Flight Safety

Pilot Bill Cowden, 47, died on Sunday while performing in an airshow at Steven’s Point, Wisc. It was the second fatal accident involving an airshow performer in North America this year, according to the International Council of Air Shows. Cowden was flying a 1993 Yakovlev YAK-55M, which he owned. After executing several maneuvers, the airplane […]

I heard this exchange between Boston approach and someone doing an approach into Nashua, New Hampshire. It seems the ground speed of the aircraft was less than Boston expected, and someone finally said: Boston:“62B, are you a helicopter?” 62B:“Errrr, no – but I’m flying one.” Larry Levinvia e-mail

The widow of an Iowa man sucked out of a skydive plane when his parachute deployed inside the aircraft is now suing the skydiving company. In a lawsuit filed last week, Cindy Kidrowski alleges the chute Kidrowski was required to wear as a safety precaution ended up killing him and she’s looking for general and […]

All seven people aboard a Gulfstream IV were killed Saturday night when the aircraft ran off a runway at Hansom Field in Bedford, Mass., northwest of Boston. The aircraft was en route from Hanscom to Atlantic City, N.J., according to airport authorities. Among the victims was Lewis Katz, 72, who just days ago reached a […]

One of the occupational hazards of being a video editor is becoming an inevitable victim of the genius of YouTube code writers. They have absolutely figured out the art of click bait and if youre able to resist falling into the black hole of wasting hours watching pointless videos one day, you wont the next. […]

Bombardier’s CSeries test program has been temporarily halted after an uncontained engine failure in the first flight test aircraft during a ground test. The Transportation Safety Board said ground crew monitoring the aircraft declared an emergency and asked for airport firefighters. Bombardier wouldn’t discuss details but said both the engine and the aircraft were damaged […]

Oklahoma legislators have passed legislation to help ensure that the sudden appearance of wind evaluation towers doesn’t surprise pilots. The new law will require that any temporary towers put up to measure wind speed be amply marked if they are higher than 50 feet.”It’s really a simple matter: Higher visibility saves lives. This new law […]

Virgin Galactic, the privately funded space company owned by Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Group and Abu Dhabis aabar Investments PJS, and Spaceport America announcedthat they have signed a joint agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration that helps clear the path for commercial flights of SpaceShipTwo. The agreement sets out the parameters for how routine space […]

I dont know whether to be shocked, surprised or skeptical of this weeks reports that Customs and Border Protection is re-examining its policies toward stop-and-search of private aircraft. For now, I think Ill go with skeptical. The reasons are several, chief among them being that CBP is a giant, complex and largely opaque bureaucracy of […]

The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. – Bertrand Russell That which is legal is not always safe, and that which is safe is not always legal. – John Deakin These two quotes are most appropriate when talking about traffic pattern entries. What IS […]