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A Very Merry Christmas
It’s Christmas day and I’m taking the day off! Wishing everyone one of you all the best at the end of 2020 (thank goodness!) and hoping for a much improved 2021! Here are some pieces I found online, just because I can’t bear to leave you without something to read: A B-17 deployed to drop…
Read more… 25 Dec 20
ICON A5 mountain crash
On the 8th of May 2017, an ICON A5 aircraft crashed into Lake Berryessa, California, after attempting to turn away from rising terrain. The pilot was an engineer and test pilot for ICON aircraft and very experienced. He and his passenger were killed on impact. It’s a relatively familiar mountain-flying story, an aircraft boxed in…
Read more… 18 Dec 20
A Plague of Locusts
On the 9th of January 2020, Ethiopian Airlines flight 363 was on approach to Dire Dawa Airport. The aircraft was a Boeing B737-700 (registration ET-ALN) on a 30-minute domestic passenger flight from Djibouti to Dire Dawa in Ethiopia. It should have been routine; however January 2020 was the start of what has turned out to…
Read more… 11 Dec 20
Explosive Decompression on the Ground
The Gulfstream G150, a twin-engine business jet, arrived at Kittilä airport in Lapland on a cold Tuesday afternoon on the 2nd of January 2018, carrying three crew and four passengers. It was snowing and the temperature was around -5°C (23°F). Normally the aircraft was kept in a hangar if available, however, this wasn’t possible at…
Read more… 4 Dec 20
Small Plane Gets Stoned
This photograph has been posted to aviation forums repeatedly, each time with a thread of pilots wondering what the hell could have happened to cause the light aircraft to be smashed with a large rock? I have to admit, I presumed some sort of airfield accident when the plane was parked but, until I saw…
Read more… 27 Nov 20
Instructor Unconscious During Student Flight
This is a happy-ending story of an Australian student suddenly finding himself in command of the training aircraft. He had less than three hours flying experience and this was his first time in a Cessna 152, a single-engine light aircraft popular with flight schools for training. That day, his instructor took him flying in the…
Read more… 20 Nov 20
Accident Reports
TNflygirl and the Beech Debonair
On the 7th of December 2023, a Beech 35-C33 Debonair crashed into terrain. The private pilot and the passenger, the pilot’s father, were both killed on impact. The private flight…
At All Costs
On the 11th of December 2024, the passenger in the right seat of a 1973 Grumman AA-5 was recording a video as they approached Pearland Regional Airport in Texas. The…
Demystifying
Trump Threatens to Ground Canadian Aircraft Over Gulfstream Certification
The US President, Donald Trump, posted the following to Truth Social last night. Based on the fact that Canada has wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly refused to certify the Gulfstream 500,…
Another quick round of questions and answers
It’s time for another Questions and Answers session. I started this series a few years back, when a reader asked if there was a way to pose aviation questions outside…
History
Four Point Two Stars Where You Only Stop If You Have To
I always look up airports when I’m writing about them, partly out of habit and partly because I’m afraid I’ll miss an important detail. When I was writing Any Landing…
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…
Fun Stuff
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…
Nathan Pyle Strange Worlds
Thank you so much for all the kind words. I don’t quite have the wherewithal to respond to each of you individually but I very much appreciate all of you…
