Flight Safety

AVweb’s Flight Safety section offers in-depth coverage of aviation safety topics, including accident analyses, risk management strategies, regulatory updates, and pilot training insights. Designed for pilots, instructors, and aviation professionals, this section provides timely information to enhance situational awareness and promote best practices in flight operations.

Short Final

While on a local flight close to my base airport (KLWB), a landing Gulfstream contacted the tower. The controller in the cab gave the Gulfstream clearance to land, along with a warning that buzzards were circling near the approach end of the runway. “O.K.,” replied the Gulfsteam. “We’ve got the BB gun loaded.” Kyle Jonesvia […]

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AVmail: December 9, 2013

Letter of the Week:100UL Should Be Cheaper than 100LL Regarding Shell’s announcement that it has created an unleaded 100-octane aviation fuel: Once in production, and without knowing the ingredients, this should actually be lower in cost than 100LL for several reasons, some of which are: Larry Wheelock I’d hoped a 100UL fuel would cost less […]

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Sean Tuckers Every Kid Can Fly Program

December marks the first month that a first batch of students will make their way through National Aviation Hall of Fame inductee and aerobatic pilot Sean Tuckers latest project, Every Kid Can Fly, for local at-risk children. The Salinas, Calif., program is associated with Hartnell College and the NASA laboratories based there. It aims to […]

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Sleep Apnea Bill Makes Legislative Progress

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has approved a bill that would force the FAA to follow the formal rulemaking process in adopting a controversial new sleep apnea detection initiative, It’s the first legislative step to slow down implementation of a policy introduced by Federal Air Surgeon Dr. Fred Tilton in his November newsletter to […]

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Scholarships Available For Aviation Careers

Helicopter Association International has extended the deadlines on several scholarships for those seeking aviation careers. Applicants now have until midnight, Dec. 31, to compete for 10 scholarships that provide up to $5,000 toward commercial helicopter ratings and maintenance technician certificates, as well as one Michelle North Scholarship that will fund attendance at the safety management […]

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Research Study: Aircraft Certification Rules Don’t Necessarily Improve Safety

While its generally assumed that aircraft certification rules increase safety and reduce accidents, a recently completed research project by an Embry Riddle Aeronautical University professor reveals that for some types of accidents, thats not the case. In fact, the research data suggests that for some segments of general aviation, burdensome certification rules actually decrease safety […]

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Skycatcher’s Demise: Barely a Ripple

Memes are ideas, accepted wisdom and cultural touchpoints that get handed from one person to another via, well, who knows how? By e-mail, television, blogs, word of mouth. They take on a life of their own. When I ask myself how some in aviation get started, maybe I only need look in the mirror. In […]

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China Opens Up For Private Pilots

On the heels of recent announcements about easier access to airspace, China on Sunday made it easier for civilians to earn private pilot privileges. Any citizen age 17 with at least a junior-high education will be eligible to apply for the training, and they can take the required tests after 40 hours of flying and […]

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Video Camera Sends ELT Signal

Search and rescue crews were on high alert Nov. 16 in Nova Scotia after multiple airliners overflying the Canadian province reported an ELT signal that turned out to be coming from a video camera. Royal Canadian Air Force helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft took to the air to search for what appeared to be a triggered […]

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African E-190 Crash Kills 33

Searchers have found the burned wreck of a Mozambique Airlines (LAM) Embraer E-190 in a remote area of Namibia and confirmed that all 33 aboard were killed in the crash. The aircraft, which was delivered in 2012 and is the newest in the airline’s fleet, was on a flight from Maputo, Mozambique to Luanda, Angola. […]

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