Earlier this summer, the NTSB asked the FAA to require helicopter manufactures to equip all new aircraft with crashworthy fuel systems. If history is any guide, we can expect the FAA to ignore that recommendation, despite that the FAA has known of the dangers posed by existing fuel system for decades.
But now Air
Experimental amateur-built aircraft crash more often than those assembled in a factory. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau found that, when compared to factory-built aircraft used in similar flight operations, amateur-built aircraft crash three times as often. Our own National Transportation Safety Board studied the amateur-built accident rates and made similar findings.
One might expect that, because
In the end, no harm done. But certainly an example of an air traffic controller having a bad day. Note: at 32 seconds the controller assigns the Challenger a heading of 180.
Nicholas Baer was body boarding in Carlsbad on the Fourth of July when a plane towing a banner crash-landed on the beach and injured him. The twelve-year-old is now suing the pilot and the
company that owns the Piper that struck him. The boy’s attorney argues that even though the Piper’s engine failed, the pilot
Air traffic controllers fall asleep on the job. At least they do occasionally. That came as big news in
2011, when two airliners landed at Washington’s Reagan National Airport without ATC help because the lone controller was snoozing. No injuries there, but in 2006 a Comair regional jet crashed while taking off in Kentucky, killing
Robinson Helicopters began installing crash-resistant fuel tanks in 2010. Robinson Helicopters with fuel tanks installed before then tend to catch fire during accidents that, but for the fire, would have been survivable.
The Australian authorities thought that the safer tanks were a good idea. Enough Robinsons had caught fire after minor accidents that in 2013
NTSB preliminary reports do not draw conclusions as the cause of a crash. But the NTSB’s preliminary report of the Turbine Otter crash that killed 9 near Ketchikan on June 25 suggests a weather-related “CFIT” crash, exactly as described here.
First, the report indicates that the flight was conducted under Visual Flight Rules. That means
We don’t know much yet about the plane crash in Alaska that killed the pilot and 8 tourists from the MS Westerdam. But the crash looks eerily similar to the Alaskan crash that killed Senator Ted Stevens and three others in 2010.
Like the plane that was involved in the Westerdam crash, the plane
It looks as though the Germanwings first officer intentionally crashed the aircraft, killing all aboard. Reporters are asking about the airline’s obligation to provide the passengers’ families monetary compensation. Here are some answers:
The airline must compensate the families for any "accident." Because Flight 9525 was an
international flight, all the families’ claims are governed
The Andreini family gave their first interview since Eddie’s death to KTVU’s John Sasaki. John asks us about the lawsuit we filed today against the United States Air Force.