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.

Report: Airline Safety Record Analyzed

For the first time in aviation history, in 2017, not a single person died anywhere in the world because of a jet airliner accident. One man died in the crash of a Canadian ATR42 turboprop in December. The chance of dying in an airline crash now is about 1 in 50 million, according to a […]

Read More »

Rusty Pilot? Rehoning Your Skills, Economically

One of the side effects of the implementation of BasicMed and the longest-running period of economic growth in our country’s history has been that quite a few pilots who stopped flying because of medical and/or economic concerns have decided they can return to the sky. For those affected, it’s splendid news. But the good news […]

Read More »

Three Killed When Helicopter Hits House

A Robinson R44 helicopter crashed into a house in a gated community in Newport Beach, California, about 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, killing three of the four people on board. A person on the ground nearby also was injured by debris from the crash. A witness who spoke to CBS Los Angeles said he saw the […]

Read More »

Undetectable Defect Blamed For Engine Failure

An internal defect caused an uncontained engine failure, leading to a fire, during the takeoff roll of a Boeing 767 in October 2016, the NTSB said in its probable-cause hearing on Tuesday. The subsurface defect led to cracking in a turbine disk. The cracks were undetectable using current inspection methods, the investigators found. “Even though […]

Read More »

Deadline Nears For ADS-B Rebate

Aircraft owners who have gone through the process of upgrading for ADS-B, and applied for the FAA’s $500 rebate, must submit all their paperwork by Feb. 15 to complete their claim. After the equipment is installed, the aircraft must be flown in ADS-B-controlled airspace before receiving the rebate. That flight must last at least 30 […]

Read More »

Living Through The Pearl Harbor Attack (Last Month)

Our Stearman, otherwise known as the Queen, has been around awhile. An open-cockpit biplane built in 1941, there’s quite a bit of anachronistic hardware on her that I find every once in a while. The latest bits that required urgent replacement were all the old pre-World War II fuel line fittings. Someone in the past […]

Read More »

Kite String May Have Caused Fatal Crash

Authorities in India are investigating whether a kite string caused the crash of a powered parachute, killing the pilot and injuring his passenger. Various Indian media are reporting that Manav Mewada, an experienced powered parachute pilot, was operating a commercial sightseeing flight when the engine failed and the aircraft crashed in a residential area. Police […]

Read More »

The Power Of Stories

The other day, when PBS announced they will air a Nova special about Solar Impulse on January 31, I typed “Solar Impulse” into AVweb‘s search engine to see how we’ve covered it. I found 73 hits, dating back to 2003. We covered the project pretty thoroughly, from inception to completion, yet the goal of the […]

Read More »

Control Surface Design: Keeping them Balanced

When an aircraft designer is faced with the problem of tailoring control surface hinge moments as well as the effectiveness of and force required to operate those surfaces, she or he has several available design tools. Two of the most effective are types of aerodynamic balances—the horn and the external-airfoil balance. Horn Balances The horn […]

Read More »

Huerta Joins Financial Firm

Michael Huerta, who finished his term as FAA administrator early this month, has joined Macquarie Capital as a senior advisor, the firm has announced. “Michael has an exceptional reputation as a federal administrator in U.S. transportation,” said Nick Butcher, a leader of the Infrastructure and Energy Group at Macquarie.”His deep industry experience, relationships and insights […]

Read More »
Sign-up for newsletters & special offers!

Get the latest stories & special offers delivered directly to your inbox

SUBSCRIBE