Questions tagged [safety]
Safety includes all aspects of protecting aircraft, passengers and crew from accidents, mistakes and other potentially dangerous situations.
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Why does the turn tighten in a Spiral Dive as it progresses? Even without applying any elevator control?
Why does the turn keeps getting tighter as the spiral dive develops?
Use of elevator control makes sense as it would increase the horizontal lift vector inside the turn. But even without any elevator ...
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Could a trained individual passenger escape a commercial plane crash by bringing the necessary equipment to parachute?
We've been through why airlines don't provide parachutes for the passengers. But who says they have to be provided? I want to take my fate into my own hands the next time I fly, by bringing my own ...
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Is needing to urinate an emergency?
I'm planning a 3.5 hour trip. Usually I urinate more frequently than that, but I will not drink many fluids the morning of the flight in an attempt to get to my destination directly.
If a pilot or ...
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What is the best way to deal with a stuck throttle?
Recently I watched a fascinating video of Cathay flight 780.
What interested me about the end of this incident is that the pilots opted to land the aircraft with the engine 1 still at 80%, over ...
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Does rain affect VFR criteria?
Does rain affect VFR criteria? In other words, if visibility is 1500m or more and you are in sight of the surface, but there is heavy rain, can you still fly VFR?
Here is an example of the conditions ...
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Is it safer to fly over 3,000ft for General Aviation?
I have been reading over the UK Airprox annual report of 2021 and it states:
In 2021 – 76% of all events and 83% of all aircraft-to-aircraft events took place at
or below 3000ft altitude.
In 2021 – ...
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Do the military really use GA planes as target practice?
In the September issue of the British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) magazine, someone wrote in to say that whilst flying their C42, two Typhoon fighter jets passed them (one either side) a ...
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If I write out a solo endorsement and I decide I want to change the limitations
I am a new CFI and I just gave out my first solo endorsement.
If I write out a student solo endorsement and decide I want to change the limitations. Can I? And if so, do I need to write out a new one ...
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Does the other engine have to go through extra checks when one engine fails
Many times I read articles on sites like aviaton herald about engine shutdown in fight because of some problem. It's given the problematic engine will be repaired.
Question is about other working ...
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Why might using flaps trip the breaker on a Cessna 172G?
Why does the breaker keep tripping when I try to use the flaps in my 1965 Cessna 172G? It’s a 15 amp breaker. After I reset the breaker, the flaps will go up but then the breaker trips when ...
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How Can I Know If An Airport/ Airfield Is Equipped To Operate During A Power Outage
My buddy was asked this by an IP. Is there a way to see in any publication that an airport is equipped to operate during a power outage? Or a way to see if a airfield has backup power?
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Was ASRS report volume ~constant 1990 - 2005, nearly triple by 2015 then remain ~constant until 2023? If so, why is that thought to be so?
above: Screenshot from "Voluntary Data Contributions to Information Sharing August 9-10, 2016 Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), Linda Connell" annotated to guide the eye and include ...
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How should you deal with passenger throttle interference just after take-off?
I took a passenger on a flight recently in a C42, in which the throttle is placed between the legs. Shortly after take-off (I'm talking 100ft in the air at full throttle), the passenger tucked his ...
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The 2 person cockpit rule - what happened? [duplicate]
I was recently on an EasyJet flight and was chatting with the FO during the cruise about flying Microlights and other aviation fun. When he went back to the flight deck, I noticed that the Captain had ...
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What's the best way to get through clouds when not instrument rated?
The obvious answer to this is... don't go into clouds.
But if you are flying among scattered or broken clouds and you go up above them, then when you reach your destination it's overcast and there is ...
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Is Aeroflot flying airliners without brakes?
I have just read the news that the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot has deactivated the brakes on nine of its aircraft. Not to dismiss the journalistic talent behind these reports, but could it be that ...
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How can skydivers start at 15,000 feet without the jumper suffering from hypoxia?
