A fractured fan blade. That’s what started the dangerous chain of events aboard a Southwest Airlines flight on April 17, 2018 that ended with one passenger dead and eight others injured. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) this week revealed what happened – and why - after flight 1380 departed New York’s LaGuardia Airport that day, headed for Love Field, Dallas, Texas.

Robert MacLean, a former federal air marshal, carries a lot of baggage. Twice dismissed by his bosses at the Transportation Security Administration, he has been criticized for being “paranoid” and not being a team player. But you don’t get to be the nation’s most prolific aviation safety whistleblower without having a track record. And today, MacLean says, warning signs of ineffectual air safety regulation are blinking red.

In the wake of revelations that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allowed aircraft manufacturer Boeing to handle the safety analysis for its airliners – revelations that followed two fatal crashes of Boeing’s 737 MAX, the U.S. Department of Transportation is firming up its new Safety Oversight and Certification Advisory Committee (SOCAC).

An investigation into a fatal plane crash Saturday in New Orleans will be made more difficult by the fact that much of the wreckage was consumed in a post-crash fire. Nevertheless, a senior air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is on the scene, sifting through the evidence and interviewing witnesses.

An airplane that crashed right after takeoff in Addison, Texas last month seemed to lack a normal power level as it taxied down the runway, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the incident, which claimed the lives of ten people. On the morning of June 30, 2019, the plane – which was bound for St. Petersburg, Florida - collided with a hangar and terrain after takeoff from Addison Airport (KADS).

The engines on a plane full of skydivers sounded normal, according to a witness, but moments later, it crashed just after takeoff from a Hawaii airport, killing all 11 people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) initial report into the June 21, 2019 incident provides no insight into possible causes of the crash. The NTSB investigation is ongoing.

We may never know what caused the 22 highway, aviation, marine and railway accidents that occurred during the partial government shutdown and were not investigated, because furloughed National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators did not physically visit the accidents sites. That, says the NTSB, means “that perishable evidence may have been lost."

If you’re hoping to use your drone to capture images of Hurricane Michael and its effects, better think twice. Drone owners and operators whose vehicles interfere with emergency response areas in hurricane-hit areas could get hit themselves – with a $20,000 fine.

The ability of commercial aircraft to move safely through the skies – particularly in the vicinity of airports – is a prominent part of the test drone operators must take in order to get a Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Automation which is currently available can help reduce accidents in general aviation (GA), according to the FAA, which is reminding GA pilots that all aircraft flying in designated controlled airspace must be equipped with it by January 1, 2020. Only aircraft that fly within uncontrolled airspace and aircraft without electrical systems, such as balloons and gliders, are exempt.