Probable Cause

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, April 2004. While many pilots fly only for recreation, the utility of airplanes is what drives the quest toward aircraft ownership and continued flying for most.But it is also the utility that motivates pilots to make the kinds of errors that lead to tragedy. They push into circumstances […]

This article originally appeared in IFR Refresher, February 2005. In the past we have studied accidents that were the result of the pilot’s lack of weather flying experience. In some of those reports we discovered that the lack of overall flying experience also contributed to the outcome.This month we are going to look at an […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, April 2004. Probable Cause Lots of pilots like to take to the air and find solitude and thereby freedom. For others, however, there’s something strangely comforting about operating under the watchful eyes of an air traffic controller. If you routinely fly in congested airspace — such as around […]

This article originally appeared in IFR Refresher, January 2005. When should the pilot-in-command of a flight decide that he is not going to fly a particular approach, or perhaps a particular flight, due to marginal or below-minimums weather?We all know that under Part 91 we can fly an approach even when the weather is reported […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, March 2004. Night flight brings with it a number of threatening elements. From invisible weather to pilot fatigue to visual illusions, night brings with it challenges that don’t seem daunting until you are alone in the darkness.In some countries, an instrument rating is required to fly at night. […]

This article originally appeared in IFR Refresher, December 2004. IFR accidents typically fall into a few specific categories: Someone will get it wrong on climbout or approach, weather smites an unsuspecting pilot or a plane encounters something substantially more solid than a puffy cloud.Which makes the following accident interesting in what the pilot didn’t do. […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, February 2004. At various points in the careers of most pilots, there come times when the pilot attains mastery of the airplane and, therefore, mastery of the air. Sometimes those episodes are fleeting, beaten back into submission by some kind of learning experience that convinces the pilot that […]

This article originally appeared in IFR Refresher, September 2005. What if you knew the ceiling was at 700 feet and the visibility was four miles at your destination airport as you approached it on an IFR flight? It is likely that you would be less concerned about the approach than you would be had the […]

Whenever there is an accident in aviation, those of us in the business start thinking of all the things that might have gone wrong. We try not to speculate (at least not in public) as we wait for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to conduct their investigation and let us know what happened.Most of […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, January 2004. Currency, endorsements, certificates and “all available information” notwithstanding, the safety of flight depends on the pilot not exceeding his or her capabilities — except for that small minority of accidents caused by calamitous mechanical failure. That’s easy to say, but somewhat more difficult to live by.What […]