Flight Safety

All seven people on board were killed when a Cessna 414 light twin crashed into a soybean field near Bloomington, Illinois, at about 12:15 a.m. Tuesday. Conditions were reportedly foggy and rainy at the time. The flight had departed Indianapolis just after the NCAA basketball championship game, and was heading for Central Illinois Regional Airport, […]

Ahead of the 2015 Aircraft Electronics Association trade show, we reached out to AEA president Paula Derks for her show forecast. She answered a few questions about the ADS-B mandate and what FAA nextgen specialist Mike Whitaker may have to say at the show, as well as hinting at some of the product announcements in […]

AVweb’s Paul Bertorelli spoke with Tim Taylor of FreeFlight Systems about the company’s EquipIt 2020 initiative, which aims to provide low-cost equipage options to meet the FAA’s coming ADS-B mandate. With the Aircraft Electronics Association show going on now in Dallas, Taylor explained the logistics of FreeFlight’s RANGR Lite system, encouraged owner-pilots to equip sooner […]

As number two in the pattern today, I announced:“Comanche, right downwind, runway 21.” Number three in the pattern said:“182 on 45, looking for traffic.” I responded:“I’m over the hill, turning base now.” Number three said:“If you’re flying today, there’s no way you’re over the hill.” Al Briguglio

A glider pilot suffered only minor injuries after high winds reportedly tore the wings off his aircraft and he parachuted to safety on the roof of a parkade in Reno, Nevada, on Sunday. The unidentified pilot launched from soaring mecca Minden, about 40 miles south of Reno, on Sunday afternoon and was on his way […]

While lightning strikes on airliners aren’t that rare, videos of them don’t come up that often. University of Washington student Owen Craft was therefore understandably excited when he got footage of two airliners being hit while on approach to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last week. “I was stunned for a second because I couldn’t believe what […]

Long ago, an instructor explained to me that knowing the various options for using the airplane, the different ways to make it do what’s needed, and the savvy to use those different models as appropriate; differentiated aviating from rote piloting. In the case of using climb abilities to your benefit, the best preparation begins with […]

The NTSB continues its probe into the Delta MD-88 that veered off a runway at LaGuardia Airport on March 5, issuing a third report Thursday. Investigators saidthey will examine the snow-clearing procedures at LaGuardia as well as snow-clearing operations on the day of the accident.In its new report, the NTSB found that Runway 13, where […]

Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot found to have crashed a Germanwings A320 into the French Alps on March 24, not only set the Airbus’ autopilot to descend into the ground, but changed the settings several times to increase the aircraft’s speed, French investigators stated Friday in a BBC report. The findings came after the retrieval of […]

14 CFR 91.123 says, “When a pilot is uncertain of an ATC clearance, that pilot shall immediately request clarification from ATC.” Complying with the reg seems easy enough, but under pressure of time, heavy weather and busy controllers we are tempted to assume that ATC knows its intentions and to accept a clearance as given. […]