Many commercial skydiving facilities offer jumps at 15,000 ft. However, when I took my ground theory exams, it was reiterated many times that hypoxia starts at 10,000 feet.
How does this work? Is it ...
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What are the wind speed limits for skydiving?
Obviously, there is the crosswind and steady wind speed limit of the aircraft you are jumping from, but that aside, what are the wind speed (including gusts) limits for the average tandem skydive?
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Have there been any cases where the lack of seatbelts while taxiing has resulted in a passenger injury?
Airline passengers are always asked to keep their seatbelts after landing, until the plane has reached the gate. But have there been any real world accidents where the lack of seatbelts has resulted ...
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Can I use Skydemon on a commercial flight?
Could I use Skydemon as a passenger on a commercial flight in an A320 or similar? Would doing so break any laws or safety regulations, assuming I set the callsign correctly?
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Did pilots use the radio in the Spanish Civil War?
Was radio communication used by fighter pilots during the Spanish Civil War?
Fiat CR32, Messerschmitt Me 109 and Polikarpov I-16 were typical aircraft but I have no information about radio ...
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Are glass cockpit or steam gauge GA aircraft safer?
All else being equal, considering the reliability of instruments, human factors, etc., is it safer to fly in a piston-single GA airplane with steam gauges or with a glass cockpit?
In other words, if I ...
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Are there any stall warning apps available?
Recently I was flying a 500ft circuit, when in the downwind leg I felt a buffeting, when I looked at my ASI, to my horror, I was at stall speed.
I recovered without incident, (recover might be an ...
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Why is the helicopter rotor brake easily accessible?
According to this article, a rotor brake is dangerous to use in-flight, yet it's easily accessible and the pilot's reaction indicates that it would've deployed mid-flight. Why is the brake so easily ...
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What would define a thunderstorm that you would stay 20 miles away from?
In summer time, we get pop up cumulonimbus clouds that often develop into thunderstorms. So is there a defined point at which it would be considered a thunderstorm to stay 20 miles away from? Is it ...
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What exactly is a 'hard landing'?
In my shareholder agreement, there is a very reasonable line that states:
Any hard landings to be reported immediately to [head instructor] or [club name]
The thing is, I'm not exactly sure where ...
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I recently flew from Bar Harbor Maine to Boston Logan airport on a Cessna 402 turbo prop airplane. We didn’t have a copilot is this a FAA violation?
I flew from bar harbor Maine to Boston MA on a Cessna 402 turboprop with one pilot is this a FAA violation?
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Why is this screw on the wing of DASH-8 Q400 sticking out, is it safe?
Was flying with the Dash-8 Q400 and saw the screw sticking out? It's on the wing near the wheel compartment as shown in the picture.
Even if safe, it doesn't look pleasant to the passenger.
Are loose ...
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Why wouldn't a plane start its take-off run from the very beginning of the runway to keep the option to utilize the full runway if necessary?
I was just watching BSL/LFSB on Flightradar24 and noticed that flight W67772 didn't start its take-off run from the end of the runway.
Wouldn't it make sense to start every take-off from the end to ...
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What control inputs to make if a wing falls off?
If a wing is severed due to structural damage or from a mid-air collision, what is the best control input to make?
I would think opposite aileron and rudder, i.e. if right wing falls off, input full ...
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Why are there not more emergency squawk codes? [duplicate]
7500 is used for hijacking, 7600 for radio failure, and 7700 for any other emergency. I understand that 7600 and 7500 need special handling (you can't talk to ATC if your radio has failed, and a ...
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Other than training and some landings, do pilots ever stall on purpose?
Other than in training/practice and some landings, do pilots ever intentionally stall?
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Is there anything important to know about flying at ~9000ft for the first time?
When I did my NPPL training, there was a module on flying at minimum altitude, but nothing around high altitude flying, in fact, I've never flown over 3,500ft.
This weekend, I intend to fly up to ...
