Close calls

Despite being born into an aviation family and being drilled from an early age in propeller awareness, I had the extremely sobering experience of...

Using your ears is a much less stressful way to maintain separation than relying on your eyes alone.

Dismay and disappointment over an initial mistake can predispose you to subsequent lapses.

Lookout and situational awareness are as essential in controlled airspace as anywhere else.

Audio adds a new dimension to this anonymous first officer's close call, first published in 2021.

It’s in the nature of aviation that small shifts can have big consequences.

As a check ride, it could have been better, but this pilot chose to look at the bright side.

Audio adds a new dimension to Flight Safety Australia reader Nic Barnes' story about how things are different up north As a VFR private pilot...

I was flying from Jandakot to Rottnest Island, a flight of about 15 minutes. It was a beautiful day for flying, with no clouds...

It was mid-July 2023 and I was very excited to fly my first cross-country navigation flight that would have more than one stop. I...

Nothing emphasises the importance of flight planning like that knotted feeling in your gut when you have failed to do it. This pilot got...

In May this year I was flying my Vans RV7A from Forrest to Kalgoorlie, with another pilot.  We were heading to my home airport,...

After a particularly bad day at work where everything seemed to have gone wrong, I was booked for the last dual night navigation exercise...

How dumb luck prevented an intergenerational technology disaster. If you walk around a classic car show, you will inevitably hear someone say, 'They don't make...

This is a story of ice. Not ice you put in a drink. Not ice that forms on an aircraft, but ice that can...

A pilot learns a valuable lesson in taking responsibility and control.

An experienced airline transport pilot remembers 2 close calls early in his career that shaped his approach to safety. Back in 2009 I was flying...

A quick glance suggested everything would be okay – this was an expectations-driven illusion. It was a beautiful winter's day in western Queensland, warm and...

Fixating on the paddock meant I was completely blind to the actual ALA I was looking for.

Under pressure to rush, this pilot came close to danger.

When faced with ambiguous information, this pilot swallowed pride and made the safe decision. How much fuel do we have? I always like to know...

A recreational pilot's first flight after learning the basics of navigation unravels into an embarrassment that could have been a disaster.

The elements humble a newly qualified pilot. I was a freshly minted CPL with the world at my feet, or so I thought. After arriving in...

The tiniest change of heading took this pilot out of his comfort zone. As a low-hours VFR-only recreational pilot who is super safety conscious, I...

Sticking to a rigid schedule when circumstances have changed is the opposite of safe flight planning. I was building hours after my PPL and was...

On a very dark night, not understanding an engine's operating characteristics almost led to disaster. I am a flight instructor for a flying club located...

A low-hours student keeps their cool despite a frightening incident that was not their fault. Sometimes it's interesting to look at how you handle sudden...

This crew had to battle extremely bad weather including severe icing before making a safe landing. I worked for a small regional airline that operated...

By Christopher Kelman He was heading straight for disaster with 2 passengers on board, when something clicked in. How one pilot learnt his limitations and...

A jump pilot becomes acquainted with the particular hazards of this sport in a story that reflects standards at the time it took place. We needed...

Subtle psychological pressures and an unintentional signal almost killed this experienced flier in the first hours of their career. Whichever way you look at it,...

A private pilot reflects on an early flight and how they would do things differently now. I was flying from Canberra to Alice Springs in...

A gliding incident was the culmination of factors, including ergonomics, maintenance and pilot action. I had over 250 hours of gliding, including an infrequent 12...

Up there, wishing you were down here – an often-told story but chilling every time. During the hour-building phase of my commercial pilot licence training,...

By Alan Bradshaw The darkness of regional Australia at night proves to be more than a match for a city slicker’s night VFR rating. My lifelong...

Only luck and a sliver of time prevent a mid-air collision. Some years ago, I was involved in an incident that nearly resulted in a mid-air collision. It happened in the vicinity of the Archerfield Southern Training Area during a training session that I was conducting in a Cessna 172.

