Category: 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 of specific posts. I’d love for this to become a more regular feature but for that I need more questions! The format is simple: post…

Read more… 31 Oct 25

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 crash into a residential building, clearly meant to depict the fatal crash of Air India flight 171. The passenger flight crashed into the hostel block…

Read more… 10 Oct 25

Pilots or Toilets: Is This Viral ATC Audio Real?

There’s a YouTube video by ATC Audio making the rounds with a shocking title: She says Both Pilots INOPERATIVE. Real ATC Audio. The video claims to have real ATC audio of Tap Air Portugal flight TAP484H, a scheduled passenger flight from Lisbon, Portugal to Nice, France. The audio covers an aviation miscommunication which led to…

Read more… 26 Sep 25

Greg Bagwell on Scheduling a Combat Air Patrol

I was fascinated by Greg Bagwell’s thread on X/Twitter last week and I can’t help wanting to share it with you. Greg Bagwell CB CBE is a retired senior Royal Air Force commander who served 36 years, ending his career as Deputy Commander (Operations) at RAF Air Command – the service’s most senior operational role. He…

Read more… 5 Sep 25

How to tell a Russian Su-27 from a British Typhoon

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 a conversation that we need to have. Let’s start by working out what went wrong. Estonia, 2019 On the 25th of June in 2019, the…

Read more… 28 Mar 25

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 be writing a review of an airshow, as a completely random example. Or you might be abducted by aliens who insist that you explain Earth…

Read more… 12 Jul 24

Accident Reports

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…

Bomber 139's Third Run: Downhill to Disaster

On the 6th of February 2023, a Boeing 737-3H4 Large Air Tanker crashed into a ridge line of 222 feet elevation in Fitzgerald River National Park in Western Australia. There…

Demystifying

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…

Training an AI Copilot To Spot Gliders

My friend Maria at Daedalean wrote this article about how they are using AI to help pilots detect gliders. I thought it was fascinating and Daedalean gave me permission to…

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

The Mystery of the Caged Tyres and the Porcupine Who Flew Home

This photograph was posted to r/shittyaskflying, a subreddit dedicated to asking silly questions and giving silly answers. In this case, the photograph is enough to make one wonder what’s going…

Songs About Failed Spacecraft and Space Disasters

This week, I’m handing over Fear of Landing to my friend Jack Keller who promised me a playlist of music relating to my interests. All of the titles except one…