Flight Safety

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is going to build a new wind tunnel with all-new technology to replace its current 79-year-old facility, the university announced this week. It will be the largest and most advanced academic wind tunnel in the U.S., MIT said in a news release. The new $18 million tunnel will permit test […]

A Utah pilot is suing a local environmental group for damages to his airplane after he hit a camouflaged portable toilet on a backcountry air strip placed “on or very near” the landing surface at Hidden Splendor airstrip. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Wayne Grant claims in his suit that he surveyed the clifftop […]

My friend Chuck, a recent solo student, got the following request from the tower on landing. Tower: “Expedite clearing the runway.” Chuck brought the C-150 to a halt on the runway. Chuck: “What does expedite mean?” Jeff B. Land

The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly told a cyber security conference it was able to hack the internal systems of a Boeing 757 sitting on the ramp at Atlantic City Airport with no help from anyone on board or anywhere near the aircraft. “We got the airplane on Sept. 19, 2016. Two days later, […]

Transport Canada is reminding pilots that while the rest of the country may be changing its attitude toward marijuana, it hasn’t relaxed its stance. On July 1, 2018, possession of small amounts of pot and its recreational use will be legal in Canada. Provinces are developing intoxication detection and enforcement standards for drivers caught impaired […]

I mostly make my living as a flight instructor, so I often fly with ten or more students in a week. Not all are “student pilots” in the FAA sense of the term, but they’re all flying with me to get instruction of some sort. They’re seeking new certificates, instrument ratings, tailwheel transitions or they’re […]

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 […]

Maybe you first sensed it when you got up out of a chair: A lightheadedness or dizzy spell that made you reach out to hold onto something. A more serious incident of dizziness may have caused a fall. For the accomplished pilot, this sort of situation is worrying, especially if it happens at the FAF […]

The FAA published Airworthiness Directives this week that affect certain Piper Cherokees and turbo Bonanza airplanes. The proposed Piper AD (PDF) was prompted by reports of corrosion found in an area of the main wing spar that’s not easily accessible for inspection. The AD would require installing an inspection access panel in the lower wing […]

Sooner or later, Icon was going to get tested and the test came this week, probably sooner than any of us might have expected. The fatal crash of an Icon A5 owned by retired baseball star Roy Halladay dwelled above the fold on some newscasts and websites. It’s a big deal in the sports world […]