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CNN
29-03-2025
- CNN
What's the riskiest part of your flight? It isn't cruising at 40,000 feet
Hurtling through the sky, with nothing below you, apart from 40,000 feet of thin air may feel like a dangerous place to be, but when it comes to traveling in a commercial airplane, it's by no means the riskiest part of the flight. Aviation safety has come under renewed scrutiny following a series of harrowing incidents in recent weeks, prompting some anxious travelers to think twice about booking flights. While we're often told that flying in a plane is one of the safest modes of transportation, these events — some of them resulting in fatalities — underscore the fact that there are still dangers. But, according to pilots and aviation experts, these times of jeopardy come down to very specific moments during flight, chiefly takeoff and landing. And some say one is more inherently dangerous than the other. It's during these procedures that incidents occurred in recent months, prompting investigations from the US National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration. National attention on air safety heightened following the January 29 midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when an American Airlines regional jet, moments from landing, was struck by a Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission. A couple of days later, a United Airlines flight from Houston to New York was evacuated after an engine fire was reported before takeoff. The 104 passengers and five crew members evacuated the aircraft on the runway using slides and stairs. Less than two weeks later, a Learjet 35A owned by Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil, who was not on the plane, veered off the runway while landing, and crashed into a Gulfstream business jet on the ramp at Scottsdale Municipal Airport, in Arizona, and the pilot died. Since then, attention to other aviation incidents have stirred public anxieties about flying, and airlines have noticed the financial burden. 'Some of us who were being told all the time 'flying, it's the safest rate of traveling,' we are scared right now, actually,' said Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat from New Jersey, to the head of the NTSB at an oversight hearing on March 26. However, experts remain confident in the country's safe skies and the ability to fine-tune the critical aspects of flying after learning from these incidents. Of the 1,468 accidents recorded in 2024 by the International Air Transport Association, 770 occurred on landing and 124 during takeoff. CNN Transportation Analyst Mary Schiavo attributes the higher percentages of accidents in these phases of flight to the inherent dangers and maneuvers required to take off and land at an airport. 'Airports present lots more stress on the pilots, the air traffic controllers and the aircraft,' Schiavo said. She thinks landings are more dangerous than takeoffs because there are fewer options when landing. 'It is just really a critical time, especially for mid-airs and collisions, etc.,' Schiavo said. 'If you're taking off, you have the runway. You see the runway in front of you, although sometimes you have people enter the pattern without the right clearances, and they try to land on top of somebody. But descent and landing are the absolute most dangerous time.' Takeoffs and landings are not taken lightly. Pilots are trained and retrained to react if something goes wrong during these key moments. They are so important, according to Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines pilots, that the FAA does not permit any unnecessary conversation or activity below 10,000 feet. The 'sterile cockpit' rule was enacted by the FAA in 1981. It sets aside time during these critical moments for a pilot's focus to be on the takeoff or landing of the airplane. 'It's so important that your full attention is on one thing, and that's flying the airplane right on down to the taxi,' Tajer said. 'For the actual flying for takeoff, you're at a heavier weight. You're accelerating from zero to the speed of being able to fly.' Pilots have a large number of checklists that are run to perform these tasks, he said. And there are redundancies if a pilot or controller starts to do something wrong. Just last week, Southwest Airlines Flight 3278 mistakenly began to take off on a taxiway at Orlando International Airport. Audio from the control tower showed the exact moment the tower canceled their takeoff. 'Stop Southwest 3278, stop!' an air traffic controller said from the tower, according to audio from Broadcastify. 'Cancel takeoff clearance. You're on H taxiway Southwest 3278.' Pilots then slammed the brakes to stop. 'Yes, sir. We stopped,' the pilot replied. These recent events brought to light areas where the industry can 'strengthen' the system and 'decrease risk,' according to Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at many airlines, including PSA, the American Airlines owned carrier involved in January's deadly midair collision. 'Safety is a shared responsibility that requires commitment from everyone who takes to the skies, from commercial airlines to general and business aviation operators,' Ambrosi said. 'Moments like this also reinforce why pilots train relentlessly, hold ourselves to the highest standards and work every day to ensure that air travel remains the safest mode of transportation.' Incidents and accidents happen more often in general aviation, largely because this category includes more aircraft. General aviation, as opposed to commercial aviation, refers to smaller airplanes, sometimes privately owned and used for recreational purposes. Mike Ginter, who is the senior vice president of the Air Safety Institute at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said that while there may be more small aircraft takeoff and landing accidents, these are least likely to be fatal. 'Last year we had 195 fatalities,' Ginter said. 'But in context, that's down. That's a 32-year low. Last year was probably the safest year we've ever had, and that's because we've got a 32-year downward slope, and we're going to continue to do that.' While it appears there's many incidents, Ginter said general aviation is continuing to increase its safety record. Ginter said there are 205,000 general aviation airplanes in the country, and every pilot's focus is on maintaining safety, and training is focused on that. Many of the NTSB's investigations into the recent incidents won't be finished for a year or more, but it can urge change in the interim. The FAA implemented one of the NTSB's urgent recommendations regarding helicopters in Reagan Airport's airspace following the midair collision investigation. Pilots, meanwhile, know the risks of takeoffs and landings and don't take them lightly. 'It may not be a rocket ship, but the amount of activity that's happening and the convergence of everything going right and being prepared if it doesn't, is all happening in that heightened point of activity of takeoff or landing,' Tajer said. 'It's critical. We've always got our game on, but that's having your A-game on.'
