I was going to write an essay this week but there have been so many interesting posts and photographs and games, I wasted the entire day on the Web instead of creating something new. So instead, I’ve collated my very favourites as a Flying Around the Web round-up to encourage you to waste your time as well.

Here are the links, with a warning: If you have any intention of being productive, stop reading right now!

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This Airbus 380 and contrail was filmed from cockpit of a Boeing 747 above the South China Sea. Hong Kong ATC notified the planes that the KLM Boeing would be flying within 1,000 feet of the Airbus and the KLM crew took the chance to make this film:

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Thank you to @tinyblob who sent me this great panoramic photography of 14 cockpits:

360 Cities – Panoramic Photography Blog » I Believe I Can Fly (14 Airplane Cockpits)

If you click through to the article, you’ll find that each image links through to an interactive version where you can look around to your hearts content.

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This photograph shows a Cessna 172 which flew into a Canadian home following an engine failure after take off. It’s hard to believe that the pilot hobbled away with only a broken ankle and no one else was injured. I’ve found versions all over the place but I’m pretty sure the original is by Glenn Steplock and so I’ve used the version with his attribution from Airliners.net although the email address registered with it isn’t valid so I couldn’t verify this.

[Edit: Glenn has now contacted me to confirm that he did take the photograph. I'm hopeful that he might share some more of them with us in future.]

Transportation Safety Board of Canada – AVIATION REPORTS – 2001 – A01O0157

The pilot was conducting a visual flight rules local flight from the Toronto / Buttonville Municipal Airport, Ontario. When the aircraft reached about 400 to 500 feet above ground level during the initial climb after take-off from Runway 33, the aircraft engine (Lycoming O-320-H2AD) stopped. The pilot began a forced approach and attempted unsuccessfully to restart the engine. The aircraft struck a treetop and the back of a house and came to rest on the back deck of the house. The aircraft and the house were substantially damaged. The occupants of the house were not injured; however, the pilot received serious, non-life-threatening injuries. The accident occurred at 1952 eastern daylight time during daylight.

It’s worth reading the full report to try to piece together how the pilot ended up in the side of a house on a clear day in June.

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Do you have what it takes to be an Approach Controller? Vincent, the famous Plastic Pilot, has developed a fun iPhone game where you have a chance to prove yourself.

The application mimics real air traffic control systems and gives you control of speed, height and heading as you try to coordinate ever increasing traffic. You can try the “Lite” version before you buy and coordinate traffic at London Heathrow or New York JFK or buy the full version which includes ten airports to keep you challenged.

Find out more: APP Control – Air Traffic Control Game – Play air traffic controller

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I posted this in the links earlier this week but honestly, I could watch it over and over again and not get bored.

This cockpit video of a twilight landing at LAX shows the SADDE Six Approach coming in over Santa Monica. The 30-minute flight is condensed to 3-minutes, making for a thrilling view of the city and the airport.

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And finally: did you know that the The de Havilland Moth Educational Trust funds pilots for 10 hours conversion flying on a Tiger Moth and engineers with a bursaries for learning the restoration, maintenance and repair of vintage aircraft. This is a great opportunity for pilots and engineers in England. There is no cost involved but you must submit your application before the 28th of February.

You can get the PDF forms online: application for the 2011 Fiona McKay Flying Bursary and application for the 2011 Engineering Bursary.

What have you got to lose?

This is a collection of things in the news and the blogosphere that made me smile today. I hope you will enjoy them too.

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Someone forwarded me this Close Encounter with an Emu from Liveleaks

WARNING: this video contains strong language. Although no stronger than what I would say if this happened to me!

My favourite comment is in the description: “Wouldn’t it have been awkward to have a bird strike with a flightless bird?”

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Yesterday a Tornado jet crashed into the sea off the west coast of Scotland. Both crew ejected and were rescued.

BBC News – Tornado jet crew eject before aircraft crashes

The helicopter’s pilot Iain Campbell described the rescue as a textbook recovery in perfect conditions.

He said the crew told him that they were forced to ditch after the plane caught fire at 6,000 feet.

The jet’s pilot had attempted to reach Stornoway Airport on Lewis, in the Western Isles, Highlands and Islands Airports Limited has confirmed.

A full emergency was declared at the airport but was later stood down.

Stornoway Coastguard said its helicopter located the two crew and their life rafts. It flew the pilot and navigator to hospital, reaching Inverness at about 1545 GMT.

