Category: Accidents and Incidents –  Page 36

Foxy Lady Belly Up Landing

Last weekend the last Sea Vixen executed an emergency belly landing at the Royal Naval Air Station in Yeovilton. The aircraft was flying back from the Duxford Air Show in Cambridgeshire when the pilot contacted Yeovilton Tower to ask for a visual of the landing gear. The controller confirmed that the undercarriage was clean, which…

Read more… 2 Jun 17

He’s a Terror in a Twin

Sometimes it’s obvious how an accident report is going to end from the very first sentence. NTSB Identification: CEN15FA400 “The airplane owner, who was a noninstrument-rated private pilot and did not hold a multiengine airplane rating, was conducting a visual flight rules (VFR), personal cross-county flight in the multiengine airplane.” I almost did not bother…

Read more… 26 May 17

BFU Interim Report: Bizjet Flipped by Passing Airbus

The Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung (BFU) also known as the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, released a preliminary report on the Bombadier CL604 which encountered extreme wake turbulence in January. I usually wait for the final report but, in this case, it is very straight-forward and I’d be surprised if further details will come…

Read more… 19 May 17

The Database Error And The Turkish Airlines Airbus

On the 4th of March 2015 a Turkish Airlines Airbus A330-303 left the runway when landing at Kathmandu. The headlines called it a database error. When I read the accident report, however, I discovered that it wasn’t that simple. The Captain was 55 years old and had almost 15,000 hours with 1,500 on type: he’d…

Read more… 12 May 17

How will we stop the engine, then? Kigali Crash into VIP lounge

You may recall these photographs from the mainstream media in 2009, when an aircraft crashed into an airport building, killing one passenger. The CRJ-100 had just taken off from Kigali International Airport when the flight crew declared an emergency after developing a fault with the throttle. They returned to Kigali and landed safely. At the…

Read more… 21 Apr 17

Pilot Suicide Disputed by Family: Germanwings 9525

The tragedy of Germanwings 9525 happened two years ago and I reported on the final report from the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) when it was released in March of last year. The BEA concluded that the crash was caused by the deliberate and planned action of the first officer who decided to commit suicide…

Read more… 7 Apr 17

Accident Reports

Wings Over Dallas: How Poor Systems Led to Mid-Air Collision

On the 12th of November 2022, a Bell P-63F Kingcobra fighter flew into a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress bomber during the Wings Over Dallas airshow. All six crew members in…

"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.…

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…