Category: Fun Stuff –  Page 3

The History Listen

I was on the radio on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in a show called The History Listen. They asked me to tell them about a famous story in Australian and aviation history, when Ivan Smirnov crashlanded on the coast of northwest Australia, losing a cigar box of diamonds in the process. The recording was done…

Read more… 22 Jan 21

Jetpacks and Wingwalking: 2020 keeps getting weirder

Twenty-twenty was always an interesting sounding year, popular with futurists and science fiction writers for having something of a ring to it, a year in which clean fuel and commercial space travel and Jetson-style jetpacks could be a reality. Well, we might have been right about one of them. Last week, Fox 11 broke the…

Read more… 4 Sep 20

Microsoft Flight Simulator: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Microsoft Flight Simulator has released a new version, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, fourteen years after the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator X. The timing couldn’t be better, of course, with millions of people around the world unable to travel and desperate to feel that they can see the world. The original flight simulator took form…

Read more… 28 Aug 20

Beechcraft Baron final “flight”

New ride opens at Blackpool pic.twitter.com/LWwG95Gj6P — Andrew Hodgson (@Hoddy1982) May 2, 2020 My friend Rob sent me a link to this with a note that said simply, “I have questions.” Not everyone can see the video on the tweet, so here’s a high-res version of the video that the tweet is based on —…

Read more… 29 May 20

Toddler Overboard and other aviation videos

I’ve got quite a collection of interesting videos building up so it’s past time for me to share them! These are not all brand new but new to me and I think interesting! Note that if you are on the mailing list, you may need to click through to the website to watch them. AOPA…

Read more… 6 Mar 20

Top Ten Posts of 2019

Next week we’ll be starting on a detailed look at Lion Air flight 610 but first, to celebrate the end of 2019, I want to share the most popular posts of the year. Most of these are older posts and in fact only one of them was written this year, which makes me worry that…

Read more… 27 Dec 19

Accident Reports

CRJ 200 ferry flight crash with 19 on board at Kathmandu

Last week, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission, formed by the Government of Nepal to investigate the accident of 9N-AME on the 24th of July 2024, released their final report. There’s…

Air India 171 Crash Triggered by Fuel Cutoff

On the 12th of June 2025, a Boeing 787-8, registered in India as VT-ANB, was operating as flight Air India 171 for a passenger flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick.…

Demystifying

How to tell a Russian Su-27 from a British Typhoon

This is not an article that I ever thought I would feel compelled to write! However, given the confusion over a photograph chosen in a regional English paper, apparently it’s…

How to tell an F-16 Fighting Falcon from a Eurofighter Typhoon

There are a number of reasons why you might need to quickly point out the differences between a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and a Eurofighter EF2000 Typhoon. You might…

History

Gladys Ingle Inflight Wheel Change: Emergency Action or Stunt?

This video of a mid-air wheel exchange goes viral once a year or so, but I never get tired of watching it. Last week, it showed up on Reddit and…

The Disappearance of the Hawaii Clipper May Not Be as Mysterious as Was Thought

This week, we have a guest post by J.B. Rivard who wrote an article for the American Aviation Historical Society (AAHS) and used one of my articles as a reference.…

Fun Stuff

How the B-52 Lands in Crosswinds

I’m here, defeated but not yet horizontal, the victim of a relentless summer cold that feels like the universe’s revenge for something I can’t even remember. If I don’t make…

Friday Lightness: A Short Respite from Crash Reports

It seems a good time for something a bit more lighthearted. After weeks of analyzing serious incidents and technical failures, I thought I could a moment to appreciate aviation humuor…