Flight Safety

The 777 that has been missing since Saturday may have changed courseafter communications were lostand flown for hundreds of miles to the west, across Malaysia and over the Strait of Mallacca, according to a Malaysian official who said “signals” had been detected, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. The Times said those reports were […]

PBS science correspondent and aviation reporter Miles O’Brien lost most of his left arm recently after a freak accident while on assignment in the Philippines, but last week he was back at work and making plans to fly again. In an interview with Judy Woodruff, O’Brien said he has already spoken to doctors about the […]

Pilot:“Center, N12345.” Center:“N12345, where have you been? We haven’t heard from you in a while.” Pilot:“I’ve been in Fort Myers for the last three months or so.” Center:“N12345 -“[Chuckles.]“No, you’ve been NORDO for the last 45 minutes; we haven’t heard a communication from you. When did you last speak to a controller?” Pilot:“I guess 45 […]

The pilot of a Cessna 170B and a skydiver escaped a spectacular collision with minor injuries on Saturday at South Lakeland Airport in Florida. The pilot of the 170B, Sharon Trembley, 87, a World War II veteran, was taking off on his third touch-and-go of the beautiful morning when 49-year-old skydiver John Frost landed. A […]

About five years ago, when I was doing some research on used airplane prices, I had a disquieting revelation. When late-model Cessna 172s were listed, they were inevitably described as G1000 Skyhawks. It was as though we had crossed some invisible divide and the venerable old Hawk–really not much changed from the original collection of […]

It was more than 50 years ago that Boeing used the first vortex generators-carefully located metal tabs angled slightly relative to the airflow-on portions of the upper surface of the wing of the original 707. (I also received a report from reader George McClellan, who worked on the experimental flightline at Boeing in Wichita, that […]

Malaysian officials have confirmed they’re investigating a “security breach” at Kuala Lumpur Airport involving Flight MH370 and that they’re now looking for links between four passengers and the Chinese Uighur militant Muslim movement. Uighur militants killed 29 people last week in a grisly knife attack at a Chinese train station and the timing of the […]

Boeing is inspectingthe carbon fiber composite wings of 787 Dreamliners for potential hairline cracks that are due to a change in the way the wings are manufactured. The inspections of 42 planes started a few weeks ago after the airplane maker was notified of the problem by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which makes the wings in […]

Update: On Feb. 7, the FAA announced that it has appealed the dismissal of its civil penalty action against commercial drone operator Raphael Pirker to the full National Transportation Safety Board. The appeal has the effect of staying the law judge’s decision until the full Board rules. NBC Newsreported that a National Transportation Safety Board […]

Garmin International Inc. announced new capabilities for G1000-equipped King Air 200/250/300/350 series aircraft. These enhancements provide a number of new features and optional equipment upgrades that offer King Air owners and operators more capability. These new upgrades include several key NextGen components like Automatic Dependence Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B) compliance, as well as customer-requested capabilities such […]