Category: I learned from that – Page 3
Reserves? What reserves?
Not long after the Paris Trip I decided to take the same girlfriend to Perranporth on the north coast of Cornwall. I hired a Grumman Tiger from LSF at Elstree. The flight down was unexciting and we had a good weekend. It was on the return journey we had problems. For some reason, Perranporth had…
Read more… 26 Dec 08
VMC On Top
An old friend of mine, also a pilot, mailed me recently saying: Hey, how about you tell me a tale of the day you really learnt to fly, you know – not when you got your licence, but an occasion, when you really learnt to fly, come on, I’ve got some, I’ll tell you if…
Read more… 21 Nov 08
Accident Reports
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…
"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.…
Demystifying
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…
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…
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
Terminally Early: The Berlin Viewing Platform
Mistakes were made. All of them were mine. Before I left for Dresden, I planned out my full itinerary. Berlin is a much busier airport than Tallinn, so I needed…
A Few Good Stories
I’m in Dresden at the moment and I’m afraid I haven’t had a free moment to write you a new article. Luckily, lots of other people are on the internet…
Mike Scirocco on Wings Over Dallas: How Poor Systems Led to Mid-Air CollisionThanks for another interesting writeup. A sad story. I'm VERY happy to hear the FAA and ICA were informed with…
Pradeep Arora on Wings Over Dallas: How Poor Systems Led to Mid-Air CollisionTotally avoidable. Two different aircraft, operating in close quarters needs a plan. The AirBoss needs to be called out 
CHip on Wings Over Dallas: How Poor Systems Led to Mid-Air CollisionExcellent analysis. I hadn't realized that there were "air bosses" who would wing a show instead of giving cues for…
Mendel on Mid-air collision at Wings Over DallasThe final report is out. NTSB also put a summary on youtube, and it includes a flight track animation along…
Rudy Jakma on DHL 737 crashes short of Vilnius runwayWell said Mendel, but the Oxford dictionary defines a box as a "container with a flat base and sides, typically…