Accidents & Incidents

  In laying out revised training requirements, the FAA appears to be clarifying some issues while slipping, sliding and reducing many training needs. Using the perverse logic of cost-benefit, if there were no accidents the need for improved training would vanish,...

The more officials from Colgan Air tried to distance themselves from, and blame, the dead pilots for the crash, the worse it appeared. Under occasionally sharp questioning by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators, it was apparent there was a vast...

The Obama Administration has hailed the importance of competence. True to the ethic, Member Deborah Hersman has been nominated by the White House to serve as the next chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). In an Administration where cronyism and...

  If the pitot probes on Air France flight 447 were clogged with ice, and that condition set in motion the sequence that led to the crash in the Atlantic of the airplane, the accident raises the question of independent redundancy and whether or not a different...

  At the recent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing into the crash of an ATR-42 cargo plane, not all the news was bad. (See Aviation Safety Journal, “Crash Investigation Reveals Inconsistent Oversight”) NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman revealed that...

The fatal crash of a business jet points to the need for decision points during landing that are analogous to those in takeoff. For example, there is V1 in takeoff, the critical engine failure speed at which there is enough runway remaining to stop the airplane....

A bill passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 223 to 196 contains a provision that could make it more difficult for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue new safety regulations for the aviation industry. Amendment 23 of the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act...

Before the end of this year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hopes to have a new proposed regulation on flight and duty time posted for public comment. “Scientifically based” rules accounting for sleep debt, circadian rhythm disruption and other factors are...

An airline pilot’s wallet-size license has far more implications for transportation safety than a driver’s license, yet state-issued drivers’ licenses are more resistant to tampering and forgery. Rep. John Mica (R-FL), ranking member of the House Transportation and...

When the Congressional oversight committee issues a blanket statement of support for a proposed rule, one is left with the dismaying feeling the legislators don’t understand or don’t care. Such is the thought attendant to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)...