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Yahoo
What's the riskiest part of your flight? It isn't cruising at 40,000 feet
Hurtling through the sky, with nothing below you, apart from 40,000 feet of thin air may feel like a dangerous place to be, but when it comes to traveling in a commercial airplane, it's by no means the riskiest part of the flight. Aviation safety has come under renewed scrutiny following a series of harrowing incidents in recent weeks, prompting some anxious travelers to think twice about booking flights. While we're often told that flying in a plane is one of the safest modes of transportation, these events — some of them resulting in fatalities — underscore the fact that there are still dangers. But, according to pilots and aviation experts, these times of jeopardy come down to very specific moments during flight, chiefly takeoff and landing. And some say one is more inherently dangerous than the other. It's during these procedures that incidents occurred in recent months, prompting investigations from the US National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration. National attention on air safety heightened following the January 29 midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when an American Airlines regional jet, moments from landing, was struck by a Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission. A couple of days later, a United Airlines flight from Houston to New York was evacuated after an engine fire was reported before takeoff. The 104 passengers and five crew members evacuated the aircraft on the runway using slides and stairs. Less than two weeks later, a Learjet 35A owned by Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil, who was not on the plane, veered off the runway while landing, and crashed into a Gulfstream business jet on the ramp at Scottsdale Municipal Airport, in Arizona, and the pilot died. Since then, attention to other aviation incidents have stirred public anxieties about flying, and airlines have noticed the financial burden. 'Some of us who were being told all the time 'flying, it's the safest rate of traveling,' we are scared right now, actually,' said Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat from New Jersey, to the head of the NTSB at an oversight hearing on March 26. However, experts remain confident in the country's safe skies and the ability to fine-tune the critical aspects of flying after learning from these incidents. Of the 1,468 accidents recorded in 2024 by the International Air Transport Association, 770 occurred on landing and 124 during takeoff. CNN Transportation Analyst Mary Schiavo attributes the higher percentages of accidents in these phases of flight to the inherent dangers and maneuvers required to take off and land at an airport. 'Airports present lots more stress on the pilots, the air traffic controllers and the aircraft,' Schiavo said. She thinks landings are more dangerous than takeoffs because there are fewer options when landing. 'It is just really a critical time, especially for mid-airs and collisions, etc.,' Schiavo said. 'If you're taking off, you have the runway. You see the runway in front of you, although sometimes you have people enter the pattern without the right clearances, and they try to land on top of somebody. But descent and landing are the absolute most dangerous time.' Takeoffs and landings are not taken lightly. Pilots are trained and retrained to react if something goes wrong during these key moments. They are so important, according to Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines pilots, that the FAA does not permit any unnecessary conversation or activity below 10,000 feet. The 'sterile cockpit' rule was enacted by the FAA in 1981. It sets aside time during these critical moments for a pilot's focus to be on the takeoff or landing of the airplane. 'It's so important that your full attention is on one thing, and that's flying the airplane right on down to the taxi,' Tajer said. 'For the actual flying for takeoff, you're at a heavier weight. You're accelerating from zero to the speed of being able to fly.' Pilots have a large number of checklists that are run to perform these tasks, he said. And there are redundancies if a pilot or controller starts to do something wrong. Just last week, Southwest Airlines Flight 3278 mistakenly began to take off on a taxiway at Orlando International Airport. Audio from the control tower showed the exact moment the tower canceled their takeoff. 'Stop Southwest 3278, stop!' an air traffic controller said from the tower, according to audio from Broadcastify. 'Cancel takeoff clearance. You're on H taxiway Southwest 3278.' Pilots then slammed the brakes to stop. 