Recent Updates

The family of the first officer of the Lion Air Flight 610 is suing Boeing, claiming the 737 MAX he was helping to fly was “unreasonably dangerous” when it crashed into the Java Sea in late October. The pilot, who went by the single name Harvino, was among 189 people onboard when the aircraft dove […]

Two pilots, a doctor and another crew member were killed when their rescue helicopter may have hit a zipline in the United Arab Emirates. The helicopter had been dispatched to airlift a man who was injured at Jebel Jais Mountain, the site of the world’s longest zipline. Video showed the helicopter flipping end over end […]

A Nigerian airline is claiming one of its pilots was deported from the U.K. as a suspected “stowaway,” leaving one of its aircraft and the first officer stranded there. Max Air, which is based in Kano, Nigeria, sent one of its aircraft to Bournemouth for maintenance. According to a story in the Independent, Capt. Adam […]

A fledgling California airline says it is canceling flights until further notice because of a shortage of pilots. California Pacific Airlines began service to and from its base in Carlsbad, California, in November with four 50-seat ERJ145s and was plagued with delays and cancellations shortly after it launched. In one case, a plane was damaged […]

Assuming a safe New Year’s Eve, Monday ends what can best be described as an average year for airline-related fatalities. According to one measure (fatalities involving airliners in flight, not necessarily in revenue service) there were 16 accidents that killed 555 people (as of Dec. 27) in 2018. That compares to the safest year on […]

Electric aircraft company Eviation announced last week that it is forming a research and development partnership with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Through the partnership, fourth year undergraduate engineering students will collaborate with Eviation on zero-emission all-electric aircraft solutions. According to Eviation, the university program will focus on performance analysis, validation and testing, future electric propulsion and […]

I was flying with a non‑pilot friend who had never been in a small plane. We were listening in on Key West International’s tower frequency. It was early on a Saturday morning and not much was happening. A regular inbound flight checked in and the pilot and controller obviously knew one another and began talking […]

Drones Close Gatwick Regarding your question, we don’t have enough accurate information. There are conflicting reports. There were two or more drones. Or there were no drones. But what surprises me is that any airport, especially an important hub like Gatwick, would be surprised by a drone incursion and not already have a plan of […]

The number of fatal accidents in experimental aircraft has declined for the fourth year running, according to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Just 44 fatal accidents were recorded for the period between Oct. 1, 2017, to Sept. 30, 2018, for experimental category aircraft including amateur-built, racing, exhibit-only, research and development and some types of light-sport […]

German investigators say a runway excursion by Boeing 777 that was on autoland was the fault of the pilots. The unusual incident happened in November of 2011 at Munich Airport but the report from the German BRU was just released this week. The BRU found the Singapore Airlines crew initiated the chain of events that […]