Too many airplane systems rely on too few sensors

The apparent connection between fatal airplane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia centers around the failure of a single sensor. I know what that's like: A few years ago, while I was flying a Cessna 182-RG from Albany, New ...

NASA to test emergency locator transmitters by crashing airplane

Using a Cessna 172 dropped from a height of 100 feet, NASA's Search and Rescue Mission Office will simulate a severe but survivable plane accident Wednesday, Aug. 26 to test emergency locator transmitters (ELTs). NASA Television ...

Crash test assesses plane emergency locator transmitters

The Cessna 172 airplane dangled 82 feet in the air – looking almost like it was coming in for a landing, except for the cables attaching it to a huge gantry at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Flying under the radar

An airplane carrying 96 passengers, including President of Poland Lech Kaczyński, the First Lady, nine top NATO generals and dozens of Polish dignitaries crashed near Smolensk, Russia, April 10, 2010, killing all aboard. ...