Flight Safety

There was likely a lively debrief after a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) AS350 B3 helicopter and an RCMP SkyRanger R60 surveillance drone collided while on a joint mission over a rural area of British Columbia in February. Although the incident happened in February, it didn’t make it to the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting […]

If there’s one thing pilots are taught during their primary training, it’s to respect the limitations of the airplane they are flying. These can involve the detailed operating limits—especially airspeeds—found in the airplane’s flight manual, demonstrated crosswind capabilities, loading configurations, prohibitions against flight in known icing…the list is seemingly endless. Those limitations exist for a […]

Expressing frustration with the FAA’s reluctance to require data logging on all turbine helicopters, the National Transportation Safety Board has issued a new safety recommendation calling on manufacturers to step in and install the technologies voluntarily. The NTSB has asked for mandatory data recording in turbine helicopters before, with recommendations published in 2013 and 2015. […]

One thing I’ve had a visceral reaction to over the years is when popular media describe a certificated pilot who flies for personal reasons as an “amateur.” Over the years, I’ve more or less accepted such usage but—when given the chance—point out that the type of operation has no bearing on pilot skill levels, and […]

After an unstable approach that resulted in an over-the-fence speed of more than 200 knots, the crew of a Pakistani Airlines International A320 with 99 people aboard skipped the airliner down the runway three times on the engine nacelles before getting it airborne, according to the Straits Times. All but two of those on board […]

The coronavirus pandemic will hit operators who fly in Canada squarely on the bottom line as Nav Canada, the not-for-profit private corporation that runs air traffic services, hikes fees for commercial operations an average of 29.5 percent. Nav Canada isn’t allowed to make money but it also has to earn enough to cover costs and […]

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 FAA is proposing an AD on some Cessna taildraggers requiring an inspection of the tail cones and horizontal stabilizers. Almost 7,000 180s, 1802s and 185s are affected and comments are open until June 29. Textron issued a mandatory service letter in 2017 and the AD basically follows its directives but instead of applying to […]

Pakistan media is reporting Pakistan International Airlines Flight PK8303 landed gear up and the crew muscled it back into the air before it crashed on a second landing attempt, killing 97 of 99 people aboard on Friday. According to reports gathered by the Aviation Herald, the A320 slid on its nacelles at the airport in […]

There’s probably a reason the term “third time’s the charm” isn’t used much in aviation circles and the NTSB is now probing whether its application played a role in a fatal crash in Florida earlier this month. A preliminary report into the crash of a Bonanza near Land O Lakes on May 12 cites witness […]