One of my first instructors told me never to fly on minimums. 'It's not bad weather, but marginal weather that kills you,' the instructor said. Pilots don't fly in bad weather. I also thought that years of experience could compensate, but nothing can overrule sticking to a bad decision.

By a Flight Safety Australia reader After having recently achieved my private pilot’s licence, I decided to take up an offer from a friend to...

By a Flight Safety Australia reader As a fresh PPL pilot, I was always thrilled when I got to navigate across the state all by...

A former boss once warned me that 'an assumption is the basis of a screw-up'. While I've often repeated that maxim to others, it took 5 white-knuckle minutes to teach myself the wisdom of those words.

In this unexpected and scary incident, the pilot reaches for something familiar to use in an unusual way. I was returning from Condobolin to Moorabbin in a Cessna 182RG with 2 passengers. The weather forecast had been satisfactory and I had filed and flown a VFR plan without any difficulties.

Recent la Niña rainfall has amplified a longstanding aviation hazard, as Steve Blackie discovered We have all been told from our very first flight, how...

Recreational pilot Luke Bayly discovers the reasons for the seemingly endless drills of his initial training We all believe that when the time comes, we...

An encounter with lenticular cloud literally shook this pilot out of complacency We were on our way back from Natfly, the annual fly-in for recreational...

Pressure drove this pilot towards an error, discipline allowed for a recovery By Lawrence Moloney Recently I set out to conduct a local flight in my...

A newly minted rating, a blandly confident low-hours pilot, time pressure and a desire to impress. What could possibly go wrong? By a Flight Safety...

A pilot flying at an incorrect level in a busy lane making garbled radio calls creates a wake of confusion and danger Recently I embarked...

Flying alone, a recreational pilot falls prey to confirmation bias, and ends up lucky to tell the tale Back in mid-2017, some friends and I...

Purely by accident, an instructor learns that taking your time can be the key to survival  By Douglas Robertson Long ago and far away I was...

This pilot was stunned by an inadvertent loop in a hang-glider The air was just different one week at a Forbes hang-gliding competition a few...

Trapped between walls of cloud, this pilot was racing against sunset to find a safe landing. It is sobering to reflect on a flight that...

This newly minted instructor was jolted out of his complacency by an unexpected thunderstorm There is a difference between foolishness and being foolish. On this...

If something can go wrong, it will – so prepare for it It was – and is – a rare fault, but it was almost...

Don’t get slack about your radio calls, as this pilot did I was flying a white low-wing aircraft up the east coast. It was early...

When the weather turned quickly, this pilot was scud running I restarted private flying for fun in the mid-2010s, after having flown for a while...

A pilot having a bad day decides it is better to cut his losses after nearly cutting himself I have always read with interest the...

After an engine is destroyed during a night take-off, a corporate jet struggles to stay airborne By Andrew McDougall We started the take-off roll at approximately...

A series of dubious decisions led to a frightening crash landing From a safe distance I surveyed the depressing scene – the Cessna 182 crippled...

This pilot pushed on as the visibility gradually reduced – until he was flying blind By Andrew Clarke My close call occurred in late 2006. At...

Friday flashback: a Close call from Flight Safety Australia, January-February 2008 By Max Fenton It was a clear and cold July winter morning as I ruefully...

This pilot had the terrifying experience of another paraglider heading directly at them Anonymous It took me a little longer than I had anticipated to...

By Michelle O’Hare I have been flying for a few years now; however, it wasn’t until I experienced a partial engine failure in 2019 that...

By a Flight Safety Australia reader I had quite a few missed approaches in my career but only one that came as a total surprise,...

Would you speak up if something on the aircraft just didn’t feel right? By Diana Stratfold As a part of the IF rating we are taught...

Pressing on and on as the sky gets very dark—what could possibly go wrong? By Greg Ackman We had departed Kalgoorlie with 20 minutes margin to...

This pilot reflects on how a flight drifted close to danger, despite the best of intentions This close call wasn’t too long ago, but...

This senior instructor learns a valuable lesson after not actually checking what he was doing. It was the first flight of the day and I...

