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.

Southwest Engine Comes Apart At Altitude

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 […]

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Guest Blog: AirVenture 2026

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 […]

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Man In Underwear Crashes Truck Into Airliner

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 […]

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Aerobatic Trainer Crashes Into Hangar During Takeoff

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 […]

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NTSB: Pilot Reported Mechanical Failures Before Crash

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, […]

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Partial Panel Prognosis

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 […]

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FAA Orders Mandatory Balloon Checks

All 6,400 hot-air balloons in the U.S. must be inspected to ensure they are not equipped with potentially leaky fuel hoses made of “egeflex” material, the FAA said in an emergency airworthiness directive issued today. The AD is effective Aug. 29, and balloonists have 14 days after that to complete the inspection, which should take […]

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Short Final

Climbing out of my home airport with our friendly (and funny) tower controllers, I heard: Tower: Cardinal XYZ, check transponder. XYZ: Turning it on, sorry, guys, XYZ. Tower: Cardinal XYZ, never admit your mistakes on frequency, just say it was warming up. XYZ: All warmed up! XYZ. Tower: That’s the spirit. Daniel Rasin

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Santa Monica Battle Escalates

Only a few days after losing yet another round in the legal slugfest that continues over Santa Monica Airport, opponents of the airport are turning up the political pressure on the city council, according to the Santa Monica Lookout. Municipal elections are coming this fall and the well-organized anti-airport forces are making it clear to […]

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Time to Stop Flying? An Attorneys Perspective

As the pilot population ages a significant portion of the graybeards (female and male) are now interrupting their muttering about the unfairness of a pilot shortage happening when they’re no longer in a position to take advantage of it with entering into conversations as to when it’s going to be time to pull the mixture […]

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