Witnesses said a second Tornado circled the crash scene moments after the jet went down.

THE BBC has a video of the plane flying low over the Western Isles shortly before the crash and photographs of lifeboats collecting the wreckage.

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I know this makes me an unabashed supporter of litterbugs but I think this Samsung marketing campaign is awesome.

Project Space Planes is a Samsung campaign to launch 200 paper places from the “edge of space.” Each plane is carrying a Samsung SD Memory Card with a message that someone, somewhere in the world has uploaded. The planes were dropped from 36,500 metres over Berlin, Germany.

The planes are being found now and the Project Space Planes has set up a Flight Log to track the planes that are found. You can follow the updates on Twitter as well.

Here is a list of locations that people have reported seeing the planes and cards in:

Minden, Germany

Bremen, Germany

Berlin, Germany

The Netherlands

Turlock, CA, USA

Winnpeg, Canada

South Africa

We’re looking into all of these reports now. How cool, huh?

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I’ve decided. A MiG 29. That is what I want for Christmas.

MiG-29 Fighter Soars Over The Pacific Northwest

A former Ukranian MiG-29 fighter has become the second privately owned MiG-29 to fly, taking to the air over Washington six years after it left Eastern Europe. Capable of speeds of Mach 2.2 and altitudes of nearly 60,000ft, the Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-29 “Fulcrum” is a far cry from the 1927-57 vintage airplanes that Historic Flight Foundation specializes in restoring.

However, the opportunity to work on something so different was an irresistible lure to John Sessions, the founder of Historic Flight, who wanted to verify that a complex high-performance aircraft could be restored by following the same rules and guidelines as a vintage airplane. The resulting aircraft is one of the most pristine examples of its type anywhere in the world.

It’s around 20 years old and has 510 flight hours. It’s taken them ten years to get it into working order (including Hong Kong officials seizing in transit as military contraband and holding it for for two years) but the MiG-29 completed its first flight last week. Wouldn’t you love to be that pilot?

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And finally, Sulako posted this clip in This Will Bake Your Noodles. I’m not sure what that means but I think he might be right. This interactive video by northStudio360 and Nimmo Bay allows you to use the mouse to change your viewpoint, even looking straight up at the helicopter holding the camera. Click it to start.

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If you know of more aviation news or videos that will bring a smile to my face, add it to the comments. :D

The Aviation Herald has the details of the final report by the Dutch Safety Board regarding the Easyjet near miss in Amsterdam. The article includes a translation of the probable cause in English. It sounds like it was a close call:

Report: Easyjet A319 at Amsterdam on Mar 5th 2007, began takeoff without clearance

An Easyjet Airbus A319-100, registration G-EZIP performing flight U2-6164 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Bristol,EN (UK), was lined up on runway 24 waiting for departure. A Boeing 747-400 had been cleared to cross runway 24 at taxiway S2 about 1850 meters (6070 feet) down the runway and was moving into the protected runway area, when the tower cleared another Airbus A330 for takeoff from runway 18L. The A330 crew did not immediately read back their clearance, however the takeoff clearance was mistakenly read back by the Easyjet crew mentioning runway 24L which does not exist. The trainee assistant controller noticed the wrong crew had read back the clearance, saw the A319 start moving and warned the controller, who radioed the Easyjet crew to stop, which was acknowledged and the A319 crew stopped their aircraft. The crew of the Boeing 747-400 cleared to cross runway 24 did not notice the occurrence.

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There’s an interesting post by Aviation Mentor: a book review of The Checklist Manifesto from the point of view of a flight instructor. I recommend reading the full post: Aviation Mentor: The Problem with Checklists. However, if you need convincing to follow your checklists, consider this video of a fatal crash when neither pilot checked the controls were free and clear (not for the faint of heart):

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Remember the ‘Barefoot Bandit’? Aopa Online have written an article about the various aircraft he stole (four confirmed, possibly a Cirrus SR22 at the beginning of the year – I can see the temptation!) and the aftermath from the owners’ points of view:

AOPA Online: Could it happen to YOU?

Thinking it was a prank, Rivers picked up the phone. “He said, ‘We have an airplane down on the Yakama Indian Reservation’s tribal hunting grounds and I’m glad to hear your voice. We can’t find the pilot.”

But Rivers knew that his 1999 Cessna 182 was in its hangar at the Orcas Island Airport in Eastsound, Washington. “I called my mechanic, Geoff, and said I had a nutty call from the state police and they say my airplane has crashed. Would you poke your head in my hangar?”

