Flight Safety

An Aero Commander 500 crashed into a house about a quarter-mile from Midway International Airport in Chicago at 2:42 this morning, coming within eight inches of an elderly couple asleep in bed, who were unhurt, according to local news media reports. The pilot did not survive. The airplane was carrying cargo and had departed from […]

The FAA does have the authority to apply its rule prohibiting careless and reckless flight to the operators of unmanned aircraft, the NTSB said on Tuesday. The safety board offered the opinion (PDF) in its review of the case of Raphael Pirker, who was fined $10,000 by the FAA for allegedly operating an unmanned aircraft […]

I can’t put a date on it exactly, but about 15 years ago I decided it was neither productive nor professional to get into snippy arguments and wise-ass comments on the Unicom frequency. Nothing useful ever comes of it and after the frequency quiets down, you feel like you need a shower. Over the weekend, […]

The first Zulu Flight Training office in Europe is now up and running in Geneva, Switzerland, Continental Motors Group announced this week. Like the original site for the project, in Spanish Fort, Alabama, the new office offers a simulator-based curriculum based in a convenient, urban location. The goal is to retain students who might otherwise […]

I was on my way back to Chicago Midway after delivering some freight out east. “It was a dark and stormy night” with scattered thunderstorms and few airplanes. I was with Cleveland approach when this call came through. Something Something Yankee:“Cleveland, this is Something Something Yankee. How do you hear?” Cleveland:“Loud and clear. How me?” […]

Amateur video of the immediate aftermath of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 surfaced over the weekend as Dutch authorities were finally able to start removing the thoroughly disturbed wreckage. Meanwhile, as the trucks and cranes were getting ready to move in, Russia’s state-run television showed an image purported to show a Ukrainian fighter […]

Boots and weeping wings are fine as far as they go, but it’s also nice to have some means of automatically detecting and alarming the presence of ice in flight. A company called SafeFlight is out with a new device that does just that. view on YouTube

Australia’s aviation regulator is proposing significant operating limitations on all aircraft powered by Jabiru engines because of a “high and increasing rate of engine failures.” If adopted, the consultation draft issued by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority on Thursday would restrict Jabiru-powered aircraft to day VFR flights over unpopulated areas. No passengers will be allowed […]

Continental Motors Group announced Thursday it will offer its CD-100 diesel series for existing light piston airplanes in China. The company has filed for a Chinese STC for the installation of its CD-135 and CD-155 engines in the Cessna 172, Piper PA-28 series and the Diamond DA40. It expects the STC to be granted in […]

I’ve been pawing over some additional details on the specs for the new airplanes Mooney announced last week in Zhuhai. They truly are clean-sheet designs and the first we’ve seen from a major manufacturer in more than a decade. The airplanes are interesting less for what they have than what they don’t have: ballistic parachutes. […]