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. The aircraft was a Mooney M20J 201, a popular fast aircraft whose designation of “201” is based on 201 miles per hour: the J model’s…
Read more… 2 Dec 22
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
This heartbreaking video is from the tragic midair collision at Wings Over Dallas. The Boeing B-17, known as the Flying Fortress, is a World War II bomber designed by Boeing in response to a US Air Corps interest in a multi-engine bomber which could carry a “useful bombload at 10,000 feet for ten hours with…
Read more… 18 Nov 22
On the 15th of July 2022, an officer of the Missouri State Highway Patrol arrested a man for driving while intoxicated on the westbound Interstate 70 at 3 in the morning. This is relevant to us because the man was “driving” a single-engine aircraft, a Piper Warrior II. The Piper Warrior was a popular successor…
Read more… 4 Nov 22
Yesterday, the 27th of October 2022, a tragic crash of a firefighting aircraft was caught on film in Italy. The aircraft was a Canadair CL-215-6B11, generally referred to as a CL-415, registered in Italy as I-DPCN. The Canadair CL-415 is a variant of the CL-215, a type of amphibious aircraft designed and built by Canadair.…
Read more… 28 Oct 22
On the 27th of May 2022, an Airbus A350-941, registered in Singapore as 9V-SHH, was being prepared for scheduled passenger flight SQ256 from Brisbane, Australia to Changi Airport, Singapore. An engineering maintenance contractor at Brisbane providing Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) services was tasked with the maintenance, certification and dispatch required for the A350 during…
Read more… 21 Oct 22
Any Landing You Can Float Away From: Successful Ditching in the Arctic
On the 29th of July 2024, a light aircraft encountered engine trouble off the coast of Greenland and was forced to ditch in the North Atlantic. The aircraft was a…
Bomber 139's Third Run: What the Investigation Found
In order to follow this analysis, you’ll need to have the details of the flight and the crash from last week’s article about the flight. When we last saw Bomber…
Another quick round of questions and answers
It’s time for another Questions and Answers session. I started this series a few years back, when a reader asked if there was a way to pose aviation questions outside…
Durga Puja Pandal Shows Air India Flight 171 Crash
The following video from a religious festival in West Bengal, India, has caught a lot of social media attention. It shows a detailed representation of an Air India Boeing Dreamliner…
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.…
Aviation Stories You Might Have Missed
I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season. This week, I’ve put together a compilation of interesting items in the press that you might have missed while enjoying…
Nathan Pyle Strange Worlds
Thank you so much for all the kind words. I don’t quite have the wherewithal to respond to each of you individually but I very much appreciate all of you…