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This analysis of an Air India flight which went into a nose-dive and lost over 7,000 feet is chilling:
Report: Air India Express B738 over Arabian Sea on May 26th 2010, inadvertent nose dive

An Air India Express Boeing 737-800, registration VT-AXJ performing flight IX-212 from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Pune (India) with 113 passengers, was enroute at FL370 at Mach 0.76 between waypoints PARAR and DOGET with autopilot A in CMD mode and autothrottle engaged. The captain decided to take a short break to visit the washroom and left the cockpit, however noticed the washroom was occupied and wanted to return to the cockpit, when he noticed the airplane was pitching down. He attempted to enter the cockpit, the cockpit door however did not open. He used the emergency access code to open the door and re-entered the cockpit about 40 seconds after he had left the cockpit. He observed the airplane’s attitude was 26 degrees nose down and 5 degrees left bank, the speed in the red band, the mach overspeed clackers sounding.

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On a brighter note, the FlightAware newsletter included this YouTube video of the B787 Dreamliner coming into Keflavic in a heavy crosswind (runway 20 with wind from 120 at 30 gusting 36). It’s a beautiful landing:

There is a great set of photographs making the rounds of single-engine aircraft flying in formation over water. When I first saw them, I wasn’t sure if they were real or photoshopped.

I found out on the PPRuNe Forums that the photographs are real and show the South African aerobatic team the Flying Lions, photographed in 2006 by Frans Dely.

Early morning anglers are treated to the spectacle of four T6 Harvard Aircraft from The Flying Lions Aerobatic Team waterskiing across the Klipdrift Dam near Johannesburg South Africa.

Lead by Scully Levin, with wingmen Arnie Meneghelli, Stewart Lithgow and Ellis Levin, this renowned airshow display team rehearse a sequence for the newly launched “Aviation Action” television program on Supersport. Arnie Meneghelli from Academy Brushware, owner of the aircraft, had this to say, “What we did today I believe is a world first. It illustrates that South African airshow pilots are amongst the best in the world”.

This unusual act, approved by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and supported by Castrol Aviation, was meticulously planned and took place under the watchfull eye of divers and paramedics that were on site.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find official copies of the photographs to link to a larger size but you can see the images on the thread discussing the event.

You can see also the Flying Lions in action over Klipdrift Dam on YouTube:

I get tense just imagining flying that low and skimming the water like that, let alone in formation. I love reading about aerobatics and crop dusters but I don’t think I could do it.

Tudor Owen, who is well-known on PPRuNe as Flying Lawyer (although he is now a Circuit Judge in London), got a chance to try it. He sent me this photograph of himself with the Flying Lions team leader, Scully Levin (on the left) in Cape Town:

He also related this great story about flying with a crop-duster pilot in the States:

I learnt to fly a Harvard on a farm strip in Texas many years ago, and my check pilot was a cropduster. We flew along Padre Island one day – largely uninhabited, just off the coast, stretching for miles along the Gulf of Mexico – and I took up his suggestion of doing some low flying.

After a few miles along the deserted beach, through the headset came, “D’ya want me to show ya low flying?”

I thought I was. I discovered our ideas of ‘low’ were very different. Wow!

As we turned to head for home, “D’ya wanna try it? I’ll watch ya.”

‘Yes Sirreee!’

He took me up in a crop-duster before I left. (Single-seat, but a roomy cockpit – and many miles from any FAA eyes. ) His precision and low level handling skills were absolutely phenomenal.

I’d always assumed cropdusters stayed above, or climbed over, any telephone lines/small power lines stretched across fields. Wrong!

“No way, wires can kill ya! Gotta stay under wire height in case ya don’t see ‘em. Anyways, if the farmers round here see daylight under your wheels they complain to the boss and won’t pay.”

The first wing-over from virtually ground level when doing a 180 at the end of a field took me a little by surprise (to say the least), but it was one of the most exhilarating and exciting flights I’ve had yet.

I was lost in admiration for his skill, but it was just another day’s work for him.

Every man to his job, as they say.

Well, as for me, I think I’ll be staying above those wires and keeping my wheels out of the water. Still, I wouldn’t mind being a passenger on one of those flights – as long as I’m allowed to keep my eyes closed.

