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

Noting that improved fuel management could prevent an average of 50 general aviation accidents a year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) today issued a new safety alert, “Flying on Empty,” to highlight issues surrounding fuel-related accidents.

 


“<a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2017-09-05/episode-03-fuel-emergency-flying-empty-tanks">Running out of fuel</a> in a car is an inconvenience,” the Safety Board said. “Running out of fuel in an aircraft is unthinkable, and yet it causes more accidents than anyone might imagine."

 


Fuel management is the sixth leading cause of general aviation accidents in the U.S., the NTSB noted. Fuel exhaustion, when an aircraft runs out of fuel, was involved in 56 percent of the fuel management-related accidents. Fuel starvation, when fuel is present but doesn’t reach the engine, accounted for another 35 percent.&nbsp;Pilot error was a contributing factor in 95 percent of those accidents; equipment issues contributed to just 5 percent.

 


Most of the fuel-management accidents occurred when the destination airport differed from the departure airport, and 80 percent occurred during day visual meteorological conditions, the NTSB noted.

 


Nearly half of the fuel management-related accidents involve pilots holding commercial or air transport pilot certificates. Only 2 percent involve student pilots.

 


<a href="https://ntsb.gov/safety/safety-alerts/Documents/SA-067.pdf">In Safety Alert 067</a>, the NTSB highlights basic steps pilots can take to better manage fuel, including knowing how much is on board at all times and confirming fuel quantity during preflight inspection. Ensuring fuel needs and fuel reserves before flight and knowing engine burn rate were also among the preventive measures cited by the NTSB.&nbsp;

 


The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association also recently raised concerns about fuel management in its release of the Air Safety Institute's most recent <span style="color: rgb(35, 31, 32); font-family: &quot;Arial Narrow&quot;, HelveticaNeue-Light, &quot;Helvetica Neue Light&quot;, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, AvenirNextCondensed-Regular, sans-serif-condensed, Arial, &quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;, &quot;Lucida Grande&quot;, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">&nbsp;Joseph T. Nall report.

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

NTSB Highlights Fuel-management Issues in Accidents

Nearly half of the fuel management-related accidents involve pilots holding commercials or air transport pilot certificates.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Amy Wilder

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

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News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

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 about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

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News about significant aircraft accidents and information from accident reports.

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

Helicopters more than twice as vulnerable to loss of visual reference accidents than airplanes

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Charlotte Bailey

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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