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.

Continuing Federal Shutdown Raises Aviation Concerns

In day two of the federal government shutdown, airlines continue to run on schedule with fully staffed control towers, and general aviation pilots have seen few impacts — but the longer it goes on, the more effects will be felt, according to GA advocacy groups. Although air traffic controllers remain on the job, 3,000 support […]

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Safety Researchers Suggest Autopilot Redesign

Before control of an aircraft shifts from the autopilot to the pilot, the system should require the receiving pilot to acknowledge that he or she has assumed control, according to a recent study of ergonomics and flight safety. Eric Geiselman, lead author of a two-part study published in Ergonomics in Design, emphasized that the warning […]

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Jet Crash Fuels SMO Debate

Opponents of the Santa Monica airport are calling again for its closure following Sunday evening’s fatal jet crash. “It is time to shut this airport down,” Los Angeles city councilman Mike Bonin said in a Twitter post. “There have been more than 80 crashes related to this airport since 1982. Meanwhile, nearby residents are suffering […]

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Government Shutdown Will Affect Aviators

Pilots operating in the national airspace after today’s shutdown of the federal government should notice little impact, but the aviation industry as a whole will be affected in a number of ways. For those who are flying, air traffic control towers will be staffed as usual, since controllers are exempt from the furloughs. Airman medical […]

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Citation Crash “Unsurvivable” (Updated)

A Cessna Citation 525A (CJ2) that crashed into a hangar at Santa Monica Airport at 6:20 p.m. on Sunday was engulfed in flames by the time emergency crews arrived, Santa Monica Fire Department Capt. John Nevandro told reporters on the scene. The crash was “unsurvivable,” he said. “The building actually collapsed and wrapped itself around […]

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Short Final

Back in the early ’80s, I was making a living flying night-time aerial advertising with a “Skycaster” electronic moving-message sign that spanned the wings under the belly of my Cessna 172. Flying out of CMH, I would circle local communities with ads. My “low and slow,” combined with horizontal distance, gave the appearance that the […]

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Podcast: SAFE Takes Its Show on the Road

The Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE) is hosting a new weekend event next month at the Redbird Skyport in Texas, with a roster of seminars and simulator time, plus, as an added incentive to boost your proficiency, a chance to fill up your airplane with 100LL for $1 a gallon. Doug Stewart, executive […]

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Citation Hits Hangar At SMO (Corrected)

A Cessna Citation was involved in a landing accident at Santa Monica Airport Sunday evening but details were scant at our deadline. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor told NBC the aircraft ran off the right side of a runway and hit a hangar. There was a significant post-crash fire. Fire officials told the station the crash […]

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Poor Workmanship Behind Southwest Decompression

The NTSB says “extremely poor manufacturing technique” led to the in-flight decompression of a Southwest Boeing 737-300 two years ago but it also appears the shoddy workmanship was an isolated circumstance and not a fleet-wide problem. The board determined that improperly drilled and installed rivets in a misaligned section of the roof skin of the […]

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Futility Defined: Teaching Judgment

Did you know theres a multi-billion dollar industry devoted entirely to sleep disorders? If only they knew that the rock-solid way to bring on the deepest of sleeps is to enroll in a Flight Instructor Refresher Course. Let the serious snoring begin. I know this because Im now in the midst of my tenth or […]

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