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.

Bahamas Allows BasicMed

The Bahamas is the first neighboring country to the U.S. to accept BasicMed as a medical qualification for U.S. pilots flying in its airspace. BasicMed went into effect on May 1 and allows pilots to fly up to five passengers on day or night VFR or IFR pleasure flights (not for compensation or hire) in […]

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Court Quashes Drone Registration

A Washington court has quashed the FAA’s drone registration program. The court ruled Friday that the registration rule violates the FAA Modernization and Reform Act, passed by Congress in 2012, that specifically bars the FAA from creating “any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft.” Since December of 2015, the FAA has required drone owners […]

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Leesburg To Test Remote Tower

A temporary mobile air traffic control tower will be operating this summer at Leesburg Executive Airport, in Virginia, requiring special procedures from pilots. Pilots flying both VFR and IFR will need to contact the tower, NBAA said this week. The tests, which are part of the airport’s Remote Control Tower experiment, will run June 5 […]

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Garmin Intros Head-Up Display

Garmin has introduced its first head-up display, the company announced on Wednesday. The GHD 2100 is designed for super-midsize, midsize and light business aircraft, and will launch on the new super-midsize Cessna Citation Longitude, with the G5000 integrated flight deck. The GHD is a compact, self-contained projection system with a large 30-degree by 24-degree field […]

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Spring Patterns

Aviation weather columns typically talk about hazards in terms of elements: “Watch the 0 to -20 degrees C layer for icing.” “Be cautious of wet, clear nights because of fog,” etc. We can always learn more from a change in perspective, and we can do so using surface charts from the Aviation Weather Center website. […]

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NTSB Reports On Fatal Icon Crash

The NTSB issued its preliminary report this week on the fatal crash of an Icon A5 on May 8 in California. A witness, who was aboard a boat on Lake Berryessa, told investigators he saw the A5 flying over the lake about 30 to 50 feet above the water, at what seemed to be a […]

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Wanted: Champions Of Risk

With the potential banning of laptops from airliner cabins under hot debate in Europe this week, I find myself once again recoiling at how people describe their thinking on this topic. Not to mention other risk-related issues. Notice I did not say “safety-related.” I saw a quote go pixeling by in which the speaker said […]

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Coast Guard Searching For Missing MU-2 (Corrected)

The Coast Guard said late Tuesday that is has spotted debris in the water near where a missing Mitsubishi MU-2B is believed to have disappeared on Monday. The flight was en route from Puerto Rico to Florida when controllers lost radar contact with it 15 miles east of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Onboard the aircraft […]

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EU, Airline Union Push Back On Laptop Ban

The U.S. plan to ban laptops from airliner cabins on flights originating in Europe is drawing increasing resistance from the European Union, a UK pilot union and business travelers. EU aviation authorities will meet this week to consider the proposed laptop ban. The issue became the center of a Washington political firestorm this week on […]

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Snowbirds Pause, Airshows Cancelled

Several upcoming airshows in the U.S. and Canada have been canceled, following an announcement Monday evening that the Canadian Forces’ Snowbirds have temporarily suspended air show performances. The team made the announcement on its Facebook page, following an appearance at the Memphis (Tenn.) Airshow. “A reduced training period hampered by poor weather which continued into […]

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