Category: Accident Reports –  Page 3

When Technology Fails: An Airbus A319’s Mid-Air Mystery

On the 6th of August 2021, an Airbus A319-131, registration G-DBCF, departed from Edinburgh for a scheduled passenger flight to London Heathrow. There were 101 passengers and five crew on board. The captain had over 16,000 flying hours, with 4,476 on type, and was the Pilot Flying. As the aircraft picked up speed for departure…

Read more… 31 Mar 23

The BEA Weighs In: Ethiopian Airlines flight 302

In March 2019, the Ethiopian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (EAIB) requested that the French Bureau d’enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) support their investigation into the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302. Specifically, they asked the BEA to recover the data from the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder recovered from the wreckage and offer their…

Read more… 24 Feb 23

The faulty AOA sensor on Ethiopian flight 302

The NTSB report submitted in response to the third draft covers two areas: Airframe/Systems and Operational and Human Factors. Today, I’m going to focus on the airframes and systems. The BEA report will give us more insight into the Operational and Human Factors, as it is based on their analysis of the Cockpit Voice Recording.…

Read more… 3 Feb 23

No one noticed it was missing: 1971 Super Cub crash

Lasham Aerodrome in Hampshire, England, was built in 1942 and used as a base for the RAF Fighter Command. After the war, it became the home of the Army Gliding Club. That year, the Surrey Gliding Club and the Imperial College Gliding Club also moved to Lasham, as their aerodromes were becoming too busy for…

Read more… 9 Dec 22

Air Astana Out Of Control (KC1833 in 2018)

On the 11th of November 2018, an Air Astana aircraft departed from Alverca airbase in Portugal as Air Astana flight KC1833, after undergoing heavy maintenance. The aircraft was an Embraer E190-100LR registered in Aruba as P4-KCJ. This was a positioning flight from Alverca (LPAR), where the maintenance had been done, to Minsk (UUMS). There were…

Read more… 25 Nov 22

Taking Off In The Dark

On the 27th of July 2021, an Airbus A320, registration 9V-JSM, was scheduled for a passenger flight from Changi Airport in Singapore to Jakarta, Indonesia. Changi Airport started operation in 1981 with just one terminal and one runway. Now, it is one of the largest transportation hubs in Asia with three runways and four terminals.…

Read more… 29 Jul 22

Accident Reports

Unravelling the 2010 Widerøe incident at Svolvær

You may remember this 2010 incident from Aviation Herald’s great reporting which led to international attention to the case. I wrote about Aviation Herald’s work on this in: 83ft above…

The Illusion of a Perfect Landing

On the 6th of February 2010, at about half past four in the afternoon, an SAS flight took off from Copenhagen Airport for a short flight to France. Amazingly, everyone…

Demystifying

Descending into Illusion: The Black Hole Effect

With no moon or city lights to guide you, the runway lights up ahead should be a beacon of safety. However, it might be a trap known as the black…

Sharing a Runway: Fed Ex vs Southwest at Austin

On Monday, two commercial aircraft had a near-miss on the runway at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas. The airport at Austin has two parallel concrete runways which run north-to-south: 18L/36R…

History

The Wright brothers and the dream of flying

I’ve lost most of the day to unexpected research and one of the fascinating items that I discovered was the Air Force Historical Research Agency and their amazing photo collection.…

The Tragic Story of Submarine M-200 Myest

On the 21st of November 1956, the M-200 Myest (Месть, meaning vengeance or revenge) collided with a Russian destroyer and sunk to the bottom of the Baltic. The M-200 Myest…

Fun Stuff

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…

Flying Fails and Airshow Considerations

Long-term readings of Fear of Landing know that my favourite aerobatics show of all time is Kyle Franklin’s Ben Whabnoski Comedy act. Just in case some of you haven’t seen…