Flight Safety

With a new cost-cutting budget proposal from President Donald Trump expected on Thursday, general aviation advocates took the offensive on Monday and sent a letter to Congress asking them to protect funding for contract towers. NBAA, AOPA and eight other groups sent a letter to Congress asking them to fully fund the towers in the […]

Not many controllers away from the northern border of the U.S. are familiar with Canada’s alphabetic aircraft registration system and it can cause confusion. C-ABCD: XXXX tower this Canadian Civil Charlie Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta. Request runway in use. No response C-ABCD: Again XXXX tower Canadian Civil Charlie Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta requesting runway in […]

The National Weather Service says straight-line winds, not a tornado, caused millions of dollars in damage at Johnson County Executive Airport in Olathe, Kansas, last week. It estimated winds of up to 85 mph were responsible for the damage or destruction of up to nine hangars and 45 aircraft, along with other property. The wind […]

AOPA President Mark Baker has written the aviation authorities of three countries whose airspace borders the U.S. asking that they accept new BasicMed medical requirements that will cover some private pilots. BasicMed goes into effect in May 1 and is expected to be adopted by many U.S. pilots but Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas don’t […]

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 […]

Concept vehicles are a staple of auto and motorcycle shows. These sometimes dingbat creations aren’t meant to be serious design efforts, but flights of fancy intended to create buzz and garner press attention. Aviation shows rarely have the equivalent, at least from major manufacturers. The last one I can think of is the Cessna NGP. […]

While the number of accidents involving member airlines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) dipped slightly in 2016, from 68 to 65, the number of fatalities climbed from 136 to 268. “Last year some 3.8 billion travelers flew safely on 40.4 million flights. The number of total accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities all declined […]

King Schools co-owner John King confirmed to AVweb Thursday the FAA has restored his medical certification without explanation after the well-publicized appeal of his suspension. “Amazingly enough, I have my medical certificate in my pocket,” he said in an email. “I had written an email to the FAA Associate Administrator for Safety urging them to […]

No one was injured when a U.S. Air Force A-29 Super Tucano crashed in suburban Georgia earlier this week. Air Force Public Affairs officials said both pilots safely ejected and were released from Clinch Memorial Hospital after evaluation. The single-engine turboprop attack aircraft was operated by the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base […]

Senator Charles Schumer, of New York, called on the NTSB this week to investigate general aviation safety and “determine whether additional steps are necessary to help ensure safe skies.” Schumer cited crashes last week in New Jersey and Long Island, and said at least 18 other small planes crashed in New York over the last […]