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.

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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EgyptAir Flight, Voice Recorders Recovered But Damaged

The data that could help find the cause of EgyptAir Flight 804’s sudden plunge into the Mediterranean can’t be recovered quickly, according to reports following Friday’s retrieval of the flight data recorder from the wreckage. That unit and the voice recorder, recovered by search teams on Thursday, are heavily damaged and must be repaired before […]

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Voice Recorder From EgyptAir 804 Found

EgyptAir Flight 804’s cockpit voice recorder has been found and is being delivered to investigators following Wednesday’s finding of the airliner’s wreckage in the Mediterranean. A salvage team working off a ship had to take tedious steps to retrieve the recorder as it had been damaged in the crash. “The vessel’s equipment was able to […]

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Air Force Investigates Collision Of F-16s In Georgia

The Air Force is investigating the nighttime collision of two F-16s over Jefferson County, Georgia on June 7. Both pilots, from the 169th Fighter Wing of the South Carolina Air National Guard, ejected safely and were found shortly after the accident. Crews were dispatched to look for the wreckage of the fighters in the dense […]

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Wait, Electric Airplanes Have Radiators?

I’ve covered this budding electric aviation thing just enough to understand this: The idea that an electric motor has so few moving parts that all you do is keep feeding it power and it will run smoothly forever is just wrong. The minimal parts count is right, but the simplicity isn’t. But it’s nice to […]

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