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.

Slow Flight: Yes, You Need To Learn It

You have to hand it to the FAA. This is a government agency that’s gifted in its ability to tweak the rules in a way that makes we, the regulated, twist, dance, squirm and shimmy in the most creative ways. The latest example came last week when the FAA revised its standards for teaching that […]

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Navy Report: Blue Angels Pilot Flew Too Low, Fast

The pilot of the Blue Angels jet that crashed on June 2 in Tennessee was too fast and low when he flew an aerobatic maneuver during practice, the Navy said Thursday. Jeff Kuss, 32, who died in the crash, flew a split S maneuver 300 feet lower than required and had the afterburners on in […]

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Close, but not Too Close

Nutjob. That’s what we all called him. He was one of my trainers at my first tower. Extreme skydiving and off-the-grid adventure travel earned him the title. His not-safe-for-work “There I was…” stories were legendary throughout our ATC community. Despite his off-campus reputation, he didn’t screw around in the control tower. He confidently ran his […]

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FAA Rebates For ADS-B Start Next Week

The FAA said on Tuesday it will launch its ADS-B $500 rebate program next Monday, Sept. 19. The program will fund 20,0000 rebates, available on a first-come, first-served basis. “We promised that we would help aircraft owners equip with ADS-B, and I am pleased to say that today we are honoring that commitment and we […]

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NTSB: Delta Runway Overrun Caused By Reverse Thrust

Nobody was seriously hurt when a Delta MD-88 ran off a runway at New York’s La Guardia Airport, in March 2015, but the NTSB said this week the crew made some mistakes in dealing with the situation. The flight crew’s decision to land on the snow-covered runway was “not inappropriate,” the safety board said, and […]

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Report: Diabetic Pilots OK For Airline Jobs

Pilots are not allowed to fly commercially in the U.S. if they have insulin-dependent diabetes, but a recent 18-month study of insulin-dependent commercial pilots flying in the United Kingdom found that no incidents were reported of pilot incapacitation due to blood sugar that was too high or too low. The study, conducted by the U.K. […]

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NTSB: Southwest Engine Lost A Fan Blade

The engine that came apart at altitude on a Southwest B737 last month lost one of its fan blades during the flight, the NTSB reported in an investigative update on Monday. The jet was en route from New Orleans to Orlando, Florida, when the incident occurred, and the crew diverted to Pensacola. They landed safely […]

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FAA Revises Slow-Flight Advice

The FAA has issued a Safety Alert reminding instructors, students and other general aviation pilots that the advised procedure for practicing slow-flight maneuvers has changed. The FAA’s new advice intends to correct “inconsistencies” in the previous standard for maneuvering during slow flight, as outlined in the Airplane Flying Handbook published in 2004, and the latest […]

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General Aviation Accident Bulletin

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages or our sister publication,Aviation Safety magazine and is published twice a month. All the reports listed here are preliminaries and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause in the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear […]

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Short Final

I am an instructor in Germany and was with a student flying to his first towered airport. The aircraft has no GPS installed and visibility was around 4-5 km in mist. We were given the entry into the control zone via VFR reporting point “November.” Tower (in a kind, investigative voice): “D-HR you are a […]

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