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.

Drone Sighting Briefly Closes Stewart Airport

A drone sighting briefly closed Stewart Airport in New York on Friday and prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to call for federal legislation to allow all levels of law enforcement to address the drones. Stewart officials closed the airport, a mostly GA facility and Air National Guard base, which is sometimes used as an alternate for […]

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New Medical Denials Raise Concerns

The FAA says those who have their medicals denied under a new deferral processing policy will not necessarily be disqualified from obtaining medical certification through BasicMed. Effective Jan.1, anyone whose medical deferral is not accompanied by all the necessary paperwork and reports will have their medical denied. A medical denial makes a pilot ineligible for […]

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Fuel Exhaustion Forces Emergency Landing On Texas Road

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says fuel exhaustion led to a twin-engine Piper Navajo making an emergency landing on a road in Victoria, Texas on Wednesday. Video footage of the incident was shared on X. The FAA’s preliminary report noted the aircraft struck two vehicles before splitting in half at a busy intersection. Victoria police […]

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UND Joins FAA Air Traffic Controller Workforce Program

The University of North Dakota (UND) is the latest institution to join the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Enhanced Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) program. UND now joins Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Tulsa Community College and the University of Oklahoma as an Enhanced AT-CTI school. The Enhanced AT-CTI program streamlines the hiring process for air traffic controllers […]

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FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker Announces Resignation

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Whitaker announced on Thursday that he will step down from his role on Jan. 20, 2025, after just over a year in the position. Whitaker, who was appointed in October 2023, shared the news in an email to staff that was later posted on X.   “Serving as Administrator […]

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NTSB Issues Wings Over Dallas Midair Report

The NTSB is recommending that airshow bosses be required to undergo recurrent training and that FAA inspectors be better trained in what to look for when monitoring airshow operations. In the synopsis of its forthcoming final report into the midair collision between two American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum warbirds at an airshow near Dallas in […]

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FAA Tweaks Instructor Rules, Eliminates LODA Requirements

The FAA has enacted a final rule that, among dozens of other fine print details, allows certain types of pilot training, testing and checking in experimental aircraft without the need for a letter of deviation authority (LODA). The rule fixes a situation that resulted from a court decision five years ago concerning for-hire sightseeing rides […]

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Pilot Errors, Not Turbulence, Caused Fatal Upset

In a final report that seems scripted to prove the old adage about aircraft accidents resulting from a series of seemingly minor mishaps, the NTSB has determined that pilot actions, not turbulence and later a trim issue, as was widely reported at the time, caused an upset that led to the death of a passenger […]

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Preliminary Report Offers Few Clues In Fatal HondaJet Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) preliminary report on a HondaJet crash last month, which killed four on board the aircraft and one in a vehicle, offered little insight into the cause of the accident. The crash occurred Nov. 5 at Falcon Field Airport (KFFZ) in Mesa, Arizona, where the jet was headed for Provo […]

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Pilot Robert DeLaurentis Describes Crash Landing At Felts Field

Robert DeLaurentis, well-known pilot, author and entrepreneur in aviation circles, was involved in a crash-landing Monday night at Felts Field Airport (SFF) in Spokane, Washington. DeLaurentis, speaking to local news station KREM2, explained that he was flying from his home airport on Whidbey Island when his engines lost power just 100 feet above the ground, […]

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