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.

Why Seaplanes Are So Boring

By normal aviation standards, seaplanes are boring as hell. They’re slow, tend to be fuel hogs, often don’t carry much because they’re hauling around a boat or two and, like boats, they have to be pumped out and they rust. Who would want one? Yet, in the dedicated community of pilots who fly these things, […]

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Spring: Showers, Flowers And Gusting Crosswinds

Although a friend of mine in the Detroit area just told me it was so cold that he saw a dog frozen to a hydrant, there’s a rumor that spring—and its high winds—will be eventually put in appearance at airports north of the equator. Spring: that time of year when airport managers’ thoughts turn to […]

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Friday Foibles: Hey, Who Needs A License?

The further one gets from the regulated lower 48, the less those pesky rules get in the way. That necessariy leads to some really interesting accidents.Alaskans fly a helluva lot more than most humans and operate off some mind-bogglingly rough terrain, such as hillsides, glaciers, remote gravel bars or other unlikely surfaces. To fully grasp […]

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Buying Utility STOL: Ignore the Ad Hype

Whether for work or a heck of a lot of fun, if you’re in the market for a STOL/utility airplane—one that will let you commune with nature in the most rugged of backcountry airstrips as well as cruise at a reasonable speed and carry a little something—what’s out there and how do you choose among […]

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MH370 Search Continues After Blackout

The latest effort to find the crash site of Malaysian Airlines MH370 continues, after a three-day “blackout” from the survey ship conducting the search set the Internet on fire with theories about what might be going on. Ocean Infinity Ltd. is conducting the search on a contingency basis, with a payday of up to $70 […]

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United Offers New Pilot Career Track

United Airlines has created a new program with Metropolitan State University of Denver to identify talented student pilots and place them on a path to flying for United, the airline announced on Tuesday. Regional carriers have offered similar programs in recent years, but this will be the first time a major U.S. airline has established […]

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Short Final

Flying back from St. Augustine Fl (SGJ) to Stennis International (KHSA) just before Christmas, my destination was very low IFR. The whole region and surrounding airports were either very low IFR or Zero Zero. Planes were going missed at Gulfport (KGPT) and surrounding airports and tensions were high with the controllers. I was cleared for […]

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Vahana Flies, Joby Attracts Capital

Airbus has flown its A3 Vahana autonomous electric VTOL aircraft, completing two short test flights in Oregon last Wednesday and Thursday. The aircraft is the test article for what Airbus hopes will become fleets of pilotless tiltrotors carrying passengers and cargo from point to point. It wants to have a working prototype by 2020 and […]

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General Aviation Accident Bulletin

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 […]

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AD Affects 14,653 Cessnas (Corrected)

The FAA has proposed an AD involving 14,653 U.S. Cessna 172, 182, 206 and 210 models after cracks were found in the lower area of the forward cabin doorpost bulkhead. That’s where the wing strut attaches and the AD requires repetitive inspections of the area. After one owner reported finding cracks, more inspections revealed them […]

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