Aircraft Emergencies

In our “ongoing” subject of AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS I want to reflect on an accident case I have involving a Cessna 421B. The plane was attempting to land at a paved airstrip that belonged to the owner of the aircraft. The strip was located in a cornfield. On the final to the base leg the aircraft

Aircraft brakes are totally different than automobile and truck brakes.  Yes, they both work on the rotor/pad principal, much like the principal of bicycles but the application and use of those aircraft brakes take on a whole new difference in application on an aircraft on landing. First an automobile or truck will be on tires connected

In May of 2022, a Twin Cessna 421C departed Houston Hobby airport on runway 12R. Right after liftoff an engine failure occurred and the pilots asked to come back in. The pilot lost the right engine which is the good engine and he took no evasive action to control the engine loss. He began a

Scenario One One person in a Cessna 340 with fuel only in the tip tanks. It loses an engine and it only has the 310 horse power, 520 engines and three blade props. Will if fly? Of course it will on one engine and probably even if you are sloppy and have no remembrance of

Right after 9/11 I was in New York to see the extreme damage from the worst attack on our country.  While I was there an Airbus that was flown by American Airlines lost control while entering wake turbulence after take-off.  The second officer was flying.  Instead of using the ailerons to establish control from the

There have been several aircraft that have had major accidents due to equipment problems.  These problems have been electrical components that have gone “outside their regular job functions” and over controlled the aircraft causing a serious accident or accidents.  One of the recent problems has involved out of control trim problems. When I was at

I have had to use the emergency gear extension on airplanes several times. Is this a bad maintenance problem from an annual? Absolutely not. Gear problems happen. It happens because the underlying system has problems. In fact, in aircraft problems usually come in twos or threes. In certain airplanes “swinging” the gear is a major

Because We Have Been There, Done That, and the Pilots We Teach Reflect It. Here is a recent text that one of our instructors got from a professional pilot from Canada that took recurrent training: Hey Chuck! Matthew here. I did AST training with you just over a month ago. I had my first and