Category: Fun Stuff –  Page 4

The Latest Futuristic and Experimental Aircraft in 1952

This week I’m going to share a great video with you which has only just come to my attention. It’s a 1952 newsreel showing the latest futuristic and experimental aircraft. The video includes the Horton Wingless Airplane, the Sky Baby, the Fulton Airphibian and the XH-17 Flying Crane. I’ve collected some more information on each…

Read more… 4 May 18

Aircraft Parked at the Pub

This is one of my favourite aviation stories of all time, honestly, just for the headline potential. Man in Australia Arrested for Driving Wingless Plane to Bar Plane Taxied Down Main Street to Newman Pub Fine for man who taxied plane down Newman street and stopped at pub The original incident, which took place in…

Read more… 16 Mar 18

My Favourite Posts from 2006 to 2017

This week, while I recover from my Holiday Food Coma, I want to try something a little different. I’ve collected my favourite posts from the past – ones that will never go viral or take the world by storm. They are a part of the history of this website though. Also, I think they show…

Read more… 5 Jan 18

Parachute deployed in flat spin at 1,000 feet

This video was posted to a number of aviation forums last week and it’s easy to see why. I literally watched it three times in a row on the spot when I first encountered it. The clip is from a cockpit video of a pilot in a spin who then deploys the parachute as the…

Read more… 22 Dec 17

Do Not Remove From Aircraft

I’m going to Helsinki this weekend (sadly by ferry not by plane) but I have a guest post by Simon Rockman for you which is, I think, delightfully different. I worked with Simon in the previous century (!!!), way back when the Internet was a new and shiny thing. He was the go-to man for…

Read more… 1 Dec 17

Maybe an Origin Story

It was a lazy evening in 1980 and I was bored at my dad’s house, when I put on his television and flicked through the 150 channels he had, looking for something to watch. I paused at a scene which showed a bunch of good looking guys in pilot gear playing baseball. They were arguing…

Read more… 14 Jul 17

Accident Reports

All Aircraft Bite Fools

It was a few minutes after midnight when the pilot and his friend took the Cessna 150, a popular single-engine two-seater training aircraft, out for a local flight around a…

The BEA Weighs In: Ethiopian Airlines flight 302

In March 2019, the Ethiopian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (EAIB) requested that the French Bureau d’enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) support their investigation into the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302. Specifically,…

Demystifying

Sharing a Runway: Fed Ex vs Southwest at Austin

On Monday, two commercial aircraft had a near-miss on the runway at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas. The airport at Austin has two parallel concrete runways which run north-to-south: 18L/36R…

Flying Blind: The Importance of NOTAMs in Aviation

On the 11th of January 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US stopped all departing commercial flights, grounding aircraft all over the US. Hot on the heels of…

History

The Oldest Footage of Flight

About a week ago, Marléne Aviation posted to Twitter in an attempt to find the oldest video footage of a flight. Marléne Aviation is run by a French aviation history…

Twin Pioneer Down in Libya: Structural Failure in 1956

On the 7th of December 1957, a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer 1, registration G-AOEO, departed an airstrip at Anshan in Libya for a routine flight to Tripoli-Idris Airport. There were…

Fun Stuff

Messerschmitt Crash in Wernigerode

I didn’t expect to fall in love with the train. When I planned my trip to Germany, I expected that I would be able to keep up with my normal…

Aviation Mishaps and Mischief

This week, I’ve collected the best of what I’ve watched and read this month, in hopes that you will be equally intrigued and entertained. Rescued and Dizzy It started when…