I found a lot of interesting articles and clips this week in the news – too many to pick a subject. So for this week, have a news round-up with plenty of links for you to find out more.

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The accident report has been released for the incident I wrote up in January:
Ditching in the Irish Sea.

Air Accidents Investigation: Piper PA 30, M-ALAN

Approximately 38 nm south-east of Ronaldsway, at FL 080, the pilot identified a “runaway” (overspeed) of the right engine. She shut down the engine and commenced a diversion to Blackpool Airport. Six minutes into the diversion the left engine also lost power. Despite conducting relevant cockpit procedures the pilot was unable to restore power. Unable to maintain level flight, and having calculated that Blackpool was too far away, she ditched the aircraft and was picked up by a rescue boat from a nearby rig support vessel.

The wreckage of the plane was recovered but severely damaged after five months lying on the seabed. The enquiry confirms that the state of the plane was consistent with the pilot’s report and theorises that the right engine may have suffered a mechanical fault while the left engine may have been the victim of icing.

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Caught on video: Why BA 009 rose from the ashes – tech – 27 October 2010 – New Scientist

Next, they sieved volcanic ash collected from farmland near Eyjafjallajökull and kept those particles that were 57 micrometres in diameter or less. These are the particles that reached aircraft cruising altitudes, above 9 kilometres, in European skies during the eruption. They then loaded the ash into a sandblaster and fired it at the hot blades.

The red-hot vanes became coated in a glassy film as the ash melted, so much so that a real jet engine would clog up and fail. But when the team dropped the temperature to 720 ºC – a temperature an engine will cool to after failing – the ash began jumping off the vanes until most of it had gone (see video).

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Passenger plane forced to make emergency landing in Canada after family bust-up | Mail Online

The article is pretty silly (“[We] were convinced we were about to die”) but I particularly enjoyed the map showing just how far they had to divert to land safely:

You can see the Great Circle route of today’s flight on FlightAware which takes the flight directly over Gander, making it an obvious place to divert to under the circumstances.

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BBC News – UK airlines back call for airport security changes

The UK airline industry has backed British Airways chairman Martin Broughton’s call for changes to airport security checks.

Speaking at the UK Airport Operators’ Association annual conference, Mr Broughton said that no-one wanted weaker security.

But he was quoted by the Financial Times as telling the conference: “We all know there’s quite a number of elements in the security programme which are completely redundant and they should be sorted out.”

Mr Broughton, who is also chairman of Liverpool FC, added the UK should only agree to security checks that the US requires for passengers on domestic flights.

“America does not do internally a lot of the things they demand that we do,” he said. “We shouldn’t stand for that.”

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Pilot jailed for 20 years for causing Cotonou plane crash – Bikya Masr

UTA, which was eventually incorporated into a French aviation firm, had a checkered safety history and was only given permission to commence commercial flights from Beirut after initially failing to meet necessary safety specifications.

Preliminary investigations into the cause of the crash showed that the plane had taken off up to 10 tons overweight, although subsequent crash probes revealed a different problem.

“The direct cause of the accident was not the large amount of excess weight on board, but the distribution of the load,” said France’s Accident Investigations Bureau (BEA) in the months following the crash.

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Small plane crashes into two parked cars in Wesley Chapel

Preliminary information indicates the student pilot, a 60-year-old man, on his second solo flight, had problems in his takeoff and lost control when he landed. His single-engine plane skidded off the runway and landed on two cars parked in the lot of an industrial business.

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This is, of course, a somewhat random selection of current affairs which I found interesting. Feel free to add current aviation stories in the comments.

The NTSB are investigating a near miss between an Airbus 320 with 90 passengers and a Beech 99 cargo plane who had less than 100 feet separation when they passed each other at 1,500 feet. The Airbus heard the other aircraft (that really is damn close) but the pilot of the Beech was apparently unaware of the near miss.

NTSB Press Advisory

On September 16, 2010, about 6:49 a.m. CDT, US Airways flight 1848 (AWE 1848), an Airbus 320, was cleared for takeoff on runway 30R en route to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, carrying five crewmembers and 90 passengers. At the same time, Bemidji Aviation Services flight 46 (BMJ46), a Beech 99 cargo flight with only the pilot aboard, was cleared for takeoff on runway 30L en route to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Weather conditions at the time were reported as a 900-foot ceiling and 10 miles visibility below the clouds.

