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.
Last week the FAA released a notice regarding changes in policy regarding testing applicants for a commercial pilot or flight instructor certificate. The notice states that it is no longer required for applicants for a “commercial pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine rating to provide a complex or turbine-powered airplane for the associated practical test […]
In the ultimate act of jabbing a finger into the eye of fate, I’m writing today’s blog from seat 19D on a Southwest Airlines flight from Tampa to Denver. I tried to get the window seat directly abeam of the fan section of one of the engines, but passengers similarly casting caution to the wind […]
You’ve had your instrument rating for a couple of years by now. The first year you didn’t have any trouble keeping current to fly IFR—you were out there just about every week “flying in the system” as you called it. The new hadn’t worn off your rating; you knew that you were just a baby […]
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is recommending mandatory installation of lightweight flight recording systems by all commercial and private business operators not currently required to carry them. The TSB is also concerned with Transport Canada’s reactive approach to oversight of private business aircraft operations. The details are in the investigation report (A16P0186) released […]
Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, will be abuzz on May 5 as the Kentucky Derby will be held that day. The skies above Louisville will also be abuzz with aircraft before, during and after. The FAA has released an air traffic procedures Notam for the Louisville area between May 2-6, with details on how the […]
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (H.R. 4), which will grant funding for the FAA until 2023. The legislation was introduced by chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa. and passed with a vote of 393-13. Although the original House bill did not […]
One of several safety-related issues that has emerged from the fatal engine failure on Southwest Flight 1380 is passenger response to safety briefings. Perhaps most striking in this instance is that in spite of the usual preflight run-down on the proper use of oxygen masks, video from the Southwest emergency shows several passengers with masks […]
According to a report from XinhuaNet, aerobatic pilot Elgin Wells was killed on Wednesday when his aircraft crashed during a practice flight before the Zhengzhou Air Show in China. The report states that the plane was 300 feet above the runway at Shangjie Airport when it “plummeted to the ground.” An investigation is underway to […]
Change and I have an uneasy relationship, the former claiming I’m slow to embrace technology, unwilling to “try something new.” Sheesh … Change can be so … you know … and so in your face, too. I submit that ADFs and VORs were working just fine—when you could receive them—and I saw no value to […]
I’ve amended the details a bit to preserve anonymity. The pilot and his family came to grief on a flight that was forecast to be VFR. There was a slow-moving warm front approaching, but it appeared the 150-nm trip could be completed before conditions worsened. Friends of the pilot indicated he had intended to launch […]
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