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 both aircraft, five in the Flying Fortress and one in the Kingcobra, were killed in the collision. I wrote about the background of the two…
Read more… 20 Dec 24
On the 25th of November 2024, a Boeing 737-400 crashed on final approach to Vilnius airport with one fatality. The 31-year-old cargo aircraft, registered in Spain as EC-MFE, was operated by Swiftair on behalf of the German logistics group DHL for a routine cargo flight from Leipzig, Germany, to Vilnius, Lithuania. There were four crew…
Read more… 13 Dec 24
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. I wrote about the incident at the time as Mooney crashes into power lines but that piece was focused on the crash and the rescue.…
Read more… 6 Dec 24
One of the great things about doing a month of guest posts is that I get to talk to interesting people and ask if I can share their work with you. Mike Riley is the perfect example. Mike Riley went from soloing a glider at 16 to flying the Concorde until his retirement in 1997.…
Read more… 29 Nov 24
On the 8th of October 2024, a Beechcraft Baron crashed shortly after taking off from Catalina Airport at night, killing all five occupants. I wrote about it on the 18th: Night Flight from Catalina: Beechcraft Baron Incident but here’s a quick recap. Earlier that day, three people from a Santa Monica flight school had flown…
Read more… 8 Nov 24
On the 8th of October 2024, a Piper Arrow departed from Santa Monica Airport in Southern California, landing at Catalina Airport, the small airport in the centre of Santa Catalina Island. Catalina Island is a small rocky island with rough terrain about 25 miles off of the coast of Los Angeles. The islands there are…
Read more… 18 Oct 24
On the 28th of June 2024 a Boeing 777-236, registered in the UK as G-VIIT, rejected a take-off after reaching V1 during the take-off roll on 26L at London Gatwick…
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…
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 a good time for something a bit more lighthearted. After weeks of analyzing serious incidents and technical failures, I thought I could a moment to appreciate aviation humuor…
I’m going to admit that I’m not a great fan of April Fools’ pranks, especially not attempts to trick people into believing something and then pulling the rug out from…