Helicopters have a lot of threats to overcome on a daily basis. From tail rotors without redundancy, to all the moving parts and the aerodynamic counter-forces to actually stay in the air. But the biggest threats for air ambulance helicopters (and causes of accidents) aren’t actually mechanical issues, but more Read more…
We’ve seen waves of proposals and research in the last few years regarding single pilot operations in the commercial airline environment. Companies are constantly looking for ways to cut costs, but at what point will safety have to make way for efficiency? Today we’ll be looking at the arguments and Read more…
Today’s article is slightly different compared to the usual Pilots Who Ask Why content here. I get a lot of questions on how I got where I am in my career, what the process looked like for me, and where others who are looking to do the same could start. Read more…
If you’re a pilot, you have probably been bombarded with the rule of thumb that roughly 70% of aviation accidents are caused by Human Factors, not technical malfunctions. We constantly get reminded of this, whether in the classroom, during safety meetings, or in accident reports. The Dirty Dozen of Human Read more…
Sleep is something none of us can escape from. For some it’s amazing, for others it’s annoying. Pilots, like many other people in other professions, often have to deal with staying awake while everyone else is dreaming away. Lots of recent research is revealing more and more about the effects Read more…
TCAS is one of the most overlooked and under-appreciated systems in today’s global aviation industry. It has contributed a lot to the massively improved safety levels that have developed over time. It has proven itself over and over again, but is poorly understood at times. There is a lot going Read more…
The Fenestron is a fascinating type of anti-torque system. Single-rotorhead helicopters have to deal with the same issues that come with pushing a rotor disc around. There are a lot of different ways to deal with these issues though. We covered the NOTAR system in a previous article. Today we’ll Read more…
Commercial pressure in aviation is a concept that most pilots are familiar with, especially in this day and age. Unfortunately, it’s still a massive problem in the aviation industry, and has even caused the UK CAA to publish this safety notice featuring commercial pressure. To this day, lots of accidents Read more…
Helicopter incidents, accidents, and even fatal crashes are unfortunately still way too common, especially when compared to the fixed wing world. Every month or so there are still news articles featuring the latest unfortunate helicopter event. These are then followed by safety reports on how to prevent it in the Read more…
Today we go back to basics! The bread and butter of a cockpit instrument panel or Primary Flight Display are the basic instruments. A big chunk of them work using air, the other chunk are mostly gyroscopic. The ones using air pressure are called pitot-static, which we are going to Read more…