Flight Safety

If theres an aviation version ofrealpolitik, we saw it on Friday when EAA announced its caving in to FAA demands that the association pay for air traffic services at AirVenture. This decision will be bitterly disappointing for many members, while others will just accept it as the cost of doing business and an inevitability. Its […]

One of the ongoing bright spots in the world of public perception of general aviation is the growing recognition that pilots are quietly volunteering their time, skills and aircraft to make flights that benefit others. The purposes of the flights vary widely-they may help many people at once, such as through documentation of environmental degradation, […]

Video shows a Piper Aerostar apparently buzzing a neighborhood east of Denver, Colo., before pitching up and then diving into the ground where it exploded, killing the pilot and setting a two-acre grass fire. The aircraft owner and pilot have not been identified; however, the airplane had been based in California until two weeks ago […]

News reports late on Wednesday said Australian officials had spotted two objects via satellite that could be floating debris from the lost Malaysian Airlines 777. Ships and aircraft are under way now to the site to investigate.Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters in Kuala Lumpur the new information is a “credible lead.” “There remains […]

A joint FAA/Boeing design review team reported (PDF) that the Boeing 787 is safe, but made recommendations for improvement for both the FAA and Boeing. Specifically, the joint team of FAA and Boeing technical experts found that the aircraft was soundly designed, met its intended safety level, and that the manufacturer and the FAA had […]

The FAA has rejected widespread industry criticism and appears to be going ahead with an Airworthiness Directive affecting the cylinders on 6,000 engines.In what appears to be a response to the overwhelmingly negative industry feedback it has received, the FAA has taken another look at options to buffer the $82.6 million cost of a proposed […]

As if pilots didn’t have enough hazards to think about — bird strikes, other airplanes and random laser pointers, to name a few — now some pilots have complained that a sprawling new solar-energy plant in California, near the Nevada border, is blindingly bright. “From the pilot’s seat of my aircraft the brightness was like […]

With still no trace of the 777 more than 10 days after it took off, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has now been missing longer than any other commercial airplane in the modern era. New theories about its disappearance continue to arise — toxic fumes from the cargo hold, a cyber-hacking crime, a smoldering onboard fire […]

A news helicopter used by television station KOMO crashed in downtown Seattle early Tuesday and initial reports said at least two people died. The aircraft had just taken off from the rooftop helipad of KOMO’s building on Broad Street, a main downtown street, when it apparently hit the side of the building and fell in […]

At least weeks Aircraft Electronics Association show, famed aerobatic pilot Sean D. Tucker was the keynote speaker. The connection? Hes head of the EAAs Young Eagles program and a perfect choice for recruiting pilots. Hes enthusiastic, animated and knowledgeable. Im not sure AEA was the right audience for the pitch, but it was interesting to […]