Flight Safety

Aviation lore is full of heroes like Chuck Yeager, who saved the day while calmly muttering on the radio something about “some little fire going in them engines” or such. The quiet, unflappable, laid-back flyer has been the role model for young pilots since the days of the Lone Eagle. But is there such a […]

This occurred on a flight from Cincinnati to Roanoke, Virginia around 2005, give or take a couple years; I’m too lazy to look up the actual date in my logbook but remember that flight distinctly. I was the pilot monitoring, and John, the captain, was the pilot flying. We were approaching from the west, heading […]

Three flight attendants were among seven people injured when an American Airlines Boeing 767 hit heavy turbulence on a flight from Miami to Milan on Sunday. Instead of sampling the delights of Milan on Monday, the remaining 196 people on board will experience the historic vigor of St. John’s Newfoundland, where the flight diverted. It’s […]

Back in the 1950s, social critic and philosopher Lenny Bruce said that no one is shocked anymore. He was probably correct, given our national tolerance for the excesses of those in the entertainment biz, and those seeking to join the weirdness. Yet, I find my level of amazement at flight schools that grind out new […]

The ego—especially the male ego—is a curious thing; a cursed delight that’s inextricably tangled up in this pilot thing we all seem to enjoy. From the ego flows the self confidence required to learn flying and overcome the inherent risks in operating an airplane. If you didn’t have it, you’d cower in the den with […]

A former pilot for Alaska Airlines was charged this week with flying on the job under the influence of alcohol in 2014. David Hans Arnston, 60, of Newport Beach, California, was in federal court on Wednesday and charged with one felony count, The Associated Press reported. He was freed on $25,000 bond and will return […]

The student pilot of an Air Force F-16 fighter that crashed Thursday morning in western Arizona remains missing after a daylong search, according to media reports.The jet, from Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix and assigned to the 56th Fighter Wing, crashed in a hilly area about 8:45 a.m. near the small town of Bagdad. […]

Although builders of amateur-built aircraft often work with limited resources, they can still apply the methodical strategies of data-driven risk mitigation, according to Paul Dye, editor of KITPLANES magazine and a former senior flight director at NASA. In a keynote talk at the opening day of the Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida, Dye said […]

Despite chilly temperatures, the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo opened in Sebring Wednesday morning with a record number of exhibitors. Show organizer Jana Filip said as of late Wednesday, both outdoor and indoor space was still being sold and that outdoor section was the largest in the show’s 12-year history. “Indoor, we’ve got a few more […]

Last November, I transported 40 endangered sea turtles (stranded on Cape Cod) from the Boston area to a turtle rescue center center in Georgia. I put “transporting endangered sea turtles” in the comments section of my IFR flight plan and had two interesting exchanges on the trip. — Providence Approach (PVD):“69 Tango, how’s your cargo […]