Category: Accidents and Incidents – Page 7
Drone Strike Grounds Quebec Firefighting Aircraft in Los Angeles
Yesterday, the 9th of January 2025, a Canadian firefighting aircraft was grounded after it was struck by a small civilian drone. The aircraft is a Canadair CL-415, an amphibious aircraft known as the Super Scooper. The twin-engine, high-wing aircraft can fly at relatively low speeds in gusty conditions, allowing it to come in closer to…
Read more… 10 Jan 25
Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243: Shot Down Over Grozny
On the 25th of December 2024, Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243, a scheduled passenger flight from Baku, Azerbaijan to Grozny, Russia, crashed on approach to Aktau International Airport in Kazakhstan with 62 passengers and five crew on board. The Embraer 190AR, registration 4K-AZ65, took off from Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku at 07:55 local time…
Read more… 3 Jan 25
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 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
DHL 737 crashes short of Vilnius runway
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
“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. 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
A Concorde Close Call — Not!
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
Accident Reports
TNflygirl and the Beech Debonair
On the 7th of December 2023, a Beech 35-C33 Debonair crashed into terrain. The private pilot and the passenger, the pilot’s father, were both killed on impact. The private flight…
At All Costs
On the 11th of December 2024, the passenger in the right seat of a 1973 Grumman AA-5 was recording a video as they approached Pearland Regional Airport in Texas. The…
Demystifying
Trump Threatens to Ground Canadian Aircraft Over Gulfstream Certification
The US President, Donald Trump, posted the following to Truth Social last night. Based on the fact that Canada has wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly refused to certify the Gulfstream 500,…
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…
History
Four Point Two Stars Where You Only Stop If You Have To
I always look up airports when I’m writing about them, partly out of habit and partly because I’m afraid I’ll miss an important detail. When I was writing Any Landing…
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…
Fun Stuff
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…
