Flight Safety

Airline crews should have more training on go-arounds, under recommendations issued this week by Russian investigators probing the March 19 crash of a Boeing 737 that killed all 62 people on board. The Interstate Aviation Committee’s interim report (PDF) on the crash at Rostov-on-Don airport details the FlyDubai jet’s flight path during the crew’s attempts […]

The former postal carrier who landed his gyrocopter at the U.S. Capitol a year ago was sentenced to 120 days in prison on Thursday. Doug Hughes, 62, walked out of federal court after a lengthy hearing and told reporters he still doesn’t regret his flight, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times. Hughes, a Florida […]

So there you are, coming down to the decision height (DH) watching as the approach lights emerge from the clag—all configured and at the right speed. In a few seconds the wheels will kiss the pavement and you will have logged another perfect approach and landing. But this is not to be: The tower orders […]

The Hawker jet that crashed in Akron, Ohio, in November, killing all nine aboard, was not flying a stabilized approach, as indicated by the cockpit conversation just before the accident. The NTSB released its investigation records this week as the probe into the cause of the crash continues. The voice recorder indicates the copilot was […]

After years of patient waiting, Continental Motors announced Wednesday at Aero what many diesel owners have been hoping for: significantly longer replacement cycles for its four-cylinder diesel engines. The new longer TBRs (time between replacement) extend to 2100 hours for both the CD-135 and CD-155 Continental diesels. Moreover, according to Continental CEO Rhett Ross, the […]

Piper Aircraft announced several price rollbacks and a large trainer order from the University of North Dakota on the opening days of theAero exposition in Friedrichshafen, Germany, on Wednesday morning. Piper CEO Simon Caldecott told the press that some 100 aircraft have been ordered by UND, one of the largest single trainer orders during the […]

A 1997 Citation X owned by Donald Trump has been flying with an expired FAA registration since Jan. 31, according to a story in today’s New York Times. Flying with a lapsed registration — which costs $5 for three years — could be a problem in the case of an accident, and also can subject […]

An Air Force investigation (PDF) has determined that intentionally jammed controls led to the loss of a C-130J and the deaths of 14 people in Afghanistan in October. The report says a pilot put the hard-shell case for a set of night vision goggles in front of the yoke to get the elevators up and […]

The captain of aBritish AirwaysAirbus A320 flying into London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday afternoon told authorities he believed the front of the airplane was hit by a drone on approach. The airplane landed safely and it was examined carefully by engineers. It hasn’t been reported what damage they found, if any, but they cleared the […]

While landing in BOI last week, we overheard this great question from a pilot: Tower:“Cessna 123, turn left, heading 210, runway 28L; cleared for takeoff.” Cessna:“Cleared for takeoff, Cessna 123.” Tower:“Cessna 123, also: Turn left, heading 210.” Cessna:“You want that after we takeoff, right?” Tower:“Yes, that would be best.” I could barely read back our […]