Immediately after departure, the tower instructed the US Airways crew to turn left and head west, causing the flight to cross paths with the cargo aircraft approximately one- half mile past the end of runway 30L. Neither pilot saw the other aircraft because they were in the clouds, although the captain of the US Airways flight reported hearing the Beech 99 pass nearby. Estimates based on recorded radar data indicate that the two aircraft had 50 to 100 feet of vertical separation as they passed each other approximately 1500 feet above the ground.

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A Saratoga landed on the Interstate in Atlanta during rush hour. The pilot is fine but it sounds like the plane is a write-off. I’m not sure why the plane landed with the wheels up (the Saratoga undercarriage is electric but has a manual override for emergencies like this).

Owner Of Interstate Plane Talks To CBS Atlanta – Atlanta News Story – WGCL Atlanta

Dominic Ottaviano said never thought he’d receive a call like the one he got Monday.

“Said, ‘Hey, did you see the news? Your plane is on the interstate.’ And it wasn’t really funny,” said Ottaviano.

Ottaviano watched the scene unfold on I-85 near Shallowford Road. He’s one of three owners of the single-engine six-passenger plane that landed on the interstate in the middle of rush hour.

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Alaska Dispatch has a fascinating piece about the survivors of a Cessna 185 which crashed in a remote area of Alaska. They were quickly rescued thanks to one of the passengers who was carrying a satellite messaging device.

When the plane goes down, the good gadget is the one that gets you found

After the crash, after everyone pulled themselves out the wreckage of the single-engine airplane in the Alphabet Hills north of remote Glennallen in Southcentral Alaska on Sunday, 30-year-old Wayne Humbert reached into his pocket and pulled out a yellow, six-ounce, palm-size satellite messaging device called “Spot.”

On its face there were four buttons. A battered Humbert, knowing he and three friends in the airplane now a tangle of metal in the wilderness were in trouble, pressed the one that said “help.”

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Vincent posted this YouTube video on Plastic Pilot which plays the radio interaction when a Lancair Legacy engine fails at high altitude in bad weather over high mountains.

Mark Patey, the pilot wrote:

I couldn’t ask the controllers to tell my wife this or that, heck, it would take a lifetime to say what you would want to say. But maybe, just maybe, if they knew all my actions, they would know, it was just my time. I was going away, calm, still myself, at peace with who I was in life, and in the end, I had done all I could do… Did ATC really need pireps on icing? No, I needed someone to talk to. Did they need to know my window was icing up on the inside? No, they can’t scrub it for me. In life’s emergencies, others can’t do it for you; they can provide direction, some warnings about upcoming obstacles, a calming voice with words of encouragement, and IF we are willing to listen and take action we just might make it. I can think of quite a few Sunday school lessons and analogies that could come from this at this point. Anyway, in the end, it’s up to you to fly the plane. The government, your neighbors, your family and friends, even your flight instructor can’t fly the plane for you and there is only so much time to finish the flight, maybe not even as much time as we think. In the end, did we do all we could do? If so, Someone else will make up the difference! I’m eternally grateful for the fact that I was not alone up there.

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And this just in: Sandown Airport on the Isle of Wight is not closing after all. The airfield was due to close on the 1st of October but according to the County Press Online, there has been a high court injunction preventing Sandown from closing.

Delight at High Court airport order

This week, a high court judge sided with Mr Woodhouse and Mr Williams, who own the surrounding land, as well as the Specialist Flying School, and served an ex-partae high court injunction preventing the airport from being closed for the foreseeable future.
Mr Woodhouse said: “It’s absolutely brilliant the injunction has been served. We applied for the injunction because we had heard the runway was going to be ploughed so it couldn’t be used.
“We have rights on the runway and taxiway and the judge was satisfied with those rights. The airport has to be saved.
“This weekend we have got more than 100 aircraft flying in to show our solidarity. We have got some exciting plans for the future, including an event with vintage cars, stalls and a visit from a parachute team.”

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Via Mikel, I found that the NTSB has completed a preliminary finding regarding the JetBlue A320 that blew out its tyres landing at Sacramento. Their conclusion? The aircraft had its parking brake on for the landing.

WPR10IA430

According to airplane recorded flight data, the parking brake had become engaged during the landing approach approximately 5,100 feet mean sea level, and it remained engaged throughout the landing. During interviews with the flight crew, neither pilot recalled any abnormal indications or warnings associated with the braking system prior to landing.

