Helicopters come to grief all too often after encountering clouds or fog. In fact, it seems that it was an encounter with low clouds that lead to the fatal Safari Helicopter Crash on Kauai just a few weeks ago.
Fog can lead to a helicopter crash in two ways. First, the pilot can, upon encountering
A passenger boarded a United flight from Rome to San Francisco. He asked for food. The flight attendant refused. The two exchanged words. Eventually, another flight attendant heard the argument and brought the passenger some crackers. The passenger ate the crackers, took his seat, and went to sleep.
While the passenger slept, the flight attendant
Of course it’s too early to know why the Safari Helicopters AStar crashed this week, killing all aboard. But it sure looks like a long line of other Hawai’ian tour crashes that fall under the category “Controlled Flight Into Terrain,” or CFIT for short.
Hawai’i is subject to “microclimates.” The weather can be fine
The first thing Boeing does when sued for a crash on foreign soil is try to get those lawsuits moved out of the US and into the foreign countries. In the case of the 737 Max cases, it means trying to move them to Indonesia and Ethiopia. If Boeing’s successful, the cases would be virtually
The National Transportation Board investigates every general aviation accident. It chalks up the vast majority to pilot error. But half the time, it’s just wrong.
The trouble’s that, in investigating an accident, the NTSB refuses to consult with the pilot’s family or the family’s experts. Rather, it invites into the investigation only other potentially responsible
The FAA is too cozy with the manufacturers it is supposed to regulate. I’ve been writing about that since 2009. The press is just now becoming interested, asking how the FAA ever allowed the 737 Max to be certified.
What does that have to do with a helicopter case and a murder investigation?
Families of both Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610 have sued Boeing in Cook County, Illinois. To win, the families need prove only that a defect in the design of the Boeing 737 Max contributed to the crashes. But first they have to convince the judges that their cases should be heard
Normally, the FAA cannot be sued for doing a bad job certifying an aircraft as safe. But in the case of the 737 Max, things might be different.
As a general rule, the FAA cannot be sued as long as, in certifying the aircraft as safe, it was exercising its “discretion.” The United States Supreme
Both the Department of Justice and Transportation Department’s inspector general are investigating the FAA’s approval of the Boeing 737 Max and, in particular, the aircraft’s anti-stall system known as MCAS.
The FAA is supposed to ensure that Boeing aircraft are safe. Investigators want to know:
The Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 was originally intended for short haul flights to short runways. One of the 737’s unique design features was that the engines were mounted on the underside of the wing, instead of in front of the wings on struts and pylons.
Mounting the