'Yes, sir. We stopped,' the pilot replied. These recent events brought to light areas where the industry can 'strengthen' the system and 'decrease risk,' according to Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at many airlines, including PSA, the American Airlines owned carrier involved in January's deadly midair collision. 'Safety is a shared responsibility that requires commitment from everyone who takes to the skies, from commercial airlines to general and business aviation operators,' Ambrosi said. 'Moments like this also reinforce why pilots train relentlessly, hold ourselves to the highest standards and work every day to ensure that air travel remains the safest mode of transportation.' Incidents and accidents happen more often in general aviation, largely because this category includes more aircraft. General aviation, as opposed to commercial aviation, refers to smaller airplanes, sometimes privately owned and used for recreational purposes. Mike Ginter, who is the senior vice president of the Air Safety Institute at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said that while there may be more small aircraft takeoff and landing accidents, these are least likely to be fatal. 'Last year we had 195 fatalities,' Ginter said. 'But in context, that's down. That's a 32-year low. Last year was probably the safest year we've ever had, and that's because we've got a 32-year downward slope, and we're going to continue to do that.' While it appears there's many incidents, Ginter said general aviation is continuing to increase its safety record. Ginter said there are 205,000 general aviation airplanes in the country, and every pilot's focus is on maintaining safety, and training is focused on that. Many of the NTSB's investigations into the recent incidents won't be finished for a year or more, but it can urge change in the interim. The FAA implemented one of the NTSB's urgent recommendations regarding helicopters in Reagan Airport's airspace following the midair collision investigation. Pilots, meanwhile, know the risks of takeoffs and landings and don't take them lightly. 'It may not be a rocket ship, but the amount of activity that's happening and the convergence of everything going right and being prepared if it doesn't, is all happening in that heightened point of activity of takeoff or landing,' Tajer said. 'It's critical. We've always got our game on, but that's having your A-game on.'
CNN
29-03-2025
- CNN
What's the riskiest part of your flight? It isn't cruising at 40,000 feet
Hurtling through the sky, with nothing below you, apart from 40,000 feet of thin air may feel like a dangerous place to be, but when it comes to traveling in a commercial airplane, it's by no means the riskiest part of the flight. Aviation safety has come under renewed scrutiny following a series of harrowing incidents in recent weeks, prompting some anxious travelers to think twice about booking flights. While we're often told that flying in a plane is one of the safest modes of transportation, these events — some of them resulting in fatalities — underscore the fact that there are still dangers. But, according to pilots and aviation experts, these times of jeopardy come down to very specific moments during flight, chiefly takeoff and landing. And some say one is more inherently dangerous than the other. It's during these procedures that incidents occurred in recent months, prompting investigations from the US National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration. National attention on air safety heightened following the January 29 midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when an American Airlines regional jet, moments from landing, was struck by a Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission. A couple of days later, a United Airlines flight from Houston to New York was evacuated after an engine fire was reported before takeoff. The 104 passengers and five crew members evacuated the aircraft on the runway using slides and stairs. Less than two weeks later, a Learjet 35A owned by Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil, who was not on the plane, veered off the runway while landing, and crashed into a Gulfstream business jet on the ramp at Scottsdale Municipal Airport, in Arizona, and the pilot died. Since then, attention to other aviation incidents have stirred public anxieties about flying, and airlines have noticed the financial burden. 