Flight Safety

When a crime is committed within a mile of the Chula Vista Police Department in southern California, chances are the first on the scene will be a drone. The police in the community near San Diego are the first to get an FAA waiver to fly over buildings and people to help officers assess a […]

In the late 1970s I began my checkered ATC career at Oakland Center, which I was disappointed to learn was not located at Oakland, California, or even at an airport but, instead, in not-so-nearby Fremont. The next letdown was the facility itself, which resembled a federal penitentiary, complete with barbed wire and security guards to […]

I heard the following somewhere over Kentucky: Approach: “Cirrus 123, contact Center on 124.125.” Cirrus: “Cirrus 123 uhhh, switching to 124.2.” Approach: “Cirrus 123 the frequency is 124.125, twenty‑four, twelve, five.” Cirrus: “Uhhh, was that 122.12?” Approach: “No, 124‑decimal‑125.” Cirrus: “Roger, ahh 124.25” Approach: “Cirrus, the frequency is One. Two. Four. Point. One. Two. Fife.” […]

The FAA has proposed a regulatory change that would allow flight training in experimental light sport aircraft (E-LSA) to be conducted for compensation or hire under a letter of deviation authority (LODA). Aviation organizations including the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association (LAMA) and United States Ultralight Association (USUA) have been working toward […]

Researchers in France have found that birds display an aversion to “large looming eyespots,” and will avoid locations where they can see the eyespot display. The results were “significant,” the researchers said, and “suggest a high potential for application.” The eyespots are projected on a screen and animated to grow larger, as if approaching the […]

An Embry-Riddle research study found that remotely operated consumer drones exceeded 400 feet AGL in 6.8 percent of flights tracked and that one flew as close as 0.25 NM from Daytona Beach International’s approach path. The study sought to evaluate “potential aviation interference and safety hazards” caused by small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS/drone) flights. To […]

It’s easy to forget, as we move along through our busy lives day to day, that things used to be different. We didn’t always carry computers in our pockets, we didn’t always have seat belts in our cars, and flight planning once involved paper charts and rulers and E6-Bs. It makes me feel pretty old […]

Last week, EAA committed a million dollars to flight-training scholarships, and this week, FedEx stepped up, funding $2.5 million in scholarships for students pursuing aviation professions—not just pilots, but also maintenance technicians and more. “E-commerce is driving increasing demands on both air and ground transportation networks at a time when large numbers of workers in […]

The current requirement for cockpit voice recorders to store just two hours of data is not enough, the NTSB says in a new safety recommendation report, and 25 hours’ duration should be required. “These recommendations are derived from the NTSB’s experiences with investigations that lacked access to relevant CVR data,” the board said. In its […]