Flight Safety

AVweb’s Flight Safety section offers in-depth coverage of aviation safety topics, including accident analyses, risk management strategies, regulatory updates, and pilot training insights. Designed for pilots, instructors, and aviation professionals, this section provides timely information to enhance situational awareness and promote best practices in flight operations.

Garmin Acquires FltPlan

Garmin announced that it has acquired Flight Plan LLC (FltPlan), an electronic flight planning, scheduling and trip support service provider that includes the FltPlan.com website and FltPlan Go mobile app. According to the company, FltPlan has more than 165,000 registered users and its services are used to create approximately 6.3 million flight plans annually, making […]

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NTSB Chair Sumwalt: The FAA Should Act.

Robert Sumwalt, chair of the NTSB, posted a blog online this week critical of the FAA’s lack of action in the wake of a 2016 balloon crashthatwas the deadliest in U.S. history. Sixteen people, including the pilot, died when the hot-air balloon hit powerlines in Lockhart, Texas, while the pilot was attempting to land in […]

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Aireon Clarifies GA Services

Aireon Alert has promised to provide free emergency response tracking for any ADS-B-equipped aircraft, anywhere in the world—yet if a general aviation pilot goes to their website to register, they might get a different impression. “The service is only available to commercial aircraft operators, ANSPs [air navigation service providers], regulators and search and rescue organizations,” […]

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Swift Fuels Suspends PAFI Activities

Swift Fuels announced that it has suspended its work activities with the FAA’s Piston Alternative Fuels Initiative (PAFI) unleaded 100LL replacement fuels program on Wednesday. The company says that it is now focusing on testing a high-octane unleaded avgas replacement that is not part of PAFI and working privately with the FAA and OEMs to […]

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Healthy Pilot #15: Boosting Your Energy

A lack of energy is one of those subtle health issues that are easy to ignore and hard to fix. We tend to brush off a lack of energy with a nap. But chronic lack of energy—especially for a busy pilot—can interfere with quality of life and even signal a potential health problem. For this […]

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Aireon Opens Registration For ADS-B Tracking (Updated)

Aireon Alert, which promises to provide free emergency response tracking for any ADS-B-equipped aircraft, anywhere in the world, is now open to accept registrations, the company has announced. The Aireon Alert satellite-based service will provide to aircraft operators and search-and-rescue the last known position of any ADS-B-equipped aircraft that is in distress or has lost […]

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Cockpits By Braille

Stuff happens. One minute the engine may be purring like a kitten, the next it can be coughing up a hairball. Pilots who react well to such challenges often credit their training, applying the instincts honed by indoctrination without the need for excessive thought. How does that happen? Most pilots regularly practice simulating an engine […]

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General Aviation Accident Bulletin

AVweb’sGeneral Aviation Accident Bulletinis taken from the pages of our sister publication,Aviation Safetymagazine, and is published twice a month. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause in the NTSB’s website atwww.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after […]

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RC Pilots Protect Turf

The powerful radio control aircraft lobby is squaring off against the FAA, Department of Defense and some members of Congress over the future of their hobby, and the government departments may be outgunned politically. At issue is the so-called Rule 336 that essentially exempts those flying model planes for “hobby and recreation” from the long […]

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