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Three Cheeseburgers and a Rental Car
Aircraft hijacks are pretty rare since airport security started checking bags before allowing them on the flight. However, I was intrigued by the story of Glenn Kurt Tripp who appeared to attempt a DB Cooper style hijack in 1980 and then again in 1983, at the end of which he was shot and killed by…
Read more… 26 Jul 19
Human Factors Breakdown: C-17 Crash at Elmendorf
Last week, we looked at a fatal C-17 accident at Elmendorf in 2010. I now want to focus on the analysis of the situation leading up to the stall. It’s clear that the flight crew did not react to the warning signs as they attempted their manoeuvres at low altitude without reaching their target airspeed.…
Read more… 19 Jul 19
Dangerous Aerobatics : C-17 crash at Elmendorf (2010)
In 2010, a US Air Force transport plane crashed just one minute after take-off while practising for the Arctic Thunder Air Show at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, a large military transport aircraft, was being flown by a highly qualified commander and three crew members, all of whom…
Read more… 12 Jul 19
Passenger-Related Safety Hazards
The ASRS Directline was the NASA publication for the Aviation Safety Reporting System which sadly is no longer producing articles but I’m pleased that they have offered me permission to reprint some of the best ones. I hope that you will enjoy this article from the ASRS Directline as much as I did. Passenger-Related Safety…
Read more… 5 Jul 19
It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s a car-plane!
This photograph was posted on Reddit and I immediately fell in love. Isn’t it fantastic? And the comments on the Reddit thread made me smile as well. This is like cartoon in real life. Only lacks fluffy clouds and smiling sun in the background. Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could that they…
Read more… 28 Jun 19
ATC controller keeps cool: “That was a really bad experience.”
William and Cecilia Reid were travelling from their home in Clarksburg, West Virginia to Lake Placid New York in their Beechcraft Debonaire in order to visit family. It was the 1st of October 2016. They were climbing to 9,000 feet when something when something went terribly wrong. Cleveland Center suddenly got the following blood-chilling call.…
Read more… 21 Jun 19
Accident Analysis
Ferry Tank Failure: Successful SR22 Ditching in the Pacific
In 2015, I shared a video of an SR22 whose pilot successfully deployed his Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) off of the coast of Maui, Hawai’i. I wrote at the time…
The Man in the Right Seat at Prestwick
On the 23rd of April 2024, a Piper Archer II crashed in South Ayrshire, Scotland, after losing power. There were two on board. Both suffered serious injuries and the light…
Demystifying
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,…
Meowing on Guard (an attempt at an explanation)
Last week a video went viral and it’s been fun to see the mainstream media coverage try to cover two pilots who were heard making animal noises on the radio. …
History
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…
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…
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…
