Risk Management

The National Transportation Safety Board has scheduled an investigative hearing on February 20, 2014 into the crash of a UPS Airbus A300-600 on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 14, 2013. The two flight crew members were killed and the airplane was destroyed when it impacted the ground less than a […]

Surfing the untracked wilderness of modern cable television, my scroll-around sometimes lands on something interesting. Lately, its been a show called Dangerous Flights, another of the Discovery Channels reality series. These sorts of programs are called reality TV and if reality were scripted, theyd be accurately named. Otherwise, like a patient drifting in and out […]

Prospective buyers of used aircraft have long found it hard to obtain good pre-buy examinations, particularly when the aircraft theyre interested in is located some distance away. Savvy Aircraft Maintenance Management, Inc. (Savvy) now offers a nationwide pre-buy management program that solves this problem and helps avoid the many pitfalls that can plague prospective buyers. […]

Tyson Weihs, co-founder and CEO of ForeFlight, has announced the release of version 5.6 of ForeFlights intelligent app for pilots. Highlights of the update include enhanced flight plan filing options-including ICAO flight plan form support-as well as complete worldwide coverage for military pilots. Significantly, ForeFlight now primarily files flight plans directly via the modernized Lockheed […]

Aviation lore is full of heroes like Chuck Yeager, who saved the day while calmly muttering on the radio something about some little fire going in them engines or such. The quiet, unflappable, laid-back flyer has been the role model for young pilots since the days of the Lone Eagle. But, is there such a […]

The stick-and-rudder component of flying airplanes, while challenge enough, is the lesser difficulty compared to learning to makedecisions that wont kill you or at least rend metal. Teaching it or learning this has everything to do with recognizing risk and hazards for what they are and preparing accordingly. In fairness, I think most pilots do […]

AOPA is reporting that a group of senators has introduced a bill that would require the FAA to follow rulemaking procedures before it could adopt its much-maligned new standard for expensive sleep apnea testing for pilots. The Senate bill, introduced by members of the bipartisan General Aviation Caucus, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., […]

On Jan. 16 the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its annual Most Wanted list of needed improvements in transportation safety. The aviation-related items are a need to identify and communicate hazardous weather conditions to pilots, address the unique characteristics of helicopter operations, strengthen occupant protection, improve fire safety and eliminate pilot distractions. At a […]

With all the literal and figurative bells and whistles in todays cockpits, something as mundane as losing communications with ATC is rare. One reason is the stuff we have in the panel these days is a couple of light years ahead of even two decades ago in reliability. But loss of communications-going no radio, or […]

Two pilots and two passengers on a Citation died Sunday when the aircraft apparently hit an electric tower in heavy fog while trying to land at a German airport. Local authorities say all four were German but no identities were released. When emergency crews arrived they found the plane inverted near a landfill and in […]