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.
It was about an hour after sunset at the virtual airport. I was sitting in one of the big recliners in the pilot’s lounge wondering whether the cost of avgas was a great cosmic practical joke and curious as to whether it was possible to calculate just how much weight I’d have to lose to […]
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in Twin & Turbine, Sep. 2004, and is reprinted here by permission. On June 3, 1999, a pilot was seriously injured and his Cessna T310Q was destroyed during a forced landing in West Laurens, N.Y.He had just purchased the turbocharged twin the day before, and was in the process […]
My 17-year-old nephew Kermit asked me to go with him out to the local airport to have a gander at some WWII bombers that were visiting the aviation museum. It was a good excuse to avoid mowing the lawn and gave him the chance to scare the bejesus out of me with his driving.I was […]
An Australian pilot who was criticized for recklessness two years ago has won one of aviation’s highest honors. Jon Johanson, 49, was awarded the Federation Aeronautique Internationale gold medal for attaining 48 FAI world records, flying an RV-4 he built himself. “Jon’s hard work, meticulous planning, initiative and commitment when building his own small aircraft […]
It’s time to pick annual leave for 2006 at Atlanta Center (ZTL). We pick our days off and two weeks of leave at the same time. I’ve been senior enough to get Saturday and Sunday off for some time now. Lots and lots of controllers get really excited about seniority. Me, I never give it […]
All of us in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport were affected by Hurricane Katrina in some fashion. As I write this, one visitor is still looking for a cousin who lived in New Orleans but did not own a car and was unable to evacuate. Stan, in Mississippi, is repairing damage to his […]
The past few weeks and months haven’t exactly been the most enjoyable of my flying career. If we weren’t dealing with hurricanes, destroyed cities and plague, we were worrying about and dealing with airlines declaring bankruptcy and telling their old, sick retirees, “Sorry, pard, I know you’re 85 and have cancer but no soup for […]
Airliner one twenty three, cleared to SHINE, hold northwest, as published, expect further clearance one five three zero.”Holding might not be ordinary to you, but in Atlanta Center (ZTL) it’s as ordinary as pine trees in Georgia. During normal business hours, somebody — somewhere — always seems to be holding in ZTL airspace. I think […]
As I mentioned in my last column, the best way to really learn your craft in aviation, the best way to become a better pilot — while not having to make the same mistakes others have already made — is to find a mentor. OK, that sounds easy enough — find a gray-hair and listen. […]
I was in one of the big, tattered recliners in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport, checking e-mail. It’s the way many of the regulars at the Lounge keep in touch. I enjoy the give and take of our exchanges, and from time to time I get comments or questions that raise issues many […]
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