Flight Safety

The number of deaths related to U.S. civil aviation accidents increased to 393 in 2018 from 347 the previous year, according to preliminary statistics released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Wednesday. The board also reported a fatal accident rate in general aviation of 1.029 accidents per 100,000 flight hours for the year […]

There’s an amusing quip from award‑winning author Robert McCloskey that says, “I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” This double speak serves to illustrate the importance of clear communication. There are few places in human […]

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 […]

FlightSmart has teamed with IBM to create a “fully integrated training tool … designed to increase training effectiveness and enhance safety through automated, intelligent and objective training.” Translation: Artificial Intelligence is going to analyze your training mistakes and develop a personalized remediation program. “FlightSmart will set a new higher standard for personalized, highly effective pilot […]

U.S. military pilots have been warned to straighten up and fly right by Japanese politicians concerned about the reported lapses in discipline by Marine pilots at a base in western Japan. The Japanese defense ministry is reportedly ready to formally request assurances from the U.S. that residents around Marine Station Iwakuni are safe after a […]

A pilot was injured, an expensive ag plane was probably written off but the friends and family of an expecting couple know whether to buy blue or pink for the bundle of joy after the latest fail of a gender reveal stunt near Turkey in northern Texas. Local officials say the plan was for the […]

Bloomberg is reporting the independent group of experts formed to evaluate Boeing’s fixes for the 737 MAX has signed off on changes to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System. The Technical Advisory Board was convened shortly after the aircraft was grounded last March and presented its preliminary report to the FAA, Congress was told by the […]

Not all flight reviews are equal, and rusty pilots are not at all uncommon, but I recently faced a scenario that gave me pause. It read like the beginning of an NTSB report with a stack of extremely novel circumstances. My choice was either be one of the contributing factors to an accident or one […]

All 20 airports slated to receive the FAA’s Runway Status Lights program are fully operational, says the agency. The RWSL is made up of lights embedded in the tarmac across runway crossings as well as at the departure hold zone; they illuminate when it’s unsafe for an aircraft to proceed.  According to the FAA, “at […]

I like to fly at night. The air generally is smoother, there’s less traffic, the ATC frequencies are not as busy and ground illumination, the moon and the stars can compete in one of the best light shows you’ll ever see. Of course, humans were never meant to fly in the first place, and we […]