Flight Safety

Van’s Aircraft is warning that a $35 million lawsuit filed against it in Oregon might actually be an indictment of the whole kit aircraft business. The family of a four-year-old girl who died in an RV-10 flown by her step-grandfather claims the kit manufacturer creates the unreasonable expectation that people who lack skills and training […]

Redbird Flight Simulations has partnered with Tempus Training Solutions to operate the Redbird Proflight Academy at its Skyport FBO in San Marcos, Texas. Tempus will continue training pilots there under FAA Part 61 and 141. The move allows Redbird to devote more of its resources to research and development, while continuing to use the training […]

For those looking for an introduction to angle-of-attack indicators in GA aircraft, the FAA has a new video to get started. The 19-minute video includes an introduction to angle-of-attack indicators, their use and general advice on installation in airplanes — plus references to FAA documents for further research. It also has demonstrations of three AOA […]

The de Havilland DHC-3 Otter that crashed in Soldotna, Alaska, in 2013 was overweight and out of CG limits, the NTSB said in its probable cause report this week. Contributing to the accident was the FAA’s “failure to require weight and balance documentation for this type of air taxi flight,” the NTSB said. The aircraft […]

A task force comprising 25 to 30 representatives from industry and government will be formed to develop a registration process for drones, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced today in Washington. The group will advise the department regarding which drones would be exempt from registration due to a low safety […]

Heard over tower frequency at our local airport recently. Left me crying and difficult to talk on radio. Unknown aircraft:“Err — Tower — altimeter?” Tower:“Go ahead, Altimeter.” Bob

This month’s doing-it-right mention goes to my friends at Skydive City, my home drop zone in Zephyrhills, Florida. Last week, in a sporting crosswind, the DZ’s Twin Otter had a runway excursion of the sort that happens every day in general aviation. The Otter is built like a locomotive so damage to the airplane was […]

Last month’s feature on the frustrating persistence of engine operating superstitions generated a number of comments from readers, most appreciating the ammunition to fire back at the Old Wives’ Tale-spouting “experts” at their local airport. Several referenced other operating superstitions—engine and airplane—regularly being passed off as time-honored aviation truths and asked if they could be […]

The FAA is too slow to hire and train new air traffic controllers, NATCA said this week, and the result is that towers and centers across the country are chronically understaffed. Controllers are repeatedly working six-day weeks at TRACON facilities in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and New York, according to NATCA. “Bureaucratic inertia” is […]

An airplane crashed into a mobile home in a trailer park in Lake Worth, Florida, on Tuesday evening, sparking an intense fire that destroyed the building and the airplane, according to the FAA. At a Wednesday morning news conference, FAA officials said the Piper Cherokee 180, with only its owner on board, had taken off […]