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Landing on the Beach – Destination Barra
One of my Things to Do Before I Die is to fly to every possible island in the British Isles. I have identified 38 islands with usable runways within the geographical British Isles, from Jersey off the coast of France to the icy Faroes, located halfway between Iceland and Norway. Ireland and the Aran Islands…
Read more… 6 Jul 12
Clyde Cessna: Changing the World of Aviation
This week’s post is an account of Clyde Cessna and the early days of the Cessna Aircraft Company which was written by Dana Rasmussen, a friend of mine who works for Jet Charters. It’s a fascinating story which I’m sure you will enjoy. Before the turn of the 20th century, a young boy living on…
Read more… 29 Jun 12
Lost Hydraulics, Fuselage Collapse, Aircraft Falling to the Ground
Lots of interesting plane incidents in the news this week so rather than pick just one subject, I’ve created a selection for you to view. AVweb have posted the audio and flight path information for JetBlue flight 194 which lost hydraulic systems and declared an emergency last week. JetBlue Flight 194: “We’ve Lost Two Hydraulic…
Read more… 22 Jun 12
Do You Listen to ATC if They Tell You the Weather Ahead is Bad?
One of my pleasures on a Friday morning is to read the posts in Professional Pilots Rumour Network (known as PPRuNe for short) and this morning was no exception. I was intrigued by a post by a Scottish controller asking a question of the Private Flying forum. I recognised the name as a regular poster;…
Read more… 15 Jun 12
“A Unique Occurrence” – Turning an Incident into a Crisis
In the evening of 6 June 2010 a Boeing 737-4B6 of Royal Air Maroc was en route from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to its destination of Nador International Airport in Morocco. Flight AT-685 had 156 passengers and four crew members on board. The captain was Pilot Flying, first officer was Pilot Monitoring. Timestamps and actions are…
Read more… 8 Jun 12
Pat Flannigan Looks at Manoeuvring Speed
Pat Flannigan over at Aviation Chatter has created an interesting series of posts on manoeuvring speed and weight. Why Does Maneuvering Speed Increase With Weight? Aircraft maneuvering speed, increases as the airplane gets heavier. It’s a simple fact that most pilots are either blissfully unaware or simply take for granted, and I’ve honestly never given…
Read more… 1 Jun 12
Accident Analysis
Fatal SR22 Stall on Final at Barwick LaFayette
On the 20th of March, 2025, a Cirrus SR22 crashed in LaFayette, Georgia during an instructional flight, killing both the pilot and the flight instructor. It was a good flying…
There Is a Parachutist in Front of You
On the 15th of June 2023, a light aircraft crashed into the runway at Aversi private airfield in Denmark. The aircraft, registered in Germany as D-EPRR, was a Cessna TU206G…
Demystifying
Someone has to write the TAF
It turns out that there a person sitting there deciding what the weather is going to do. Which seems obvious, except that I had somehow never asked msyelf who “someone”…
The Pilots, the Probes, and the AF447 Verdict
On the 21st of May 2026, the Paris Court of Appeal convicted Airbus and Air France of involuntary manslaughter for their roles in the crash of Air France flight 447,…
History
The CIA's Shark Screen
Today we have a guest post from the CIA! In their archives, researching something completely different, I found the answer to a question I never thought to ask. I immediately…
The First Jet to Land on an Aircraft Carrier (Deliberately)
“The Vampire was the first jet to land on a moving aircraft carrier deliberately.” This quote from Airshow Luke, our MC at the Legacy of Liberty airshow, made me almost…
Fun Stuff
Petrified, Petrified, Petrified
There’s been some interesting reporting in the UK media about a “near disaster” over Canary Wharf involving the captain having to intervene (the horror!) after air data systems failed on…
Aviation Stories You Might Have Missed
I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season. This week, I’ve put together a compilation of interesting items in the press that you might have missed while enjoying…
