Flight Safety

Mooney International Corp.’s M10T proof-of-concept model has its first flight on Wednesday from Chino Airport in California. Test pilot Len Fox flew the fixed-gear airplane for about 15 minutes, taking it through basic maneuvers before landing as the aircraft’s engineering team looked on. The M10T, unveiled in 2014 at the Zhuhai Airshow in China, is […]

A camera drone crashed a few feet behind a downhill skier competing in a World Cup slalom event in Italy on Tuesday. The hefty-looking aircraft dropped vertically and smashed to pieces as Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher negotiated a steep section of the course. He did not appear to notice the maelstrom of plastic behind him. […]

Monday was the first day of the FAA’s drone registry, and it was not without glitches, with users reporting that it went down for a while shortly after it opened, and others complaining that the FAA posted incorrect information for law enforcement about deadlines. The site is back up and running, and that law-enforcement information […]

While threading my way through thunderstorms coming on shore from a rig in the Gulf of Mexico, I heard New Orleans ATC say, “Tell your boss I like his movies.” After a short pause, I recognized the voice of Harrison Ford: “Thanks, and I like your radar vectors.” Jim Borger

Last Thursday, December 17, marked the 80th anniversary of the first flight of the Douglas DC-3, probably the most remarkable and successful transport created in the first half-century of powered flight. A buddy of mine kindly texted some photos to me that day—he was in a DC-3 in southern California on a commemorative flight. Of […]

Flight data and cockpit recorders on European airliners will have enhanced capabilities under new rules announced this week by the European Commission. Starting in 2018, locator beacons must be able to operate for 90 days instead of 30 and carriers must conduct over-ocean tracking of their jets, according to a Bloomberg report. In addition, cockpit […]

A medical helicopter with three men on board crashed Tuesday night in rugged terrain in Arizona, killing the pilot and a nurse. One other crew member, a paramedic, survived. There were no patients on board, The Associated Press reported. The Airbus AS350 helicopter, operated by Native Air, was reported missing about 6 p.m., and local […]

No matter how much automation we fly behind, no matter how many air-data computers are installed and no matter how simple it is, it’s likely a pitot-static system—pretty much like the one Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic—is what generates airspeed and some other basic flight information aboard the aircraft we fly. These systems are relatively […]

Leaders in Congress are working on legislative changes that would cut flight-training benefits for veterans, the Helicopter Association International said this week in a news release. HAI President Matt Zuccaro issued a “call to action,” saying the proposed changes would especially affect helicopter flight training. In addition, HAI said, under a new interpretation issued earlier […]

The FAA’s new rule that will require drone users to register their aircraft was released today (PDF), and FAA officials told reporters this morning they’re hopeful the word will get out and users will comply. “Unmanned aircraft operators are aviators,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, on a conference call. “And with that title comes a […]