Accidents & Incidents

For an “all or nothing” solution, the option of “nothing” is an unnecessary risk. Yet this option is the preferred choice in the recent action by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to eliminate emergency oxygen from aircraft lavatories. (See Aviation Safety...

For a picture of a sloppy operation which ended tragically, look no further than the takeoff crash of a firefighting helicopter in California in 2008. The case involves the intentional falsification of weight documents, the use of unapproved performance calculations,...

Straining hard to keep the control yoke forward, the captain and first officer were able to overcome the jammed elevators on their Tailwind Airlines B737-400 after an uncommanded pitch-up to 40º. The airplane was just 20 feet off the ground, approaching to land at...

The speeds indicated by the three pitot tubes varied by 30 knots, from 230 to 260 knots. The captain took control from an inexperienced first officer and safely diverted the planned flight of the A320 from Nuremburg to London, landing the airplane and its 59...

At the recent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) forum on child passenger restraints, NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman delivered excellent opening remarks that captured the issues. Herewith, her observations on child passenger safety on airplanes: “The Safety...

A bird weighing about 2.4 pounds hitting a cruising helicopter can inflict fatal damage, especially if the windshield isn’t certified to resist bird strikes. S-76C++ Such is the case involving a PHI-operated Sikorsky S-76C++ struck by a red tailed hawk on 4 January...

The families of those killed in 2009 on Continental flight 3407 are urging all holiday travelers to make sure they know just who is operating a flight they may book. Recall that Continental flight 3407 was actually operated by regional carrier Colgan Air. This airline...

The “Most Wanted” list of safety improvements has been upgraded to reflect a more contemporary appearance, but no effort has been devoted to making the list more effective. Result: recommendations deemed especially critical languish on the list for years then...

Reports of smoke filling the cabin of Boeing’s new B787 Dreamliner on a test flight, forcing an emergency landing and deployment of the inflatable slides to speed evacuation, raise a pertinent question: is the flying public going to be as vulnerable in the next 40...

The practice of chemically reducing aluminum structure for weight saving has been discussed in this publication recently, along with the danger of explosive decompression at the site of such milling. (See Aviation Safety Journal, “Too Much Metal Shaved Out of...