Flight Safety

For the second time in one week, a contretemps over reclining an airline seat led to a flight diverting and landing short of its destination. An American Airlines flight bound from Miami to Paris landed in Boston Wednesday night after Parisian Edmund Alexandre, variously reported as 60 and 61, became upset when the passenger in […]

The Recreational Aviation Foundation is making great progress in its effort to amend laws in all 50 states to make it easier for pilots to gain access to privately owned airstrips. AVweb’s Mary Grady spoke with John McNade, an RAF volunteer, about how the RAF is getting it done and why it’s important. Duration: 7:44 […]

AVweb’s weekly review of developments in aviation revealed news that Cessna delivered its 10,000th single-engine airplane from its Independence, Kansas, facility, Bell Helicopter broke ground on a new manufacturing facility, Cutter Aviation received a safety award, and the FAA authorized transition training in Bearhawk amateur-built aircraft. Textron Aviation Inc. announced that Cessna Aircraft Company delivered […]

Sometimes I feel as if Lockheed-Martin Flight Services is the Rodney Dangerfield of aviation-no matter how sophisticated, cool and user-friendly its weather briefing and flight safety services become, pilots don’t seem to be paying attention. That being the case, I’ll say it up front: the free-that’s free-services Lockheed-Martin have for pilots are cutting edge, impressive […]

Here’s the way private GA flying is supposed to work… if you’re flying to Nantucket for lunch with your friends, and they want to pitch in for gas, that’s OK with the FAA. But does that mean it’s OK to walk into a public place full of strangers, say “Hey, does anyone want to go […]

Malaysian Airlines has been losing cabin crew at a higher than normal rate recently and the leader of its biggest union says there’s no mystery there. Abu Malek Ariff told AFP some employees “are now afraid to fly.” Since the missile attack on one of its aircraft in Ukraine, which followed the March disappearance of […]

A police helicopter crashed about 9 a.m. Sunday while trying to rescue an injured climber in the Picos de Europa mountain range in Spain, killing all three crew members on board. A fourth crew member, who had already exited the helicopter to aid the climber, survived and called for help. “They were carrying out a […]

The NTSB said on Monday it has revoked the party status of both the Independent Pilots Association and UPS Airlines relative to its ongoing investigation of UPS Flight 1354, an A300-600 air cargo flight that crashed on approach to Birmingham, Alabama, last August, killing both crew members on board. The board said it took the […]

Last week, my wife and I heard this radio exchange while flying across Texas: San Angelo Approach:“Cardinal XXX, you got time for a quick question?” Cardinal XXX:“Sure.” SJT Approach (in a deep Texas drawl):“Is there somethin’ special about your flight today? Special cargo or something?” Cardinal XXX:“Nope.” San Angelo Approach:“They just have you on a […]

Just as attendance at AirVenture earlier this month showed a brisk uptick, the flight training industry is also enjoying a modest growth spurt through the first part of 2014. According to an informal survey of more than a dozen flight schools across the country conducted by AVweb this month, virtually all report increased training activity […]