Features

A few years ago, and before our jets were capable of long‑range navigation, I routinely flew one of our flights from St. Louis Lambert International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport. Late in the evening it was not uncommon to ask the Kansas City center for vectors to the Hector VOR (a common feeder fix […]

It’s not unheard of to think thunderstorms are only a product of summer weather. Certainly they are more common in warmer months, but wintertime “thundersnows” are common enough that I’ve seen a few. The point is that we can encounter thunderstorms any time of year, not just in the summertime. These days, it’s easy for […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

Drone Collision Report Issued The problem with drones… you can’t see them in a hover from the air. From the ground you can see the dot in the sky. When a drone isn’t moving, it blends perfectly into the ground clutter. You will not be able to see or avoid it. There was a guy […]

Now that we’re staring at the weather picture from the depths of winter, perhaps you’ve been re-acquainted with how fronts make an impact on the weather. Fronts truly form one of the building blocks of meteorology. In the Air Force forecasting school I attended years ago, fronts were the very first topic that followed the […]

I was monitoring the tower frequency at a Kentucky class D one morning and overheard the following dialogue: Helicopter 1234: “Tower, helicopter 1234 at helicopter parking base of tower. Present position departure northbound VFR.” Tower: “Helicopter 1234 cleared as requested.” Helicopter 1234: “Helicopter 1234 lifting.” Tower: “Helicopter 1234, where are you located?” Helicopter 1234 (in […]

Full disclosure—we have a bias when it comes to turbosuperchargers. We like them. A lot. After flying them for more than 45 years and using them to get to altitudes that allowed a safe flight when we could not have even launched in a normally aspirated machine, we think that they are well worth the […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

FAA To Expand Safety Management Systems Requirements Safety is a menacingly powerful word. While many safety aspects can be quantified with historical data, assessment qualitative and emotional aspects tend to vary with the situation or implementation. I operated with SMS requirements throughout my career that ranged from, “How you will mitigate this risk” to “Prove […]

Everything we do in life carries risk. An undesired outcome often is influenced by factors we can’t control—someone running a stop sign, for example, or a perfectly good engine deciding to fail. But many other risks of a specific activity can be anticipated. It’s why we wear a helmet when riding a bicycle, or earn […]