Category: Accidents and Incidents
“Totally a visibility issue.”
On Sunday, the 27th of November 2022, a single-engine aircraft made national US news when it crashed through power lines in Gaithersburg, Maryland, coming to rest on a lattice tower. I wrote about the incident at the time as Mooney crashes into power lines but that piece was focused on the crash and the rescue.…
Read more… 6 Dec 24
A Concorde Close Call — Not!
One of the great things about doing a month of guest posts is that I get to talk to interesting people and ask if I can share their work with you. Mike Riley is the perfect example. Mike Riley went from soloing a glider at 16 to flying the Concorde until his retirement in 1997.…
Read more… 29 Nov 24
Catalina Night Departure: NTSB Preliminary Report Released
On the 8th of October 2024, a Beechcraft Baron crashed shortly after taking off from Catalina Airport at night, killing all five occupants. I wrote about it on the 18th: Night Flight from Catalina: Beechcraft Baron Incident but here’s a quick recap. Earlier that day, three people from a Santa Monica flight school had flown…
Read more… 8 Nov 24
Night Flight from Catalina: Beechcraft Baron Incident
On the 8th of October 2024, a Piper Arrow departed from Santa Monica Airport in Southern California, landing at Catalina Airport, the small airport in the centre of Santa Catalina Island. Catalina Island is a small rocky island with rough terrain about 25 miles off of the coast of Los Angeles. The islands there are…
Read more… 18 Oct 24
Overrun in Ireland
On the 19th of February 2023, a private pilot arranged to meet with a flight instructor at Birr Airfield to fly a Cessna 172 Skyhawk. That morning, the flight instructor arrived early. He was rostered to do a local flight with a new club member. He held his commercial licence but was presumably new to…
Read more… 4 Oct 24
Rotation Gone Wrong: The Critical Error Behind LATAM’s Milan Tail Strike
On the 9th of July 2024, flight LA8073, operated by the Chilean airline LATAM, departed from Milano Malpensa for a passenger flight to São Paulo, Brazil. However, during the take-off run the “back end suddenly dropped after an apparent malfunction”, as Italian newspaper Corriere delle Serra described it. I still can’t watch the video without…
Read more… 27 Sep 24
Accident Reports
Icing, Systems, and Human Factors: Preliminary Findings on Voepass flight 2283
On the 9th of August 2024 at 16:22, Voepass flight 2283, a scheduled flight from Cascavel, Paraná, to Guarulhos, São Paulo entered a flat spin and crashed into a residential…
A Perfect Day to Fly: The Tragic Story of the EAA AirVenture 2023 Midair Collision
In 2023, the annual EAA AirVenture airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin was marred by a tragic mid-air collision. The EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) is an aviation organisation which has hosted fly-ins…
Demystifying
How to tell an F-16 Fighting Falcon from a Eurofighter Typhoon
There are a number of reasons why you might need to quickly point out the differences between a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and a Eurofighter EF2000 Typhoon. You might…
Extreme Turbulence in Singapore Airlines flight 321
A few days ago (21st of May 2024), Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 encountered heavy turbulence on a passenger flight from London-Heathrow to Singapore. There were 229 on board, including eighteen…
History
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…
The Disappearance of the Hawaii Clipper May Not Be as Mysterious as Was Thought
This week, we have a guest post by J.B. Rivard who wrote an article for the American Aviation Historical Society (AAHS) and used one of my articles as a reference.…
Fun Stuff
Terminally Early: The Berlin Viewing Platform
Mistakes were made. All of them were mine. Before I left for Dresden, I planned out my full itinerary. Berlin is a much busier airport than Tallinn, so I needed…
A Few Good Stories
I’m in Dresden at the moment and I’m afraid I haven’t had a free moment to write you a new article. Luckily, lots of other people are on the internet…
Gene on “Totally a visibility issue.”Speaking of loss of visibility, JPL has announced the result of the investigation of the Mars helicopter crash (there's a…
Chris on “Totally a visibility issue.”I wonder if any of those affected by the power cut especially businesses sued the pilot. Even the power company…
Jack Nickolaisen on Catalina Night Departure: NTSB Preliminary Report ReleasedStrange incident at best. I fly out of that airport regularly and what happened doesn't make much sense. many pilots…
Mendel on “Totally a visibility issue.”LPV is basically RNAV on steroids: in addition to GPS, the aircraft has a SBAS receiver (Satellite Based Augmentation System)…
Rudy Jakma on “Totally a visibility issue.”Sylvia, yes your attempt to be funny resulted in a bit of a "Faux pas". But it is minor, certainly…
CHip on “Totally a visibility issue.”“The possibility of diverting the flight to another airport always exists… it’s extremely inconvenient to everybody on the ground.” Getthereitis…