Flight Safety

After more than three years of searching and $160 million spent on the effort, the Australian government has ended the active search for Malaysian Flight 370, declaring the outcome “unacceptable.” MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. It dropped out of radar and radio contact while transitioning into […]

On Tower frequency at a rural class Delta: Cessna: Uh, tower caution some sort of otter or marmot just went right in front of my plane. Tower: It was a groundhog. That is our airport groundhog. Cessna: Ok regardless of type he just crossed Alpha without clearance tell him to check his frequency. Tower: We’ll […]

The FAA has banned drones from flying within 400 feet of several U.S. landmarks and five of the largest dams in the U.S. a day after FBI Director Christopher Wray said he was worried about terrorists using drones against the U.S. The 10 specific locations are all landmarks under the jurisdiction of the Department of […]

Air France is facing a daunting technical challenge to repair an extensively damaged A380 at one of Canada’s most remote airports. Flight 66 from Paris to Los Angeles was almost across the Atlantic when the No. 4 engine had an uncontained failure that blew off the cowl and caused the fan to separate. The crew […]

When I was a baby flight instructor I, as with most instructors, rapidly learned a great deal about airplanes and the humans who fly them. Despite being a slow learner, some of those lessons stuck with me. Whenever I get into a discussion of the value of training for stalls, stall avoidance, spin avoidance and […]

Udacity, an online training site based in Silicon Valley, is now offering a “Flying Car Nanodegree” program, but notes that “the idea of a flying car is a metaphor for a new vision for the future of smart transportation.” The new program aims to teach a new generation of engineers the skills they’ll need to […]

I’ve noticed there is a bias, sometimes spoken aloud, that a pilot who made some sort of a mistake and had an accident was either not terribly bright, lacked basic skills or just plain didn’t have the magical “right stuff.” As an instrument instructor, I’ve certainly seen pilots with poor skills or who weren’t terribly […]

A Republican proposal to fast-track a six-month FAA reauthorization was sidelined by Democratic objections to non-aviation programs attached to the bill. The Republican-authored measure would have increased privatization of federal flood insurance programs and offered tax credits to certain people impacted by recent hurricanes. The fast-track process requires the support of two-thirds of House members. […]

The Vintage Air Rally’s next event will run for six weeks from Ushuaia, Argentina, to Lakeland, Florida. Setting off from the southern tip of Argentina on March 1, 2018, the group expects to fly 9,000 miles, passing through 19 countries, and arrive in Florida just in time for Sun N’ Fun. For fifteen teams with […]

I heard the aircraft part of this conversation to Grand Forks FSS at 21:05 local time recently. I was too far away to hear the controller but they wanted to know the time off for the aircraft. Cessna 1234: “I was airborne at 9:05, pause, err, ahh, make that 26:05” No further calls were made. […]