General Aviation Accident & Pilot Safety

Ask any pilot, safety is top priority when it comes to flying. General aviation accident prevention is the focus of our NTSB Debriefer. Learn keys to being a safe pilot with the articles below.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Do As We Say, Not As We Do Government advice sometimes is good for everyone, including government Over the years, you've no doubt heard urgings from various government agencies to always pay careful attention to the weather when you're in flying mode.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 Helpful Suggestions When someone makes a suggestion, it might be wise to listen Aviation seems to promote camaraderie among many of those who relish being part of this unique affinity group.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012 Setting The Selector In some aircraft, you have to be a contortionist to see where the fuel-tank selector is pointing If you've flown a variety of aircraft, you know that some designers decided to make it awfully difficult to see for sure which fuel tank or tanks you've selected.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012 Drinking, Driving And Flying Just the prospect of facing FAA paperwork should make one think twice about misusing alcohol When FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt resigned after being arrested by police in Fairfax City, Va., on a drunk-driving charge, some of my pilot acquaintances were quick to express astonishment at the irony of Babbitt himself likely having to face the bureaucratic hurdles set up by the FAA for pilots caught drinking and driving who want to continue flying.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 May I See Your Driver’s License? Data proving you don’t need an FAA medical certificate to be safe comes as no surprise to many Others believe the resources the FAA devotes to medical certification could be put to better use elsewhere.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Air Race Accidents Safety in air racing depends on the airplane as well as the pilot The death toll quickly rose to 11, including the pilot with about 70 injured.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 Fire In Front In a fire scenario, aircraft control can be lost at any moment According to a search of NTSB data, in 2010, there were only four general aviation fixed-wing accidents investigated that involved in-flight engine compartment fires.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011 Fuel Imbalance Wing heaviness may be a minor annoyance or a genuine threat to safety Most pilots know what it feels like when an airplane is wing heavy because there's more fuel on one side than the other.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011 The Ted Stevens Accident It looks as if we’ll never know exactly what happened The NTSB says cockpit recorders might have helped shed better light on exactly what happened in the accident in which former U.S.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011 Broken Brakes There are times when the risk of not stopping should stop you from going Not too long ago, I was looking forward to an hour or so of poking holes in the sky in a Piper Cherokee 180.

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