The habit of regularly scanning the engine instruments was the key factor in this pilot’s survival By Craig Commens It was the mid-80s and I was...

Correct decision-making can be difficult when the pressure is on. When was the last time you told your chief pilot, ’No‘? By Robert L Cassidy In...

By Gary Winstanley I was in the middle of my PPL training when I was called to Austin, Texas, to attend a seminar. Being keen,...

Anonymous After many years of on-again off-again training, I was finally the proud holder of a private pilot certificate. I had been aware of an...

By John Void Becoming lost in unexpected bad weather and low on fuel was a scary experience. For years, we had been flying around western Queensland...

By Tim Rankin Trying to make decisions when fatigued proves difficult for this pilot. This story started some months before the flight about to be...

By Des Webster I was flying a Piper Archer from Richmond to Young in December 2018. Around midday I was approaching Young airport from the...

By a Flight Safety Australia reader One pilot’s apparent distraction with cockpit technology led to a loss of situational awareness in the circuit area, narrowly...

By Warren Scanlon This pilot had to make quick decisions after the airspeed indicator failed Shortly after obtaining my private pilots’ licence, I hired a Warrior...

Comedy of terrors By a Flight Safety Australia reader It was a departure from Karachi, Pakistan at 0100 local, with the outside air temperature in the...

I originally learnt to fly in the mid-1970s, but a stint working overseas followed by some serious health issues, caused me to stop flying...

By Dion Puru In mid-2018 I attended a skydiving training event at a small skydiving centre on the Central Coast of NSW. I was training...

By Charles O’Neil As I write about this close call, I have been flying for 58 years and am enjoying it now as much as...

By Greg Ackman It was a lovely day for flying and my two passengers were a husband and wife who owned a business that sold...

A young engineer who followed his training and stood his ground when others assured him there was no problem may well have saved his...

by Lea Vesic It was a cool, calm and cloudy winter’s day in Adelaide, but (in hindsight) not the kind of day you wake up...

Name withheld by request The general narrative of a close call story is one of a singular incident, where perhaps one came much closer to...

A much-anticipated first flying lesson ends badly in this close call, first published in 2012 Name withheld by request I was 18 years old, and each...

The amazing technology that directs you to wherever you want to go will just as happily direct you to where you don’t want to...

In this close call from 2012, Terry Anderson thanks his instructor for the flying lessons and general attitude that made a night engine failure...

This contributor had a scary encounter with a slippery runway Name withheld by request On a cold winter morning, I departed the Yarra Valley (Victoria) in...

Now older himself, the author of this 2011 close call rues the combination of inexperience and confidence that almost got him killed. Name withheld...

Sometimes it’s important to listen to your doubts, even when there seem to be perfectly good explanations for something that just doesn’t feel right,...

This repost of a close call from 2010 is timeless in its lessons, and in its ability to raise a cringe Name withheld by request A common...

Simon Pettit tells of a less-than-VIP experience in an oldie-but-goodie story from our 2010 Close Calls Special I was flying tourists around Kings Canyon, as...

Pilot Michael Ralph’s graphic retelling of an all-too-common VFR occurrence. On 29 July 2007, a Piper Warrior flown by a VFR pilot, with three...

Flight Safety Australia reader Nic Barnes discovers things are different up north As a VFR private pilot from Adelaide, I have enjoyed many years of...

As I sit here typing in a neck brace, arm cast and with a mouth full of stitches, I can’t help but note the...

by Julian Yates I’ve tried to avoid situations that cause raised heart rates and sweaty palms while flying and have mostly achieved this. I’m pretty...

by Gavin Richardson As most of you would understand, your first solo is a big deal. The emotions, nerves, confidence and premature elation is consuming...

by Alexander Robinson, a Flight Safety Australia reader ‘Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it...

by Peter Ffrench, a Flight Safety Australia reader As a newbie paraglider pilot at Stanwell Park in 2006, a part of my site induction was...

by Tony Sandeberg, Flight Safety Australia reader It was my second paragliding adventure to Europe. The first had been the best five weeks of my life,...