Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

AOPA’s Air Safety Institute (ASI) is working with the University of North Dakota to study continuous turning approaches as an alternative to the traditional rectangular landing pattern. The study comes as the NTSB <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviathttp://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2016-11-15/ga-loss-control-stays-ntsbs-most-wanted-listion-news/business-aviation/2016-11-15/ga-loss-control-stays-ntsbs-most-wanted-list">retained in-flight loss of control (LOC-I) on its list of “Most Wanted” </a>safety improvements for the third consecutive year. UND and AOPA decided to collaborate on the study of the potential alternative pattern after working with senior NTSB officials at a recent loss-of-control panel.

 


The organizations are exploring whether simple changes in procedure or training for landing patterns could enhance safety and reduce LOC-I, AOPA said. “The hypothesis to be studied is that in contrast with a rectangular pattern, a continuous turn from downwind to final might provide for increased stability, reduced pilot workload and a constant bank angle throughout the maneuver, helping pilots better manage angle-of-attack variance,” the association said. AOPA and UND also believe the continuous turning approach could reduce potential for overshooting the runway during the base-to-final turn.

 


“It’s too early to say for sure if the continuous turn to final method will be a safer, more stabilized way to land,” said George Perry, senior v-p of the AOPA ASI. “The U.S. military, commercial airlines and many airline ab initio programs already use the continuous approach turn as the standard to support safe landing pattern operations. We should determine which is safer for general aviation, and this study will help us find the answer.”

 


“Although the study is in its early phases, and it’s far too soon to draw any definitive conclusions, the new procedure has already been studied and practiced by a select group of UND instructor pilots ,and initial data collection has been going quite well,” added Lewis Archer from UND’s aviation department.

 


The organizations hope to make initial results available early next year.

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

AOPA, UND Study Landing Patterns To Combat LOC-I

The organizations are exploring whether use of continuous turning approaches would provide more stable approaches.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

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Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense.

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News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

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News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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