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I only today started reading the news about the UFO over Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in China. On 7 July, they had to shut down the airport after an unidentified flying object was reported above the runway. This event has dominated the news in China for the past week, with rumours ranging from Chinese military tests to extra-terrestrial visitations to a private small aircraft.

Thaindian.com has been covering the story in detail in English.

Alien object disrupts air traffic in China

An unidentified flying object (UFO) disrupted air traffic over Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang province, authorities said Thursday.
Xiaoshan Airport was closed after the UFO was detected late Wednesday and some flights were rerouted to airports in Ningbo and Wuxi cities, Xinhua quoted an airport spokesman as saying.

UFO Sighting Closes Down Major Airport in China

According to witness accounts and pictures of the object, it was said to have looked like a “twinkling spot” which disappeared very quickly. Stunned witnesses claim to have seen a fiery, comet-like ball in the sky, but airport workers stated that the UFO was only visible on radar and would have been impossible to see with the naked eye.

Just a few hours before the airport closing, however, many residents of Hangzhou claim to have seen a glowing object which was hovering in the sky and making odd movements. A city bus driver by the name of Yu stated that the object moved down toward the ground for about 6 minutes dragging a comet like tail, and then changed direction quickly.

UFO In China Baffles All, Government Stands Clueless

The unidentified flying object sighted on Wednesday in the Chinese skies continues to baffle the officials investigating the case. After the radars picked up the object in their track path, all passengers were stopped from boarding flights. The military officials were also called for assistance by the airport authorities of Xiaoshan airport.

People’s Daily Online originally printed this photograph purportedly of the UFO in their article about the closure: Flights diverted, delayed as UFO detected hovering. You can see the image at full-size in the article.

The video above has been published all over the internet as live footage of the UFO, however it has been confirmed as a video taken earlier of a flying object which has already been identified.

UFO China News : Latest China Xiaoshan Airport UFO Picture // Current

The video footage is actually a “Kazakhstan UFO Video”, which was videotaped over the capital city of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 30th June 2010.

UFO video footage was later on identified as Russian Soyuz rocket which was blasted off on 30th June 2010 carrying a new robotic cargo ship filled with tons of supplies for astronauts living on the International Space Station.

The same site has posted a number of photographs that they believe are legitimately of the UFO over the airport last week. You can see the images full-size on the article: UFO China News : Latest China Xiaoshan Airport UFO Picture // Current

An announcement by the Chinese government is expected today.

UPDATE 23 August

UFO & Paranormal News says that:

One of the heads of China’s famous Purple Mountain Astronomical Observatory, Prof. Wang Sichao, has gone public admitting the UFOs are real and aliens are visiting Earth and that the observatory has observed their craft many times. The admittance of UFO reality was made yesterday within a official speech entitled tellingly ‘China’s UFO truth’… In the event that these aliens do not come in peace, he stressed they are not gods and have flaws and thus we can possibly defend ourselves.

I’ve yet to find a reference to this in English in any journal not specifically focused on extra-terrestrial visitations.

However, a few days ago on the 21st of July, an update to this article was posted:
forgetomori » UFO over Hangzhou, China: a long exposé

Bruce Maccabee takes a look at the photos and confirms that “the images are consistent with being the result of taking nighttime, ‘long’ exposure photographs of a helicopter with a searchlight”. As for what actually caused the airport shutdown, Maccabee is, like Oberg and everyone else, at a loss from the lack of reliable information. “It may have been a ‘military vehicle’ as suggested by recent stories or something else. … We may never know”.

I may not be flying at the moment but Vincent from PlasticPilot and Jason of www.m0a.com are doing astounding things. I’ve mentioned their Flying Across America project before: they’ve teamed up for a flight across the US to promote General Aviation.

We will fly from Daytona Beach, on Florida’s Atlantic coast to Catalina Island, in the Pacific, about 25 miles west of the Californian coastline. Our planned route is Dunnellon – Daytona Beach – Destin – Baton-Rouge – Houston – Sweetwater – El Paso – Prescott – Chino – Santa Catalina

On the way home we’ll fly Whiteman – Santa Maria – Las Vegas – Sedona – Roswell – Georgetown – Lafayette – Pensacola – Daytona Beach – Dunnellon.

We will organize events at our stops to promote General Aviation and pass our message. Contact us if you’re anywhere near one of our stops and want to meet us or help us with local organization.

