Human Factors: an airworthy aircraft involved in an accident caused by decisions taken by people. The pilot in command, in the end, is held responsible, whether the errors in question are latent or active. The pilot in command carries the final decision over the safety of the flight and the landing. Statistically, we distinguish between…
Read more… 7 Jan 11
On the 30th of March 2008 a Cessna Citation 500 took off from Biggin Hill. Shortly after take-off, one of the pilots reported engine vibration and declared their intent to return to Biggin Hill. They never made it to the airfield. The Citation crashed into a house and the two pilots and three passengers died…
Read more… 1 Oct 10
Mike Newman was piloting a glider at the Shoreham Airshow last weekend when the unthinkable happened: he crashed the glider in front of his audience while in the circuit to land. Shoreham air show crash pilot escapes as stunt glider smashes into runway | Mail Online This is the moment when a stunt glider slammed…
Read more… 17 Sep 10
39 years ago on the 4th of September 1971, Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashed on approach to Juneau, Alaska. The Boeing 727, carrying 104 passengers and 7 crew members, flew into the Chilkat Mountain range. There were no survivors. Aircraft Accident Report, Alaska Airlines, Inc. Boeing 727, N2969G The flight had been cleared for a…
Read more… 3 Sep 10
On the 23rd of July 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 ran out of fuel at FL410 – 26,000 feet halfway through a 2,829 kilometre (1,768 mile) flight from Montreal to Edmonton. The Boeing 767-200 carrying 61 passengers managed to glide to safety to the Gimli Industrial Park Airport in Manitoba, a Canadian prairie province. What…
Read more… 23 Jul 10
I was talking to someone about the Northwest Flight 188 – the one where both pilots somehow managed to get so distracted that they missed their destination and did not respond for over an hour. I expressed some indignation that the FAA had revoked the licences of both pilots without waiting for the NTSB report.…
Read more… 5 Mar 10
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…