Flight Safety

Mike Busch, the Savvy Aviator and one of the U.S.’s best known aircraft technicians, has been fighting the FAA on what he terms an unnecessary and seriously flawed airworthiness directive regarding barrel-head separations on ECi cylinders for big-bore Continental engines. We’ve given you two options to learn more from Busch about this controversial move by […]

For at least the last 40 years, the precautionary, off-airport landing has rarely been taught. It’s certainly not required on a checkride and pilots who have a mechanical or weather problem are taught to go to the nearest airport and only attempt to land “out” (as glider pilots say) when the engine actually quits. Pilots […]

Marcus Paine, a longtime flight instructor and airshow performer, died Saturday at an Oregon airshow. Paine was reportedly pulling out of a loop just after takeoff in his Stearman when he crashed on the runway at the Airshow of the Cascades in Madras. He was 61. The aircraft caught fire on impact but airport firefighters […]

Tragedy marked the opening of a new general aviation airport in north central China. Michel Leusch, of South Africa, failed to recover from a dive during a performance at the first Silk Road International General Aviation Convention held at Danxia Airport on Saturday. The airport opened Friday and the convention was held to celebrate the […]

A Southwest Airlines 737 made an emergency landing in Pensacola, Florida, Saturday after an uncontained failure of the number one engine. Passengers snapped photos of the engine, which was missing everything forward of the pylon after what those on board described as an explosion, followed by some smoke in the cabin and a rapid descent […]

Last month’s AirVenture broke the decade mark for me. It was my eleventh show. Perhaps my perspective is unusual because I’ve done all those shows as a journalist. This year was different because I brought my 13-year-old son with me. He’s aposter child for next-generation aviators: He’s a fanatic about all craft that fly, has […]

A stolen airline truck driven by a man wearing only boxer shorts crashed into a parked Southwest Airlines jet Thursday night at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield. The incident required multiple police officers to subdue the man plus a replacement B737 for the 113 passengers catching their flight to Las Vegas, the Omaha World-Herald reported. An airline […]

An aerobatic trainer with a pilot and passenger veered off the runway during takeoff in California Wednesday and crashed into a hangar. The two men on board the SIAI-Marchetti SF260 were treated after the incident at Fullerton Municipal Airport for minor injuries, according to the Los Angeles Times. The pilot of the aircraft, operated by […]

The Piper Navajo that crashed in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, this month, killing all six people aboard, had two fuel pump failures in flight. The twin had departed Orlando, Florida, Aug. 14 bound for Oxford, Mississippi. At 11:11 a.m., the private pilot reported a fuel pump failure to ATC and requested a diversion to the nearest airport, […]

Partial panel is often viewed as a loss of vacuum instruments—the gyros. In reality you have a partial panel any time you lose one or more of the required instruments regardless of how they are powered or even their particular function. Losing any instrument deprives you of information that may have a crucial impact on […]