Category: Accident Reports

Part 2: The Analysis of Southern Airways flight 932

This is a continuation from my post last week on the crash of Southern Airways flight 932. In that post, I stepped through the sequence of events which led to the crash of the charter flight to Huntington Tri-State airport in a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 which killed all 75 on board. The Chairman of the…

Read more… 27 Mar 20

The Crash of Southern Airways flight 932

On the 14th of November in 1970, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashed on final approach to the Huntington Tri-State airport in West Virginia, killing all 75 on board. The aircraft had been chartered as Southern Airways flight 932 to carry the Marshall University Football team, along with their coaches and fans (known as boosters) back…

Read more… 20 Mar 20

Lion Air 610: The Faulty AOA Sensor

Previously, I stepped through the maintenance of the aircraft registered PK-LQP, which was destroyed in the crash of Lion Air flight 610 on the 29th of October 2018. From that post, it is clear that the aircraft was released back into service with a faulty AOA sensor on the left (Captain’s) side. Now I’d like…

Read more… 21 Feb 20

Lionair flight 610 : The Maintenance

One of the aspects of Lion Air flight 610 has been the quality of the maintenance. It is clear, now, that intermittent problems related to the air data system had been logged and clearly had not been resolved in a satisfactory manner. I have been wanting to do a deeper analysis of the various aspects…

Read more… 3 Jan 20

When Pre-Flight Prep Becomes Criminal

The accident took place on the 9th of September 2017 shortly after take-off from Manchester City Airport, a municipal airfield near the Manchester Ship Canal in the north of England. Manchester City Airport opened in 1930 and has not changed much since then: the control tower, terminal building and hangar are all the original buildings…

Read more… 1 Nov 19

Misdiagnosis: Convair Crash at Wonderboom (part 2)

Last week, we went through the flight and crash of a Convair 340/440 at Wonderboom Airport in Pretoria. As a quick recap, as the Convair rotated the left engine caught fire. The flight crew declared an emergency but they lost control of the aircraft while still turning back as the fire melted through the aileron…

Read more… 11 Oct 19

Accident Reports

Final Report: Convair Crash at Wonderboom, Pretoria

Last year, I wrote about the fatal Convair Crash at Pretoria which took place in June 2018. The final report came out in August which gives a lot more information…

NTSB Summary: Assumptions Can Be Fatal

Yesterday the NTSB released a Safety Recommendation Report regarding the recent Boeing 737 MAX crashes and subsequent grounding of the aircraft. I am particularly interested in this report in the…

Demystifying

"N28V, I need your call sign, please."

This general aviation accident didn’t happen on the 27th of April 2017, although I think you’ll agree with me that it was a near thing. The aircraft, a 1964 Mooney…

Aviation Airspeed Guide

Just a quick one today but I really liked this guide to the airspeed indicator which was published to r/aviation. The thread has ended up in an interesting discussion about…

History

Flight 19: The Point of No Return

I was interviewed about Flight 19 for a documentary recently and although I’ve limited the details of the experience to supporters of my personal Patreon (for travel writing and essays),…

Wingless Flight in the M2-F1

Sometimes, the most interesting aircraft are the experimental ones that barely made it off the ground. Sometimes the most intriguing stories come out of things I don’t understand. ​ I…

Fun Stuff

Toddler Overboard and other aviation videos

I’ve got quite a collection of interesting videos building up so it’s past time for me to share them! These are not all brand new but new to me and…

Top Ten Posts of 2019

Next week we’ll be starting on a detailed look at Lion Air flight 610 but first, to celebrate the end of 2019, I want to share the most popular posts…