Flight Safety

Three of the major players in the tablet navigation business say the new iPad products are fully compatible and are noticeably faster at getting information to the pilot. “ForeFlight Mobile version 5.4.4 (already available for download from the App Store) is fully compatible with the iPad Air,” said ForeFlight CEO Tyson Weihs. “The air screams […]

A 61-year-old man flying Tuesday as passenger in a Robinson R44 tour helicopter near Newport Beach, Calif., appears to have opened the door and jumped out while roughly 500 feet above the ocean, according to local police. The man was recovered from the water and later pronounced dead at an area hospital. First reports state […]

The FAAs processes combined with financial constraints have created a bottleneck that has held up roughly 1,000 certifications, industry representatives told a House aviation subcommittee last month – and it could get worse, they said. In the past year alone, the certification office lost resources due to the sequester, instituted a hiring freeze, and had […]

A final rule affecting howairlinepilots are trained went into effect on Tuesday, the FAA announced. The rule, which stems mainly from investigations following the Colgan Air crash in 2009, has long been in the works, and recently was delayed by the federal government’s shutdown over funding disputes. The rule, which the FAA said will cost […]

When two airplanes carrying skydivers collidedabove Wisconsin on Saturday, many of the jumpers were equipped with video cameras, and some of that film is now turning up online. The nine skydivers all jumped safely, along with one of the pilots; the second pilot was able to safely land his damaged Cessna 185. The other airplane, […]

Pilots decide to buy their own airplane for a variety of reasons. It could be a business decision, helping ensure cover-age of a relatively wide sales area, or perhaps an aerial photography business. Specialized flight training-like acro, or a quicky instrument rating-also can be a reason. Recreation or personal transportation is yet another. One of […]

While flying in the “northwest practice area” about 10 miles northwest of Columbus, Georgia listening to Atlanta Approach, I heard this exchange: ATL:“Piper 123, we have you as a PA-28, but your airspeed suggests otherwise.” Piper 123:“No, we are a PA-34.” ATL:“O.K. I’ll update your plan to show you have an extra engine today.” Chris […]

Some days it just doesn’t pay to go to the airport. Canada’s Transportation Safety Board is reporting that a Beech 1900D operated by Wasaya Airways was heavily damaged by a baggage cart in October at the northern Ontario village of Muskrat Dam. The aircraft was on the ramp with its engines running when Murphy took […]

A total of 11 people in two skydive aircraft escaped relatively unscathed after a midair collision near Superior in northwestern Wisconsin on Saturday. There were four skydivers and a pilot in one aircraft and five jumpers and a pilot in the second plane when the second plane contacted the first. “We were just a few […]

Letter of the Week:Undetected Crashes Noting the incident at Nashville Airport, I, too, once had an undetected crash on what is now Runway 20C — it was runway 20L at the time — in the early 1970s. I was the non-flying pilot in a Cessna 195 during the attempted landing. During the rollout, the FP […]