Risk Management

While pilots in many places are taking advantage of the COVID-19 downtime and getting some flying done, the U.K. is strongly suggesting that recreational pilots hang up their headsets until physical distancing measures are relaxed. The government has not prohibited recreational flying but it has suggested that those who don’t fly to provide essential services […]

About half the passengers who managed to escape the burning wreck of an Aeroflot Superjet 100 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport last May 5 hit the slide with their carry-on baggage, according to a video released by Russian authorities this week. The remarkable surveillance video shows the Russian-built regional airliner, one of the newest in Aeroflot’s […]

Mother Nature is infinitely complex as is the weather that comes with it. After 40 years of flying and some good meteorology training (courtesy of the Swedish Air Force) I’m still occasionally baffled on how things play out. Here are a few examples where the unsuspecting pilot can get surprised. Temperature Changes You’re planning a […]

An unwilling and unwitting passenger in a high-performance fighter accidentally pulled the ejection handle during a retirement “gift” flight in France a little more than a year ago, triggering an investigation that revealed a sloppy approach to conducting familiarization flights.  As we reported last March, the man suffered back injuries when he mistakenly launched from […]

For those of you who read my column last month on keeping the fires lit, I find it ironic that I find myself telling you about another engine failure that happened since then. Perhaps I shouldn’t write about engine failures? But it did happen, and my thoughts are to share the experience and decision-making with […]

At least 11 air traffic control facilities have been temporarily closed over the last few days because of coronavirus cases. In addition to well-publicized disruptions at Las Vegas, Chicago Midway and Indianapolis there was an hourlong groundstop for flights headed to airports served by the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center, also known as […]

The FAA is asking for input from pilots and operators of Cessna 206s as it mulls following Canada’s lead in issuing an airworthiness directive that would, among other things, limit seating to five instead of the normal six. Transport Canada has proposed an AD that would require all 206s on its registry to have an […]

The European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) has been cancelled for 2020 and exhibitors and attendees will be getting full refunds. The show, sponsored by the European Business Aviation Association and the National Business Aviation Association, was scheduled for May 26-28 in Geneva but the uncertainty surrounding the staging of such events, recent actions […]

To the owner of an Experimental Amateur-Built (E/A-B) aircraft, any accident is a tragedy. However, the FAA monitors the homebuilt accident rate based on fatal accidents only. It’s understandable, in some ways. Unlike owners of production aircraft, builders of homebuilt aircraft are usually very familiar with disassembling and transporting a bent bird. A minor enough […]

Charter operators are reporting a major bump in interest thanks to the spread of COVID-19 as those who can afford it avoid the aerial petri dishes of hub and spoke travel. Fortune is reporting that business aircraft operators have seen a major uptick in interest and business in the last couple of weeks as those […]