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Nutritional value of jet fuel (from a microbe's point of view) and which of their byproducts is causing the fuel tank corrosion?
Self-described "pilot, aerospace engineer, and mad scientist" YouTuber Jack Schneider's video Growing Microbes in Jet Fuel explains that if a layer of water accumulates below jet fuel (due ...
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Can Obstacle Limitation Surfaces Change over time?
I want to know whether the OLS (Obstacle Limitation Surfaces) around an aerodrome can change over time?
I know that if the ground level was altered this would change the limits of each surface.
...
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Must emergency exit door safety pins be removed before flight?
I recently saw while airborne on a flight that the rear right emergency exit door had a pin in it with a red tag stating "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT". The flight was in no rush to depart (had to ...
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Why doesn’t lightning punch a hole in the fuselage?
Electric arcing creates a huge temperature in the air around it. When lightning strikes planes, why doesn’t this high temperature air melt/deform the aircraft skin? Also can these high temperatures ...
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What is a safe but non-alarming proximity distance setting for SafeSky? [closed]
I am using an app for General Aviation called Safesky. It works on cellular data, is free and provides a lot of the functionality that a dedicated box like Pilot Aware does.
However, I have set my ...
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Private aircraft seating and exits - any rules?
Airliners and charter jets, operating under Part 121, 135, or their foreign equivalents, fall under regulations to ensure accessible exits, 16g seats, and other aspects of occupant safety.
Private ...
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How to convince the FAA to cancel family member's medical certificate?
A close family member is over 70, early dementia, severe cardiovascular disease, frequently falls asleep at inappropriate times during the day, on 10+ prescriptions, overweight, high blood pressure. ...
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McDonnell Douglas DC10 - scale model
I am building a scale model of a DC10. I need precise details of the external lighting arrangements. The red and green wingtip nav lights are obvious but I need the details of other beacons and their ...
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Is it permitted to fly a 737-800 with one pilot?
A 737-800 was scheduled to leave from a Canadian airport to Mexico, but was delayed: the airline said the reason was that one of the pilots called in sick. As a workaround, the airline flew the plane ...
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Why are emergency parachutes for pilots so heavy?
Parachute technology doesn't seem to have got much lighter in the past few decades. It seems that most emergency parachutes designed for pilots still weigh about 15 lb. And yet a Cirrus BRS designed ...
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How much of an effect do structural overloads have on an airframe's safe fatigue life?
Most aircraft1 are built primarily out of various aluminium alloys. Aluminium and its alloys have multiple physical and chemical properties that make them terrible choices as structural materials, ...
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Will the V280 operate with only one engine?
Can the newly contracted Bell V280 Valor operate on one engine?
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Why is the A330/A340's alpha-floor protection disabled above mach 0.53?
One of the A330/A340's several means of flight-envelope protection is something called "alpha floor" protection. In essence, if the aircraft's angle of attack is excessively high, TOGA ...
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Can any aircraft do donuts under their own power without significant damage?
I was reading this question and trying to think of ways to park an aircraft tail-to-terminal without using reverse thrust, and this question popped into my head:
Are there any aircraft that could, ...
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Can a helicopter's main rotor mince a human?
Prompted by one of the answers to a prior question of mine regarding a scenario involving a helicopter mincing someone with its main rotor in flight:
...I suspect having a human body come in to ...
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Is more information available about missionary pilot Nate Saint's backup fuel system described in "Through Gates of Splendor"?
I'm currently reading the book Through Gates of Splendor, and at one point (pages 61-63 in the first edition, about halfway through Chapter 5), it describes a system invented by missionary pilot Nate ...
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Is a broadhead arrow fired from a bow or crossbow a significant threat to the safety of a civilian helicopter?
Let us suppose that we have a civilian helicopter, such as an MD900, Bell 407, Robinson R44, Bell 47 or another common civilian design, hovering or flying slowly just above treetop level (50-70m).
If ...
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