'Some of us who were being told all the time 'flying, it's the safest rate of traveling,' we are scared right now, actually,' said Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat from New Jersey, to the head of the NTSB at an oversight hearing on March 26. However, experts remain confident in the country's safe skies and the ability to fine-tune the critical aspects of flying after learning from these incidents. Of the 1,468 accidents recorded in 2024 by the International Air Transport Association, 770 occurred on landing and 124 during takeoff. CNN Transportation Analyst Mary Schiavo attributes the higher percentages of accidents in these phases of flight to the inherent dangers and maneuvers required to take off and land at an airport. 'Airports present lots more stress on the pilots, the air traffic controllers and the aircraft,' Schiavo said. She thinks landings are more dangerous than takeoffs because there are fewer options when landing. 'It is just really a critical time, especially for mid-airs and collisions, etc.,' Schiavo said. 'If you're taking off, you have the runway. You see the runway in front of you, although sometimes you have people enter the pattern without the right clearances, and they try to land on top of somebody. But descent and landing are the absolute most dangerous time.' Takeoffs and landings are not taken lightly. Pilots are trained and retrained to react if something goes wrong during these key moments. They are so important, according to Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines pilots, that the FAA does not permit any unnecessary conversation or activity below 10,000 feet. The 'sterile cockpit' rule was enacted by the FAA in 1981. It sets aside time during these critical moments for a pilot's focus to be on the takeoff or landing of the airplane. 'It's so important that your full attention is on one thing, and that's flying the airplane right on down to the taxi,' Tajer said. 'For the actual flying for takeoff, you're at a heavier weight. You're accelerating from zero to the speed of being able to fly.' Pilots have a large number of checklists that are run to perform these tasks, he said. And there are redundancies if a pilot or controller starts to do something wrong. Just last week, Southwest Airlines Flight 3278 mistakenly began to take off on a taxiway at Orlando International Airport. Audio from the control tower showed the exact moment the tower canceled their takeoff. 'Stop Southwest 3278, stop!' an air traffic controller said from the tower, according to audio from Broadcastify. 'Cancel takeoff clearance. You're on H taxiway Southwest 3278.' Pilots then slammed the brakes to stop. 'Yes, sir. We stopped,' the pilot replied. These recent events brought to light areas where the industry can 'strengthen' the system and 'decrease risk,' according to Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at many airlines, including PSA, the American Airlines owned carrier involved in January's deadly midair collision. 'Safety is a shared responsibility that requires commitment from everyone who takes to the skies, from commercial airlines to general and business aviation operators,' Ambrosi said. 'Moments like this also reinforce why pilots train relentlessly, hold ourselves to the highest standards and work every day to ensure that air travel remains the safest mode of transportation.' Incidents and accidents happen more often in general aviation, largely because this category includes more aircraft. General aviation, as opposed to commercial aviation, refers to smaller airplanes, sometimes privately owned and used for recreational purposes. Mike Ginter, who is the senior vice president of the Air Safety Institute at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said that while there may be more small aircraft takeoff and landing accidents, these are least likely to be fatal. 'Last year we had 195 fatalities,' Ginter said. 'But in context, that's down. That's a 32-year low. Last year was probably the safest year we've ever had, and that's because we've got a 32-year downward slope, and we're going to continue to do that.' While it appears there's many incidents, Ginter said general aviation is continuing to increase its safety record. Ginter said there are 205,000 general aviation airplanes in the country, and every pilot's focus is on maintaining safety, and training is focused on that. Many of the NTSB's investigations into the recent incidents won't be finished for a year or more, but it can urge change in the interim. The FAA implemented one of the NTSB's urgent recommendations regarding helicopters in Reagan Airport's airspace following the midair collision investigation. Pilots, meanwhile, know the risks of takeoffs and landings and don't take them lightly. 'It may not be a rocket ship, but the amount of activity that's happening and the convergence of everything going right and being prepared if it doesn't, is all happening in that heightened point of activity of takeoff or landing,' Tajer said. 'It's critical. We've always got our game on, but that's having your A-game on.'
