Flight Safety

Most of us think of the autopilot as a modern invention, but it predates World War I. That perception may be because it has only become ubiquitous in more recent times. All IFR pilots take pride in their manual instrument flying skills, and rightly so. Smoothly and exactly maneuvering an aircraft down the ILS to […]

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 […]

Piper Aircraft and the University of North Dakota (UND) have announced the launch of a joint brand ambassador program. The initiative is designed to increase awareness of programs offered by UND Aerospace and promote Piper’s training product line. According to Piper, the new ambassadors will be speaking about their UND program, campus life and aviation […]

The Radio Technical Committee for Aeronautics (RTCA) is warning that a plan to allow 5G cell signals in radio spectrum adjacent to the frequencies used by radio altimeters could threaten flight safety. The private, not-for-profit organization has submitted a technical study to the Federal Communications Commission saying that 5G signals, including those coming from cellphones […]

A pilot was slightly injured but a life was also saved in the aftermath of the crash of a helicopter on a rooftop hospital helipad on Friday. The Agusta A109S was carrying a human heart for transplant when it encountered trouble on landing at Keck Hospital of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. […]

With vote counting ongoing in the U.S. election, the FAA has extended a temporary flight restriction (TFR) over Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware, through Nov. 11. The TFR was initially put in place over the area for “special security reasons” on Nov. 4 with an end date of Nov 7. The […]

A new Level 6 Pilatus PC-12 NGX flight training device (FTD) built by Frasca International has been approved by the FAA, Pilatus announced on Wednesday. Earlier this summer, the first of the new FTDs was delivered to Simcom Aviation Training in Scottsdale, Arizona, where it has been undergoing evaluation by “Pilatus factory pilots, Frasca and […]

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao has announced the completion of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS/drone) Integration Pilot Program (IPP), a three-year initiative designed to test and evaluate the integration of drone operations into the national airspace system. IPP is followed by the BEYOND program, which officially launched last week. BEYOND is expected to […]

Maneuvering speed is something fledgling airplane pilots learn about early in their training. It’s one of the more important details to know about any airplane because it has implications for structural integrity. It’s also relevant to operating in turbulence and performing maneuvers, although its value isn’t on an airspeed indicator, mainly because it varies with […]

It’s not often the deadly serious nature of a fighter intercept is greeted with roaring approval from the commander in chief and his political supporters but a NORAD F-16 took center stage at a Trump rally last week. The Viper was scrambled to confront an aircraft that had strayed into the TFR around President Donald […]