Flight Safety

The definition of what it means to be a good pilot may be changing. AVweb speaks with former Northwest captain and Embry-Riddle educator Jack Panosian to explore the question of what’s more important in keeping passengers alive: stick and rudder skills or systems management. Duration: File Size: download here

After two recent high-profile crashes (UPS and Asiana Airlines Flight 214), both involving fatalities, media reports have questioned the role of automation in the cockpit and in the opinion of former Northwest Captain and current Embry Riddle educator Jack Panosian, those concerns may not be unfounded. Panosian told AVweb Thursday that his observation is that […]

A 22-year-old instructor suffered an engine out while flying with his 18-year-old student in a Jabiru J-170 at Victoria Point, Australia, two weeks ago and all ended ruggedly, but well, for the pair in a sequence that was captured by an in-cockpit video recorder. Authorities are investigating the cause of the off-airport landing while onlookers […]

“Would you like to declare an emergency? the controller asked with practiced coolness. Looking at the stopped and feathered left engine on the Cessna 310R Id had for just 10 days, there was only one possible answer: Yes. Moments before, the engine had started vibrating so violently I was afraid it would shake the plane […]

At least one operator in the North Sea has resumed flights with a Eurocopter Super Puma helicopter this week, the BBC reported on Tuesday, though it’s a different model from the one that crashed into the sea on Aug. 23, killing four passengers. That Super Puma was on a normal approach to landing until about […]

The safety of cabin crew in commercial aircraft has always been governed by the FAA, but under a new federal policy, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration now will have oversight over issues such as hazardous chemicals, exposure to blood-borne pathogens, and hearing protection. Our cabin crewmembers contribute to the safe operation of every flight […]

While most Americans and Canadians are enjoying a three-day weekend in honor of Labor Day, the skies are full of pilots who are doing their jobs despite the holiday. According to federal statistics, more than 100,000U.S. workersearn their living in a cockpit, including all kinds of flying — charter, helicopters, cargo, corporate flight departments, rescue […]

Editor’s Note: A couple of weeks back, we ran a “Short Final” featuring a fictional genericized squawk code ending in 8 – and boy, did we get letters. Our favorite, though, was this “Short Final” follow-up recollection. Your recent “Short Final” reminded me of a funny story I got to participate in about two and […]

Letter of the Week:It’s the Instructors, Stupid I own a small flight school with three to five planes in central Massachusetts. It’s the kind where everyone is always greeted properly when they walk in, the kind the fosters a large pilot community, not just a pilot’s certificate. Otherwise, you’ll only watch them leave and their […]

The FAA is sticking to a previously announced scheduleand will end direct sales of paper charts on Oct. 1. After that date, all paper charts must be obtained from an authorized dealer. The agency stopped renewing chart subscriptions on July 1 although it will fulfill the subscriptions already on file until they run out.There are […]