And the exciting news is they’ve started! They took off from Dunnelon last week and did a videolog recapping the first day:

They are in Houston now and updating Flying Across America as they go. There’s a write-up of each day so you can tag along vicariously and there’s a Facebook page you can follow Flying Across America’s Photos which has dozens of photographs of each day.

Do I even need to mention how insanely jealous I am? But it is so much fun to follow along with all the details. Vincent and Jason are posting a wide range of great content, ranging from planning and weather to flying experiences to photographs from all over the US and visits to interesting museums and air shows.

Here’s my favourite shot from today, Day 4 of their journey:

How can you not love these guys?

I hope they are having a wonderful, wonderful time and I will be following the rest of the trip on the Flying Across America site and the Facebook page.

If you happen to be located at one of their stops, be sure to arrange to meet them – and tell them hello from me!

A collection of aviation news and views that caught my eye this week:

Watching the crash

Me and my mom were in the car waiting at the traffic light on Ingra Street and we heard the plane. “That plane sounds really low,” my mom said. As I agreed with her I saw the plane come over the Ingra House. It clipped the top and then I saw the plane rock back and forth. I looked out the opposite window and it was still shaking. I was thinking “there is no was that this plane is going to go over that small yellow house.” Then, right as I was thinking that, me, my mom, and my brother saw it hit the ground. We all gasped. Right that second my mom pulled out her phone and called 911. As she was calling them, I was also on the phone with my dad. My dad was worried sick. My sister had no clue about this because she was at gymnastics at Arctic Gymnastics.

Kids flying Delta take off from MSP, land in wrong cities | StarTribune.com

Nine-year-old Kieren Kershaw, who was flying from Spokane, Wash., to visit his grandparents, knew something was wrong when he saw an airport sign that said Cleveland. “My mouth dropped open,” he said. I tried to stay calm. I didn’t want to freak out.”

Via The Wings Stayed On!: When Otto Goes Bad…

Acronym list… – PPRuNe Forums

FPL (foolish place to land?)
LARS (Swedish guy?)
GPS – Grown-up’s Playstation System
IFR – I Follow Roads
IMC – I’ve Mucked up and can’t C

BBC News – Frosty welcome for lucky plane stowaway

He survived because the plane flew at a low altitude to avoid stormy weather.

The man apparently got under a fence at Schwechat airport in Vienna and climbed into the undercarriage of the first plane he saw without knowing its destination.

A Closer Look: 747-8F engine damaged in Victorville

7 Videos of Airbus A380 testing

The test program of the Airbus A380 did last for 15 months and was well documented. I picked the best YouTube video for you. You’ll see the Airbus A380 in extreme flight attitudes but also extreme take-offs and landings, plus some destructive tests of engines and brakes…

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Did you know there’s a Facebook fan page for Fear of Landing?

Facebook | Fear of Landing

If you use Facebook, you can “like” the page and you’ll get notifications of the aviation links I post in the right sidebar (no more than one a day) and new posts on this blog. I’ll be adding photographs as well. If there’s something else you think might be fun to include, do let me know!

A collection of aviation links that I honestly shouldn’t be amused by, but I am. Sometimes you just have to laugh.

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JetBlue Pilot Threatens To Crash Plane Leaving From Boston If Girlfriend Doesn’t Reconcile – wbztv.com

The pilot, who has not been identified, was taken into custody at Logan for allegedly sending an email to his girlfriend in which he said if they did not reconcile their relationship, he was going to crash the plane.

The officer was questioned by the FBI at the airport, and taken to a Boston hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

I know it isn’t really funny but the response on PPRuNe was classic:
JetBlue Pilot Threatens To Crash Plane – PPRuNe Forums

The TSA / FAA / Government knee-jerk reaction to this will be great!

“Pilots Banned From Having Significant Others”

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Also found on PPRuNe: Multiple bird strike and how not to handle it:

I was shouting at the computer as I watched this. By the end, I was banging my head against the keyboard. Simply unbelievable.

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Cockpit Conversation: Simple Security

I thought this was clever for straightforward access.

It allows visiting pilots to get into the lounge without fuss while offering a clear signal to non-pilots that this is a restricted area. No, it won’t keep anyone out who seriously wants to get in but stops it from being treated as a free-for-all.

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And this is an oldie but a goodie: Pouring ice tea while flying inverted:

I’ve seen this clip before but it never ceases to make me smile.

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If you are looking for a more serious collection of links, take a look at last week’s post on Golf Hotel Whiskey: Best of the Web.