By ANDY PASZTOR and SUSAN CAREY When it comes to screening pilots, wide disparities exist among countries and carriers, and the crash this week of Germanwings Flight 9525 is already prompting regulators and industry leaders to reassess the effectiveness of existing protocols. The crash is likely to fuel calls for more-robust background checks and men...

PARIS - The co-pilot of Germanwings flight 9525 deliberately crashed the aircraft, French officials said Thursday, pointing to voice recorder evidence that he had locked the captain out of the cockpit, ignored his pleas for re-entry and steered down into the French Alps as passengers were heard screaming. The assertions instantly changed the nature of t...

  Audio recordings recovered from the crashed Germanwings Airbus A320 suggest one pilot was outside the cockpit and unable to get back in. After the September 11 attacks, the aviation industry made huge investments to enhance security, including strengthening cockpit doors The safety of cockpit doors on commercial planes has been br...

Planes are considered the safest mode of transport, and for good reason. Statistically, accidents occur at a rate of 0.23 per million flights. Below, 10 important facts about civil aviation.   1. In terms of fatalities, 2014 was the worst year in the history of civil aviation. Some 970 people died in plane crashes. 2. The three acci...

  Airbus crashes in French Alps, no survivors expected SEYNE-LES-ALPES, France (AP) - A Germanwings jet carrying 150 people from Barcelona to Duesseldorf slammed into a remote section of the French Alps on Tuesday, sounding like an avalanche as it scattered pulverized debris across a rocky mountain and down its steep ravines. All aboar...

Regardless of what method an aircraft operator chooses to vet their groundhandling providers, operators should establish minimum safety, training and operational standards they require of their FBOs.   Business aircraft operators have periodically subjected their own operations to third-party safety audits. But not many operators expec...

  United Airlines pilots have asked management to overhaul training programs to place a greater emphasis on communication and ensure crews follow standard operating procedures more closely. In memos obtained by Aviation Daily, Capt. Jay Heppner, chairman of United's master executive council, responded to a Jan. 9 flight bulletin highli...

When a pilot ignores an audio alert, why does it happen? It could be a ground proximity alert, or a warning that the cabin pressure is rising, or that the gear is still up while the aircraft is on final approach. So it matters. But what's going on in the pilot's brain that makes him act as if the alert doesn't exist? A group of French scientist...

(Reuters) - An American Airlines jetliner with 126 passengers and 7 crew members on board made an emergency landing at a New York airport on Tuesday morning after striking "several geese," transportation officials said. No one was reported injured on Flight 1320, which returned to John F. Kennedy International Airport about 10 minutes after...