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- Feed Preview Safety – The House of Rapp
Paranoia Pays Off
Normally, paranoia is considered unhealthy. As it pertains to flying, however, in my experience a moderate dose can go a long way toward keeping trouble at bay. Read more →
Radiation Exposure in Business Aviation
A recent Harvard study highlights the increased incidences of cancers among flight attendants and notes that flight crew are exposed to the highest ionizing radiation dose of all U.S. workers. Ar...
Stupid Pilot Tricks
Stupid pilot tricks come in many shapes and sizes. Here's one in the shape of Hawker 800 which was captured by at least one enterprising photographer at the recent NBAA convention in Las Vegas. R...
When Things Go Sideways
There aren't many second chances in life -- and there are even fewer in aviation. One error and you're out of a job! I've seen several examples of this recently, and it leaves me wondering if we ...
https://www.rapp.org/archives/2017/07/when-things-go-sideways/
The Longest Day
Over the years, business aircraft have evolved dramatically in terms of their range. That's wonderful for the passengers, but for the crew it presents some serious safety hazards which must be de...
A License to Learn
When a newly minted pilot receives his or her temporary pilot certificate after a successful checkride, the examiner often refers to this piece of paper as a "license to learn". Nearly twenty yea...
Different Strokes
Many of us have encountered pilots with a militant, "my-way-or-the-highway" attitude toward flying. I prefer to be a little more open to other ways of doing things. Here's why. Read more →
Perspectives on GA Safety
The safety record for private, Part 91 flying is significantly worse than that of charter and airline operators. Call me crazy, but I'd argue that this is actually a good thing. Here's why. Read ...
NOTAMs: A Broken System
Culling through NOTAMs is like having dental work done without Novocain: it's unnecessarily painful. There are better ways to serve up important flight data, ones that save both time and money. S...
A Better, Safer Airline Cockpit
Airspeeds, altitudes, attitudes, pressures, temperatures... airplanes have many limitations, and nobody would advocate exceeding any of them. So why don't we give the humans who operate this equi...
https://www.rapp.org/archives/2015/06/a-better-safer-airline-cockpit/
Step One
Everyone knows the first step of recovering from addiction is admitting you have a problem. We in the aviation world have a dangerous addiction of our own: the crutch of technology. Read more →...
Takeoff Briefings for Singles
Things happen quickly when the engine quits at low altitude. Doesn't it makes sense that the time to prepare for emergent situations is before they occur? If the answer is yes, then I wonder why ...
Trust Us — We’re Professionals
The FAA has seen fit to ban all personal electronic devices from the airline cockpit, as well as strongly recommend a similar prohibition for Part 135 and 91K operators. As one who flies a fair n...
A Stab in the Back
We put a lot of time and effort into taking care of our flying machines. On a recent trip, I got a rude reminder that our biological machinery needs the same attention. A pulled back muscle turne...
Preventing Stall/Spin Accidents
Angle-of-bank limitations have been suggested by flight instructors, alphabet groups, pundits, and most recently by Richard Collins of all people. I've touched on this subject before (see Aviatio...
A True Story: Landing at the Wrong Airport
The news outlets have been buzzing about a recent spate of wrong-airport landings. Since those have been well-covered by the media, let me tell you about a very memorable wrong-airport landing I ...
https://www.rapp.org/archives/2014/02/wrong-airport-landing/
A Skosh of Paranoia
You'll hear all sorts of advice on emergent situations. Some say never rush into anything, others will tell you immediate, decisive action is invaluable. It would be lovely if there was a single ...
Time for a Shakeup
Flying is a considerably safer today than it was when the NTSB was first established. But the Board's safety recommendations have picked most of the low-hanging fruit over the past ninety years, ...
Flying is Not Driving
The mid-century era was a wonderful time for design, architecture, and even aviation. Unfortunately, it was also the top of a slippery slope in pilot proficiency which just happens to have coinci...
https://www.rapp.org/archives/2014/01/flying-is-not-driving/
The Key to Good IFR: More VFR
The most common landing procedure used by IFR airplanes is the visual approach. It's fast, efficient, and simple. So why did the crew of Asiana 214 have such a hard time with it on a good clear d...
Mandated Spin Training
The stick-and-rudder skill deficiencies in today's pilots didn't start today. It began years ago when they were learning how to fly. Fixing it will require a journey into the past. It's time to g...
https://www.rapp.org/archives/2013/12/mandated-spin-training/
Acceptable Risk
Dutch pilot Jaap Rademaker recently landed his Foxbat A-22 on the deck of a new kind of cargo ship which features a completely flat top deck. The resulting video has been making the rounds on the...
Stick & Rudder Skills Are Important
A highly experienced airline captain and ERAU aviation professor has opined that automation management skills should be receiving more focus than basic stick-and-rudder aptitude. Wanna guess what...
“Unable”: Your Ace in the Hole
Father may always know best, but air traffic controllers don't. Yet 14 CFR 91.123 requires compliance with all ATC instructions. So when you're asked to do something kooky, what do you do? Read m...
See & Avoid: Does It Work?
Collision avoidance is a deadly serious topic. The FAA considers "see and avoid" an adequate level of safety for most of us. I disagree, and here's why. Read more →
Multi-Pilot Crews in Phase One Flight Testing
The FAA may begin allowing non-required crew to fly on Phase One test fights. I think this might be a bad idea... and I'm strongly in favor of allowing it. A contradiction, you say? Not at all......
Circle-to-Land Complications
The FAA is adding new circling radii for some (but not all) approaches. Sounds good on paper, but I can foresee some unintended consequences that might not be too pleasant. Read more →
Judgment: Knowing When to Say When
Flying is less about physical aircraft control than it is about good judgment. Unfortunately, many of the situations we face as aviators are not cut-and-dried. We'll all get along a lot better if...
Getting Better: Simulators for General Aviation
Most of the big technological advances in flying have been in the instrument panel. But now they're starting to make serious strides in the area of flight simulation, and GA stands to reap a huge...
Speed-to-Fly
Speed-to-fly is a concept traditionally limited to the glider pilots. But the physics apply to all aircraft, and with the advent of computer technology in the cockpit, it's possible to augment th...