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Just Being Helpful
Cliff taxied the plane over to the pumps and I hopped out to get us some fuel. “I’ll get out in a moment,” Cliff said. “I just want to put our route into the GPS first.” “No problem.” I walked over to the tiny booth behind the pumps and tapped at the door. A pale…
Read more… 19 Sep 08
Travel Photographs
We arrived home yesterday after a lovely trip getting caught up with everyone. We went to England to drop Connor off at school (*sniffle*) and to see Cliff’s mum then on to Strasbourg to check out Tony’s new digs, from there a quick jaunt to Mannheim to visit with my grandmother and then last night…
Read more… 13 Sep 08
Old Town Churchyard
The following morning, we left our hotel to do some exploring. Our hotel was in Hugh Town, known locally as just the Town. ‘The Town’ has a feeling unlike any other part of Scilly – built-up and almost urbanised. But there is usually a friendly feel to the place with people stopping in the street…
Read more… 5 Sep 08
Flying to the Isles of Scilly
I took my time arranging the next island trip. After arriving home from the Channel Islands, Anne had suffered a heart attack. I felt guilty at my immediate reaction: thank God it didn’t happen in the plane! I knew she was feeling better when she started nagging me about our next trip. Which island and…
Read more… 29 Aug 08
In the News
August is a busy time in general aviation so I suppose it’s not surprising that it is also a time of many accidents. However, the amount of small planes in the news this past week has seemed excessive. These three stories made the international press: the first resulted in five fatalities and thankfully the other…
Read more… 22 Aug 08
Short-Field Circuits
I loved the idea of landing at every one of the British Isles from the moment my boyfriend set me the challenge. One of the key reasons was that these islands have some of the most interesting airfields I would ever come across. St. Mary’s airfield was no exception to this. At 600 metres, it…
Read more… 15 Aug 08
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…
