CAA publish stall and spin advisory animation
The UK CAA has released a short advisory animation recounting a 2021 incident when a stall/spin training exercise nearly ended in tragedy. The flight was conducted in a T67 Firefly out of Shoreham Airport. The instructor reports that the student had safely conducted a couple of left-hand spins, recovering each time to an altitude of around 5,500ft. The student was then asked to demonstrate the recovery from a right-hand spin entry....
Boeing pauses production to focus on safety, quality and training
Since January, more than 70,000 Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) employees across the company have paused production and delivery activities for a day to focus on ways to improve safety and quality. “When we find issues, we go as far as standing down a team to make sure that everybody on the team or everybody in the area is aware of the issue. It’s not meant to be punitive, and we share the information across the programs, from...
Airbus developing ground collision alerting system
In 1977, Tenerife airport was the scene of a devastating ground collision between two 747 aircraft, the first one taking off and the other taxiing on the same runway. This remains the world’s deadliest aviation accident, claiming 583 lives. The subsequent investigation found two main causes. The first was a misunderstanding between ATC and the flight crew of the aircraft that was taking off. The second was a lack of coordination...
IATA record-breaking year of safety for global air transport
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reports 2023 to be one of the safest years for airline operations, with several parameters showing their best ever safety results. IATA confirms that there were no hull loses of fatal accidents involving passenger jet aircraft in 2023, although there was a single fatal accident in January 2023 when a Yeti Airlines ATR-72 turboprop crashed shortly after departure from Pokhara Airport...
Airbus UpNext DragonFly Demonstrator enters final three months of testing phase
Taking its inspiration from “the incredible vision and intelligent flight capabilities of the dragonfly,” the Airbus UpNext DragonFly demonstrator has now entered the final phase of testing. Inspired by the “wonderful, natural world” – in this case, the iridescent insect with characteristically large eyes – the DragonFly demonstrator is the latest Airbus design to take its cues from biologically-inspired engineering, or ‘biomimicry’....