their good sense to launch the world’s first flyable aircraft with a sheep, rooster and duck before stocking its basket with humans (who weren’t themselves). While they were brilliant, Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier […]

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 […]

The often-tortuous post-crash litigation process has been cut short in the Kobe Bryant accident aftermath after the families of the deceased passengers settled their suit against pilot Ara Zobayan and aircraft operator Island Express Helicopters. The families, including Bryant’s widow and mother of their teenage daughter who was killed in the crash, alleged it was […]

The FAA has told Boeing not to expect certification of the 777X until possibly the end of 2023, citing numerous design and test issues including an “uncommanded pitch event” last December. The Seattle Times got to read a letter sent to Boeing on May 13 in which the local FAA manager Ian Won said there […]

Four people died at the scene and a fifth died later in a hospital after a hot air balloon touched powerlines and crashed in Albuquerque early Saturday. Witnesses told local media the balloon brushed the powerlines about 7 a.m., knocking at least one down. An image taken by a bystander showed the envelope collapsed. The […]

Aviation is a numbers-oriented activity. Sure; we can more or less safely operate an aircraft by disregarding some of them, but if we intend to aviate with some degree of reliability and repeatability—not to mention professionalism—we need to do it precisely, which means using some metric against which to measure our performance and the airplane’s. […]

Facing pressure in the wake of the two high-profile crashes of Boeing 737 MAX airliners in late 2018 and early 2019, the FAA announced Monday (June 21) it is launching a new Voluntary Safety Reporting Program. The initiative is “an additional way for its engineers, safety inspectors, systems safety specialists, and other aviation safety employees […]