Risk Management

An FAA program for non-punitive reporting of safety concerns among air traffic controllers needs “significant improvements” before it can become effective, according to a report issued last Thursday by the Transportation Department Office of Inspector General. “Failure to address potential deficiencies in transparency and accountability may lead to the perception that the Air Traffic Safety […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, Sep. 2007. You are a skilled, proficient and responsible pilot. You do everything in your power to avoid dangerous situations, but there are a few unavoidable moments during each flight where, if the unthinkable happened, you’d be left with few options. Flying is, after all, an exercise in […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Consumer magazine, Nov. 2006. It’s never a good time for an inflight fire. Stoked by fuel or an electrical short, this nasty brand of emergency is near the top of most pilots’ list of nightmares. But a cabin fire’s consequences can be mitigated by using a smoke hood, which […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, Sep. 2005. A small plane crashes in a remote area, with no hope of rescue for several days. The survivors know basic survival techniques but have only rudimentary first-aid skills. How does the pilot-in-command sort, assess and treat injuries when the first-aid kit just went up in smoke? […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, Mar. 2005. A little anxiety is perfectly normal when an airplane begins rotating toward the ground in a 60-degree nose-down attitude. But the thought of spin training need not cause you to break out in a cold sweat. In fact, many pilots find that the actual spin experience, […]

This article originally appeared in IFR magazine, Mar. 2005. Accident reports can make enlightening reading, but some of the NTSB reports from prior to 1983 are a bit cryptic. Like this one, from a Boeing 747 accident at Chicago O’Hare: DCA79AA009TYPE OF ACCIDENT: COLLISION WITH AIRCRAFT, BOTH ON GROUNDPHASE OF OPERATION: LANDING ROLLPROBABLE CAUSE(S): TRAFFIC […]

This article originally appeared in IFR magazine, Jan. 2005. Gather ’round, boys and girls. It’s time for your annual smug fix, wherein we harvest the perplexing and peculiar from a year’s worth of NTSB accident reports.For the new folks who haven’t trod this well-worn path with us before, a bit of preamble. None of these […]

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All pilots know the basics of night flying and much of the literature talks — rightly so — about the need to adapt your eyes for darkness and about the rules and regulations. Most of us can parrot back that to carry passengers at night we need to have made three takeoffs and landings, at […]