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Cabri G2 crash at Gruyére

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On the afternoon of the 15th of June 2022, a light helicopter crashed near Gruyère Aérodrome in Switzerland. The Cabri G2, produced by Hélicoptères Guimbal, is a two-seater helicopter powered by a reciprocating (piston) engine. The helicopter, built in 2013, was owned and operated by Swiss Helicopter AG under the registration HB-ZDQ. The first two…

Read more… 5 Aug 22

Taking Off In The Dark

On the 27th of July 2021, an Airbus A320, registration 9V-JSM, was scheduled for a passenger flight from Changi Airport in Singapore to Jakarta, Indonesia. Changi Airport started operation in 1981 with just one terminal and one runway. Now, it is one of the largest transportation hubs in Asia with three runways and four terminals.…

Read more… 29 Jul 22

MV-22B Osprey crash onto side of USS Green Bay

On the 5th of August 2017, an MV-22B Osprey crashed while on a routine training mission off the coast of Rockhampton in Queensland, Australia. The crash resulted in three deaths, 23 injured and the total loss of the aircraft. The US Marines were part of a greater simulation, including an embassy reinforcement mission. The crew…

Read more… 22 Jul 22

Airbus Flying Too Close To The Ground

On the 23rd of May 2022, an Airbus A320, registration 9H-EMU, departed Stockholm Arlanda airport bound for Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport as flight NSZ 4311. There were six crew and 172 passengers on board. The captain was the Pilot Flying and the first officer was the Pilot Monitoring. The initial flight was uneventful. The flight…

Read more… 15 Jul 22

President’s Award 2021, Archie League Medal of Safety

Every year, I look forward to the Archie League Medal of Safety Awards, an annual event to honour exceptional air traffic controller work in the previous year. In the past, I have collected the information and written about the event; this year, I’m happy to see that NATCA has written a great narrative that I’m…

Read more… 8 Jul 22

Twin Pioneer Down in Libya: Structural Failure in 1956

On the 7th of December 1957, a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer 1, registration G-AOEO, departed an airstrip at Anshan in Libya for a routine flight to Tripoli-Idris Airport. There were two crew and four passengers on board, including David McKintyre, the co-founder of Scottish Aviation Limited. They never arrived. The Twin Pioneer was the most…

Read more… 1 Jul 22

Accident Reports

Bird Opens Cargo Door on A320

On the 20th of June in 2011, an Airbus A320-212, registration CS-TKJ, taxied to runway 05 at Aeroporto de Madeira for a scheduled morning flight from Funchal to Copenhagen with…

Alitalia flight 404: The result of a dozen small decisions

Last week, we looked at the key events that led to the Alitalia flight 404 crash. A few points from the previous post: Maintenance replaced both radio receivers in the…

Demystifying

I am a teapot

A reader contacted me to ask about a missing flight 404; they had heard on a trivia podcast that the original computer error message 404 was based on two flights…

The Legend of the Ghost of Kyiv

On the 25th of February 2022, Plane & Pilot magazine shared a video of the “Ghost of Kyiv” overflying Kyiv in a Ukrainian MiG-29. An unnamed Ukrainian fighter pilot shot…

History

Avro York Runway Excursion at Stansted

While researching another subject, I discovered this accident report from 1956 which I just had to share with you. Normally, an aviation accident investigation is done by a group of…

Amazing Aerial View of Edinburgh

When I first saw this image, I assumed it was result of modern image manipulations, maybe even the poster for a film. It was too perfect and too modern to…

Fun Stuff

Funniest Thing You've Heard On the Radio

I’ve been struggling this week and was just panicking that I would not have a post finished in time for you for today when I discovered that Reddit had saved…

A Little Bit of Everything

There’s so much great aviation writing and video out there and I’m always appreciative when people send me fun things; it seems a shame not to share them! So here’s…