Air Charters: Deadliest Year Since 2000
The National Transportation Safety Board late last week released its preliminary aviation accident statistics for 2008, showing improvements in some industry sectors but increased accident rates in others. Fatalities among on-demand operations rose as did the accident rate for general aviation, but the... [read more]
Nall Report: Good News, Bad News for GA
While the National Transportation Safety Board's aviation accident analysis is based on preliminary 2008 data, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation Joseph T. Nall Report, which depicts similar safety trends, reflects 2007 general aviation accidents. The number of accidents increased in 2007, which is worrisome...
Survey: Industry Cutbacks Threaten Air Safety
In a year already struck by high-profile accidents, an aviation industy survey conducted for Ascend shows new anxiety about air safety. Along with poor financial health, a shortage of experienced personnel and crew fatigue were considered the greatest dangers to air safety, mirroring concerns expressed in a...
FAA Plans to Suppress Bird Strike Data
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced its intention to block public access to its records of bird strikes, saying release of such data might mislead the public and prompt airport to without incident reporting. The FAA releases annual summaries of wildlife collisions with aircraft. There...
American Air to Rejoin ASAP Program
American Airlines and the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents company pilots, have agreed to rejoin the FAA's voluntary Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) created to reduce the industry's accidents rate. As of late last year, four U.S. airlines---American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, US...
End Labor Unrest in the Control Tower
One of the toughest challenges facing Randy Babbitt, the aviation consultant and former head of the largest U.S. airline pilot who has been nominated as the next administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, will be to negotiate a new labor pact with the nation's air traffic controllers. J. Randolph...
Industry Backs GPS-Based Navigation (with Strings Attached)
The airline industry and aircraft manufacturers stand behind replacing existing navigation radars with satellite-based navigation, but believe more can be done to make the transition more financially palatable to the aviation community. They also believe that the future nav systems must be interoperable...
NextGen: a National Priority
United Airlines Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Tilton, speaking recently at the Phoenix Aviation Symposium, said the U.S. must establish a modern air transportation system that will be a long-term step change solution and economic growth enabler. Tilton, who also currently serves as chairman of the Air...
Mystery Remains on PC-12 Crash in Montana
The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) preliminary report on the March 22 crash of a Pilatus PC-12/45 (N128CM) in Butte, MT fails to shed any immediate light on the cause of the accident that took 14 lives. Although aircraft icing and overloading have been speculated, the Safety Board report...
Sixteen Killed in Super Puma Crash
UK Police say that 16 people were killed when a Bond Offshore Helicopters Super Puma went down off Scotland's northeast coast on April 1, turning the search for eight missing people from a rescue mission into a recovery operation. Eight bodies were recovered from the sea April 1. The Super Puma helicopter...
Amputee Pilot Completes Third Afghan Deployment
What sets USAF Major Alan Brown apart from the other airmen at Bagram AB in Afghanistan is his right leg. The 42-year-old Wyoming ANG pilot from Pine Bluffs, Wyoming is deployed with the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. Major Brown accidentally shot his leg in a hunting accident more than 10 years ago...
Safety & Technology Trends
ASA Grounds 60 Aircraft Over Paperwork Issues Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a unit of SkyWest, recently grounded 60 of its 112 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 jets after an internal audit raised safety concerns. The aircraft groundings, which affected nearly 40 percent of ASA's total fleet, caused some flight...
Security Shortlines
High-Speed Baggage Screening System for Airports General Electric has unveiled a high-speed baggage-screening system for airports that it says combines medical imaging technology with state-of-the-art explosive detection capabilities. GE says it can screen bags checked by passengers at double the rate of...
Safety Rules & Regs
Airworthiness Directives; Pratt & Whitney (PW) JT9D-7 Series Turbofan Engines. Final rule. SUMMARY: This AD requires initial and repetitive borescope inspections of the 2nd stage high-pressure turbine (HPT) rotor and stator assembly. This AD results from an uncontained failure of a 2nd stage HPT rotor...
Accidents & Incidents
Date Aircraft Type Narrative Death/Injury Remarks March 02, 2009 Galliano, LA BELL 206 N401RL A/c damaged when tail rotor drive shaft and coupling severed while a/c was sitting on ramp with engine running. No injuries Pilot heard loud bang and vibration shortly after starting engine. Shut down engine...
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