Flight Safety

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine 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 web site at www.ntsb.gov. Final […]

The military aircraft accident rate has jumped significantly in the past year and Sen. John McCain has said it’s the natural result of years of penny pinching with the military. “Perhaps the greatest harm to our national security and our military is self-inflicted. I repeat, self-inflicted,” McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said […]

The Air Force has released the names of the two pilots involved in the T-38 Talon crash at Laughlin Air Force Base on Monday. Captain Paul Barbour, 32, from Van Nuys, California, was killed in the crash of the twin-engine supersonic trainer. The Air Force identified the surviving pilot earlier this week as Captain Joshua […]

I’ve been privileged to fly the mountains of the southwest for more than 40 years—with many thousands of hours and more than 10,000 landings. But I’m not an expert, and I would be cautious of anyone who claims to be (Sparky Imeson comes to mind). I have become reasonably proficient at understanding the risks of […]

An FAA program to integrate drones into the National Airspace System has drawn lots of interest, the FAA said this week, with more than 4,300 people signing up for online webinars about how they can participate. Based on the demand, the FAA has added two more webinar sessions. Each session will provide participants with an […]

A U.S. Navy C2-A aircraft with 11 crew and passengers on board crashed into the Philippine Sea on Wednesday afternoon, the Navy has reported. Eight of the personnel were rescued by the U.S. Navy “Golden Falcons” helicopter squadron, and all were reported in good condition. Three people are missing. “Our entire focus is on finding […]

The accident rate in general aviation dropped below 1 fatal accident per 100,000 flight hours in 2016, for the first time in 50 years, the NTSB reported on Tuesday. Overall, aviation deaths decreased slightly, from 416 in 2015 to 412 in 2016. Nearly 94 percent of those fatalities, a total of 379, occurred in general […]

The last data point captured by the flight data recorder on Roy Halladay’s Icon A5 before his fatal crash shows the light sport at 200 feet above the water with a speed of 87 knots, says the NTSB. The preliminary report says a witness told investigators that “he saw the airplane perform a climb to […]

For the 2017 fiscal year, there were 27 fatal accidents involving experimental category aircraft, down 18% from the prior year and down 47% over the last four years, says EAA, which is celebrating the trend. “These are historic lows for fatal accidents in amateur-built aircraft and this continuing trend is a credit to everyone who […]

I had the following exchange with a tower controller immediately after takeoff. Me: Tower, I’d like to report a bird strike during takeoff. I don’t believe there’s any damage to the aircraft, but you’ll need to have someone check for any bird parts on the runway. Tower: Was it a small bird? Me: It is […]