Category: ATC
Archie League Medal of Safety – President’s Award 2023
The 19th Annual Archie League Medal of Safety Awards ceremony took place in Las Vegas, Nevada on the 20th of September. The Archie League Medal is an annual event by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) in the US. This year, the awards presentations took place at the Communicating for Safety Conference and the…
Read more… 3 Nov 23
One-in-15-Million Flight Plan Causes UK Air Traffic Chaos
On Monday, the 28th of August 2023, a “technical glitch” in the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) in the UK caused extensive flight delays and cancellations. Monday was the Late Summer Bank Holiday, which takes place the last Monday in August for a long weekend at the end of the summer season. As a result…
Read more… 8 Sep 23
Don’t give your controller a heart attack
Redditor jmcmanna is a controller in the Chicago area, with references to working O’Hare (ORD) and Midway (MDW) International Airports. Jmcmanna is an active participant on the flying subreddits that I follow and regularly responds to pilots with questions about ATC and procedures. It’s a great look “behind the scenes” from someone who is clearly…
Read more… 11 Aug 23
President’s Award 2021, Archie League Medal of Safety
Every year, I look forward to the Archie League Medal of Safety Awards, an annual event to honour exceptional air traffic controller work in the previous year. In the past, I have collected the information and written about the event; this year, I’m happy to see that NATCA has written a great narrative that I’m…
Read more… 8 Jul 22
Passenger In Control
Everyone is talking about the passenger who safely landed a Cessna 208 Caravan at Palm Beach International Airport after the pilot slumped over the controls, incapacitated. The Cessna Caravan is a single-engine high-wing aircraft first produced in 1984. This one, registration N333LD, was recently listed as for sale on Aircraft.com, which gives us a bit…
Read more… 13 May 22
ATC behind the scenes: VFR into IMC
One of the biggest safety hazards in general aviation is pilots inadvertently flying into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) and losing visibility in the cloud. A private pilot who has not undergone special training for using instruments flies VFR (Visual Flight Rules), looking outside the aircraft. If the aircraft flies into cloud, the pilot loses visual…
Read more… 11 Jun 21
Accident Reports
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…
Demystifying
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…
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…
