Aerotime

APRIL 3, 2025

The 56 aircraft that participated in the 1914 competition presented a wide range of aviation innovations, ranging from assisted starting mechanisms, automatic carburetors, basic stabilization systems, and many other innovations that purported to benefit aviation safety.

Weight-Shift-Control

Plane and Pilot

MAY 31, 2025

Suddenly, one of the Airbus three redundant pitot tubes clogged with ice crystals. The final accident report talked about failure of the pitot tube, crew coordination and communication issues, misunderstanding of the Airbus flight control priority system, and the impact of automation surprise and startle factor upon the crew.

Airplanes

Pilot Institute

JULY 11, 2025

When you reach around 36,000 feet (11,000 m) near the tropopause, the temperature stabilizes at around -56.5 °C. That’s the speed your airspeed indicator shows based on ram air pressure in the pitot tube. For example, an airliner might indicate only 250 knots at 35,000 feet, but its true airspeed could be over 430 knots.

True Airspeed

Air Facts

MAY 5, 2025

A few minutes later, we heard the center controller clear a Trans Missouri Airlines commuter plane for the VOR Runway 30 approach to Jefferson City. The ice was simultaneously adding weight while destroying the shape of the wing and stabilizer air foils. This reduced the amount of airspeed I could convert to rate of climb.

VOR

Fear of Landing

MAY 9, 2025

The most recent case, when Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 experienced extreme turbulence in May 2024, led to thirty passengers injured and one death by a passenger who suffered a heart attack. Before that, the most recent turbulence-related passenger flight with a fatality in the NTSB database was United Airlines flight 826 in 1997.

Turbulence