John Croft
Aviation Week
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by John:
Redefining The Runway Incursion Problem
The number of reported runway incursions each year has remained stubbornly steady, or some say, on the rise. Safety advocates and industry want to find out why. → Read More
Investigators Stumped In Air Canada E190 Avionics Failure
Canadian investigators remain stumped as to the source of the liquid that caused a crucial avionics electronics box in the belly of an Air Canada Embraer 190-100 to short-circuit and catch fire during a May 2016 flight. → Read More
Runway Collision Spurs Indonesian Safety Upgrades
Indonesia’s air accident investigators call on the country’s controllers and pilots of Wings Abadi Airlines to better protect against runway accidents. → Read More
Jetstar Tightens Tire Checks After Boeing 787 Flap Failure
Failure to spot an anomaly on the tires of a 787 before takeoff led to a high-energy impact with flying rubber and damage to the flap drive system. → Read More
Autopilot Horn Override Could Spell Trouble For KC-46
A trick that mutes a blaring horn when the autopilots on Boeing models are manually disconnected could potentially cause an entry-into-service delay for the KC-46 Pegasus tanker, a derivative of the 767-2C freighter. → Read More
Oven-Related Diversion Spotlights Fire Caution
The abundance of caution on a Condor flight in July highlights the seriousness with which the airline industry views the potential for smoke or fumes as a precursor to inflight fires. → Read More
Technology Boost Coming For Air Traffic Controllers
Advanced human-machine interfaces and new technologies are set to make ATC workstations as jaw-dropping as the newest flight decks, if not more so. → Read More
NTSC: Unstable Approach Led To ATR Incident
Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee is calling on Jakarta-based Pelita Air Service to establish a stabilized approach-monitoring system in the wake of an ATR 72 bounced-landing incident in March. → Read More
Podcast: The Cockpit of the Future
Curved touch screens, augmented reality, integrated smart systems that drastically reduce pilot workload—all these are coming in the no-to-distant future → Read More
Podcast: Pilotless Airliner—How Realistic? How Soon?
Will large aircraft ever fly with no pilot on board? It is inevitable, our panel says. But what about passenger acceptance? → Read More
Podcast: Pilotless Airliner—How Realistic? How Soon?
Will large aircraft ever fly with no pilot on board? It is inevitable, our panel says. But what about passenger acceptance? → Read More
NTSB: Air Canada pilots confused by SFO runway lighting
The pilots of a landing Air Canada Airbus A320 that nearly collided with several aircraft on a taxiway waiting to depart the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) around midnight July 7 were visually confused by the runway lighting at the airport, according to an NTSB investigative update on the incident. → Read More
NTSB: SFO Runway Lighting Confused Air Canada Pilots
The pilots of a landing Air Canada Airbus A320 that nearly plowed into several aircraft at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) around midnight July 7 were visually confused by the runway lighting. → Read More
FAA Confirms Cases Of EMAS Phobia
Pilots in some cases appear to be avoiding a special type of crushable concrete designed to gently stop an aircraft from overrunning the end of a runway—a finding that is puzzling to FAA officials. → Read More
New FAA tests reveal PEDs in checked luggage could catch fire
New testing by the FAA’s Fire Safety Branch has shown that personal electronics devices (PEDs) packed in suitcases in the cargo hold could have dire consequences to aircraft safety if thermal runaway occurs. → Read More
An Autothrottle for Turboprops
Pennsylvania-based Innovative Solutions & Support has certified what officials say is an industry-first: An autothrottle for non-FADEC turboprop engines. → Read More
Living Room Connectivity at 24,000 ft
High-speed broadband is pretty much a standard feature in every living room or office, but until lately, not so much in the cabin of an airliner. Honeywell Aerospace demonstrated its solution to that problem to a handful of journalists onboard the company’s Boeing 757 engineering test bed on June 9. → Read More
Preliminary report: Air Canada A320 overflew four aircraft at SFO
A preliminary summary issued by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said Air Canada flight 759 overflew four aircraft on the taxiway parallel to runway 28R at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) near midnight on July 7. → Read More
NTSB investigates Air Canada near miss at SFO
A pilot in an Air Canada Airbus A320 was apparently confused by the view through the windscreen on approach to San Francisco International Airport, leading to a near miss with aircraft lined up on a taxiway. → Read More
Jetstar Speed Incident Spurs 787 Software Modifications
Boeing has made two changes to the 787’s flight control software, after a Jetstar Airways 787-8 experienced an erratic-airspeed incident in December 2015. → Read More