More Than Monitoring

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.
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EADS Socata TBM 850 Base price: $2,980,000 Engine: Pratt & Whitney PT6A-66D Empty weight (lbs.): 4560 Max takeoff weight (lbs.): 7394 Fuel capacity (gals./lbs.): 291.6/1953 PERFORMANCE Cruise speed (kts.): 320 Time to climb, FL260 (min.): 15 Max certified altitude (ft.): 31,000 Max range (nm): 1520 Takeoff over 50 ft. (ft.): 2840 Source: more »
The overwhelming majority of airplanes have the potential to keep flying until it’s no longer economically viable to keep them in the air, provided that they’re operated within established parameters, receive regular inspections to detect problems and undergo proper preventive maintenance. When there’s a catastrophic structural failure, such as a wing falling off, it understandably attracts attention from the industry, investigators and regulators.
Some pilots may believe that an instrument rating and a fair amount of flight time are good insurance against getting into a situation that results in losing aircraft control or exceeding an aircraft’s design stress limits. However, without a healthy amount of good preflight and in-flight judgment, along with recurrent training that includes partial panel work and unusual attitude recovery, those two things can set the stage for getting into trouble.