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Another Angle of Drunk Stealing Plane at Airshow
This is one of my favourite videos ever. I originally posted it in 2009, before YouTube had discovered Kyle Franklin and his flying: There’s a few versions of the Drunken Pilot routine on YouTube now and it remains an airshow favourite. But at the Robins Airshow at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, Kyle came…
Read more… 27 Mar 15
Lightning Strike and Loss of Control: AAIB special report
With the loss of AirAsia flight QZ8501, a lot of attention has been focused on thunderstorms and their effects. I was quoted on the BBC talking about storms shortly after the accident. BBC News – AirAsia QZ8501: Does bad weather cause plane crashes? But it’s very rare for the weather alone to cause airliners to…
Read more… 20 Mar 15
The Mystery of Pan Am flight 7
Pan Am trip number 7 was an around-the-world flight which disappeared at sea, never to be recovered or understood. The aircraft was Pan Am ship #944 (registration N90944), a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser Romance of the Skies. The Stratocruiser was “the ocean liner of the air” with Pullman-style sleeping berths, reclining seats with 60 inches of…
Read more… 13 Mar 15
An Unexpected Primer on Aviation Radio
I’ve been waylaid by an unexpected birthday party! It’s hard to complain about such a lovely thing. So here’s something from the archives: a 2008 post about Air Traffic Service Units in the UK and my native ability to talk too much. I’m on my way to Paris (!!!) but I’ll be back with fresh…
Read more… 6 Mar 15
Pretty Crazy Actually: Debunking the Latest MH370 Solution
So all week, people have been forwarding me Jeff Wise’s piece from New York Magazine in which he comes up with a “new” theory that explains everything about why we can’t find Malaysia Airlines flight 370. How Crazy Am I to Think I Know Where MH370 Is? — NYMag Obviously, I immediately read it with…
Read more… 27 Feb 15
NTSB Open Docket of Bagram Cargo Crash Documents
The chilling video of a Boeing 747 crashing on take-off from Bagram Afghanistan meant that this tragic accident from April 2013 made headline news. This is the dashcam video of the aircraft’s take off. Please note that it shows the actual impact and may be disturbing. The Ministry of Transportation and Commercial Aviation in Afghanistan…
Read more… 20 Feb 15
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…
