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.

Antarctic Rescue: Right Out There On The Edge

Aviation news events covered at a distance—by us, or anyone else—don’t always convey, shall I say, a lucid reality. I’ve been following the Kenn Borek Aviation rescue mission to the Amundsen-Scott Station in the Antarctic a little more closely than I might otherwise because I’ve got a little Twin Otter time and I’m curious about […]

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Three Off-Airport Crashes, One Pilot Killed

Three small general aviation airplanes have crashed at off-airport sites in the last two days, killing one pilot and injuring another. In Houston, Texas, a Piper PA-24 crashed onto the flat roof of a Macy’s distribution center about five miles northwest of Hobby Airport, just before midnight on Sunday. “I was watching it, and I […]

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Short Final

Overheard while flying through the New York Class B airspace: Pilot: Departure ABC 795 off 14L climbing to 5000′. Controller: Is this 725 or 795? Pilot: What did I say? Controller: 795. Pilot: Oh sorry, I guess this is 725. Controller: Don’t worry about it, I mix up call signs all day. Pilot: Yeah, but […]

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Solar Impulse Atlantic Leg Starts Monday

Solar Impulse 2 is expected to launch from New York to Seville, Spain, Monday on the longest leg of its circumnavigation using solar power only. The flight was to start on Sunday but weather concerns delayed it by a day. The flight will take an estimated 90 hours and will be flown by Bertrand Piccard. […]

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South Pole Rescue Launched

Two Canadian Twin Otter aircraft are in Punta Arenas at the southern tip of Chile waiting out weather to launch a rescue at the South Pole. The aircraft operated by Kenn Borek Air, of Calgary, Alberta, were dispatched last Wednesday to pick up a person who has fallen ill at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. […]

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Lysander Lands In Field

No one was injured when a rare Second World War-era Lysander made an off-airport landing near Hamilton, Ontario, on Saturday. The aircraft was on a local sightseeing flight. Only the 64-year-old pilot and a 61-year-old British woman were on board when the engine failed. The aircraft, one of 42 warbirds operated by the Canadian Warplane […]

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Time For Satellite Tracking For Oceanic Airliners?

The plodding search for EgyptAir 804, which went down in the eastern Mediterranean en route to Cairo on May 19, has again ignited the discussion about real-time transmission of critical flight parameters via satellite. In an age when the world is stitched together with numerous satellite systems, doesn’t relying on ancient flight and voice data […]

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New FAA Hangar Policy: Common Sense

Over the years one of the issues that has plagued aircraft owners and airport sponsors alike is trying to figure out what can be stored in an aircraft hangar that’s on an airport that receives federal grant money through the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). That money comes with strings, the big one is that the […]

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New Test Standards Will Improve Safety, Training, Examiners Say

The new Airman Certification Standards for private pilot and instrument rating applicants are a welcome change, pilot examiners said following the rollout of the revamped requirements. The ACS, which replaced the Practical Test Standards, also includes updated knowledge tests. “The new standards are designed to adapt as in-cockpit technology changes and to do a better […]

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Podcast: Doug Stewart On Airman Certification Standards

The new Airmen Certification Standards for private pilot and instrument rating applicants will emphasize risk management while making checkrides more efficient, according to Doug Stewart. The pilot examiner and CFI, who served on the original FAA committee charged with rewriting test standards, says the result will be “safer pilots.” Duration: 16:18 File Size: 7.8 MB […]

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