Flight Safety

With a year and 1,300 hours of operation behind them, Redbird says its converted diesel Skyhawks have delivered bulletproof maintenance reliability and significant savings in direct operating costs. At a short briefing during the company’s fourth annual training conference in San Marcos, Texas, Redbird’s Darren Bien told a small group that thus far, customer response […]

A report in Monday’s USA Today about the danger of lethal post-crash fires in GA aircraft is “sensationalistic,” according to GAMA President Pete Bunce. “Once again, USA Today‘s Thomas Frank has not told the full story about general aviation aircraft safety,” Bunce said in a statement released Tuesday morning. In the USA Today story, Frank […]

As if everything in aviation isn’t hard enough to get done, it’s grimly amusing how we’re able to make it harder yet. Just ask anyone trying to get a simple cert project on the FAA’s agenda, much less getting it approved. Even the stuff that should be simple and quick, isn’t. That came to mind […]

Redbird Simulations opens its fourth annual Migration training conference in San Marcos, Texas, today, with two days of forums and industry discussions about training issues critical to the aviation industry. On the agenda will be a brief review of Redbird’s experience in operating its Redhawk diesel Skyhawk conversion and a progress report on the company’s […]

Heard on Columbus Approach Control on Sunday, October 19. This approach controller maintained standard phraseology – twice – then decided to just try plain English, which worked perfectly! Approach:“N1234, Say on-course heading.” Pilot:“N1234. Stay on course heading.” Approach:“N1234, SAY on-course heading.” Pilot:“N1234. Stay on course heading.” Approach:“N1234, what is your current heading?” Pilot:“N1234. Heading: 050.” […]

At Redbird Simulations’ fourth training conference in San Marcos, Texas, AVweb got a look at the latest version of the company’s TRACE technology, which will enable students to teach themselves many of the basic maneuvers necessary to learn to fly. view on YouTube

One of the most difficult distinctions to win in U.S. aviation is the FAA’s Wright Brothers Award so officials might want to check what’s in the water at Pecan Plantation Airpark in Granbury, Texas. The FAA will present 13 awards to members of EAA Chapter 983 on Nov. 8. To get the award, pilots must […]

Thursday’s tragic mid-air between a Cirrus SR22 and an R44 helicopter illuminated a watershed of sorts. With November near upon us, the accident marked the largest number of ballistic parachute deployments for Cirrus aircraft in a calendar year, but also the lowest rolling 12-month average of fatal accidents in the models’ history. If the two […]

In January 2012, Bell Canada applied to the FAA for an exemption from the FARs that would allow it to increase the gross weight of its Model 429 by 500 pounds to 7,500 pounds as had been approved in Canada and a number of other countries. The FAA denied the petition in August 2012. Bell […]

While the rest of the world, especially Israel and Australia, move rapidly forward with commercial deployment of unmanned aircraft systems, the FAA’s slow formulation of regulations endangers the U.S. ability to compete. That was one observation that came out of an hour-long panel discussion attended by several hundred people at NBAA in Orlando this week. […]