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Preliminary report: Landing gear appeared to fail in fatal Scottsdale plane crash
The National Transportation Safety Board released the preliminary report on its investigation into a deadly plane crash at Scottsdale Airport, giving new details into what may have transpired. The report lays out how Learjet 35A owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil crashed into another aircraft after its landing gear appeared to fail, causing it to veer off the runway, killing a pilot and injuring several others. According to the report, the plane departed from Florida on Feb. 10 before stopping to refuel in Austin, Texas. It then took off for Scottsdale where the fatal collision occurred. Investigators reviewed a video from surveillance cameras and witnesses which showed the plane's left landing gear "trailing aft from its normal position." The report states the plane began veering left, leaving the runway before colliding with a parked Gulfstream G200 at around 2:38 p.m. It added that the Learjet was not equipped with reverse thrusters and its drag chute was not deployed. The airport's emergency response fire truck responded in a little over two minutes and sprayed fire retardant on the Gulfstream about five minutes later while the Scottsdale Fire Department arrived at roughly 2:47 p.m. The airport fire truck later sprayed fire retardant on the Learjet's right engine, which was still running, to shut it down. The report states the right-seated passenger regained consciousness first and woke up the left-seated passenger who was thrown forward in the passenger cabin. The right-seated passenger then used the emergency exit at around 2:48 p.m. and exited the plane carrying two small dogs before turning back to retrieve the other passenger. The report notes that the same plane and flight crew had a "landing mishap" on June 20, 2024, in McAlester, Oklahoma, where the plane landed hard just before getting to the runway and bounced several times, causing both of the left main landing gear's tires to burst. The report states the Learjet's owner hired a mechanic who worked on it for the previous owner to perform a hard-landing inspection. Investigators interviewed the mechanic who said he used a maintenance manual for all the work he performed. It added that the Learjet's flight time and maintenance cycles since the 2024 hard landing took place was unknown. The flight crew did not make any radio calls about the plane's landing gear not working properly. An official cause behind the landing gear's failure likely won't be known until the investigation's final report is published. Such reports can take between one to two years before being made available. Read: Scottsdale crash aviation investigation preliminary report Police identified the fatality as 78-year-old pilot Joie Vitosky. Vitosky's daughter, Jana Schertzer, told The Arizona Republic that Vitosky began flying after joining the U.S. Marine Corps where he served several tours in the Vietnam War. Rain Hannah Andreani, 43, is the only person on board the planes who has been publicly identified other than Vitosky. Andreani is the girlfriend of Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil. Neil owned the Learjet, according to a filing with the Wyoming secretary of state. He was not on board, according to the vocalist's legal representative Worrick Robinson IV, who posted a statement about the crash to the band's social media. The NTSB lists 15 fatal aircraft incidents in the Scottsdale area and four incidents involving a serious injury, with the earliest going back to the 1970s. Two of the serious injuries involved student pilots, with one pilot having a hard landing after the plane's engine lost power and another with a pilot having a forced landing after misjudging their altitude and clearance, according to NTSB reports. The last fatal crash at the Scottsdale Airport was in 2018. A pilot, student pilot and four passengers were killed after the plane crashed shortly after takeoff. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Report: Fatal Scottsdale plane crash had previous 'landing mishap'
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Yahoo
At least 2 dead from 'aircraft collision' near Marana Regional Airport
At least two persons are dead from a midair collision involving two planes Wednesday morning at the Marana Regional Airport northwest of Tucson, according to Marana police. "Two confirmed dead and both planes were smaller fixed wing single engine planes," the Marana Police Department posted on X. Rizzi also confirmed two small fixed wing aircraft were involved in the collision. The airport is closed and landing aircraft are being diverted to other airports, Vincent Rizzi, a Marana Police Department sergeant, said at the scene. The Marana Regional Airport is located in a rural area surrounded by farm fields and desert brush. The Northwest Fire District responded to the scene, Rizzi said. Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are expected to arrive later Wednesday to help with the investigation, Rizzi said. Photos posted on X by KGUN9 reporter Blake Phillips show a plume of black smoke from the site of the collision near the airport. The collision in Marana is the latest in a sting of incidents involving aircraft, including one on Feb. 10 at the Scottsdale Airport where a smaller Learjet 35A owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil crashed into a larger Gulfstream aircraft, killing the pilot of the Learjet. On Monday, Feb. 17, a Delta Air Lines regional jet flipped upside down while landing at Canada's Toronto Pearson Airport, officials said Eighteen of the 80 people on board were injured. On Jan. 29, an American Airlines regional jet carrying 64 people and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three people collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C. Sixty-seven people were killed. A small medical jet carrying a child patient crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood on Jan. 31 killing seven people while a small plane carrying 10 people crashed in Alaska on Feb. 6, killing all 10 prior to the Scottsdale plane crash. On Nov. 4, a business jet crashed into a vehicle near Falcon Field Airport in Mesa, killing five people, including four people on the plane and the driver of the vehicle. Reporter Perry Vandell contributed. This story is breaking and will be updated. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Aircraft collision near Marana Regional Airport kills at least 2
