On the 3rd of March 2023, a passenger in a private jet died after severe injuries in the cabin, which were originally reported as caused by severe turbulence. This was quickly picked up by the mainstream media and, for the next few weeks, news and oped articles focused on the ongoing issues of changing weather…
Read more… 9 May 25
On the 19th of January 2025, a Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter registered as ZS-RJC departed Chief Dawid Stuurman Aerodrome (formerly Port Elizabeth Airport) in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. The R44 is a four-seat helicopter certified for visual flight rules (VFR) operations only. The pilot held a Commercial Pilot’s Licence and had 1,650 flight…
Read more… 2 May 25
Last week I wrote about the Fokker F27 mk 500 Friendship that came off the runway at take-off at Bournemouth Airport. Rudy commented on his experience flying the F27 in the comments of that post. The F27 was still a very reliable workhorse when I flew it. In widespread use as a cargo aircraft, they…
Read more… 18 Apr 25
The flight crew reported for duty at Bournemouth Airport at 3am on Friday the 7th of May 2004. They were flying a thirty-three-year-old Fokker F27 Mark 500, registered in the UK as G-CEXG, to the island of Jersey and back. The Fokker F27 Friendship was designed as a successor to the DC-3, which had been…
Read more… 11 Apr 25
Leeds Bradford Airport in England, perched on a windy hilltop, is known for its challenging conditions. But even by Leeds standards, the conditions on the 20th of October 2023 were rough, as Storm Babet battered the British Isles with high winds and heavy rain. The thirteen-year-old Boeing 737-8KS registered in the UK as G-TAWD started…
Read more… 7 Feb 25
Last year, I wrote about a Cessna 210 which suffered an engine failure while downwind at Bankstown Airport in New South Wales, Australia. I’ll quickly recap the controller and pilot interactions from the event which was the main information that we had. At the time, I wrote that the pilot and one passenger were on…
Read more… 24 Jan 25
It was a quiet winter evening in the English village of Cley next the Sea, population 400. 2014 was just one week old and everyone was just getting back into…
Last week, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission, formed by the Government of Nepal to investigate the accident of 9N-AME on the 24th of July 2024, released their final report. There’s…
This is not an article that I ever thought I would feel compelled to write! However, given the confusion over a photograph chosen in a regional English paper, apparently it’s…
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…
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…
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.…
It seems like a good time for a bit of lightness as a break from fatal crashes. Luckily, I have just the thing: some reader contributions along with a personal…
I’m here, defeated but not yet horizontal, the victim of a relentless summer cold that feels like the universe’s revenge for something I can’t even remember. If I don’t make…