Flight Safety

Bird strikes cause damage in the millions to aircraft every year and shooing them away is a difficult task. Airport operators use everything from propane cannons to rubber owls and, in the case of Cherry Capital Airport in Michigan, a smart-as-whip Border Collie. In this exclusive video from Great Big Story productions, see how a […]

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) is calling on Transport Canada to tighten up enforcement of de-icing requirements after it discovered that pilots in the far-flung northern areas routinely take off with contaminated lift and control surfaces. “Our questionnaire results are clear: The lack of adequate de-icing equipment at remote northern Canadian airports and the frequency […]

Mexican authorities are trying to determine if a drone collision smashed the radome and damaged some aluminum on the nose of an Aeromexico Boeing 737-800 landing at Tijuana Dec. 12. Whatever the airliner, which was on its way from Guadalajara, hit, it crumpled the fiberglass and left scratches farther back on the nose and didn’t […]

A pilot was injured in the runway crash of a prototype flying car at Willow Run Airport near Detroit on Friday. WDIV TV reported the crash happened about 1 p.m. while the Detroit Flying Cars WD-1 was undergoing taxi tests. The station said it was told by Wayne County Airport Authority officials that the WD-1 […]

One morning on departure from Peoria International Airport: Peoria Approach: “I bet you didn’t think you were going to get this type of workout when you asked for the clearance into the Class Charlie, did you?” Cessna: “Peoria Approach, student pilot here. I enjoy the workout.” Peoria Approach: “Roger that.” Unknown aircraft: “If he’s a […]

Fuel Strainer Lottery A significant omission from Jeff Parnau’s very interesting article is the Decathlon’s fourth fuel drain point under the rear fuselage aft of the rear seat that is easily overlooked. It is there because the gascolator is not the lowest point in the fuel system when the aircraft is parked. The plumbing to […]

Thirty-six members of the U.S. Senate sent a bipartisan letter to the FAA on Tuesday urging the administration to implement a provision that would make airports using the contract tower program eligible for Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants. The provision allowing AIP funding for airports with contract towers was included in the FAA Reauthorization Act […]

A Hawker Hunter crashed during an Air National Guard training exercise off the coast of Hawaii on Wednesday. The pilot was able to eject and was rescued about three miles south of Oahu by a private sailboat. He was then transferred to a U.S. Coast Guard vessel and taken to a hospital. It has been […]

Thanks to budget constraints and bureaucratic wrangling, investigators still haven’t recovered the cockpit voice recorder from a Lion Air 737 MAX that crashed into the Java Sea off Jakarta six weeks ago. Indonesian investigators told Reuters this week that they need a specialized ship to find the CVR. “We don’t have further funds to rent […]