Category: Miscellaneous

Old and New Aviation

New

This week, I have a great collection of articles for you to read, ranging from World War II to A.I. fighter pilots. Surviving War’s End by Werner Schwantje is a great story expanded into Survivor on the Canadian site, Vintage Wings. His name was Werner Schwantje, an elegant, well-turned out 70-something government lawyer with Revenue…

Read more… 21 Jan 22

The Most Popular Posts of 2021

Last year, I commented that the most popular posts tended to be older ones which I thought was maybe because people had more time to read in lockdown and went back through the archives. But having investigated more, it is clear that it takes some time for posts to peak in popularity. This year is…

Read more… 31 Dec 21

Merry Christmas!

It is Christmas eve and it is snowing and I am lounging around in my pyjamas making mulled wine and braising beef for a special meal for tonight. You mostly know Cliff from his quick fixes to the server, (although he is the one to thank for the design and functionality of this entire website!)…

Read more… 24 Dec 21

There Will Be No Accident Left Behind

I have long lists of accidents that I’d like to know more about and I keep adding new ones, even though there are already more in my files than I could cover in a dozen lifetimes. The problem is that I really hate deleting anything. I’ve tried to do a clear out with the result…

Read more… 22 Oct 21

Former 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot Indicted for Fraud

Yesterday, a federal grand jury indicted Boeing’s former Chief Technical Pilot for fraud, specifically accusing him of deceiving the FAA’s Aircraft Evaluation Group during their evaluation and certification of the 737 MAX and of scheming to defraud Boeing’s US-based airline customers to obtain “tens of millions of dollars” for Boeing. “Forkner allegedly abused his position…

Read more… 15 Oct 21

For Your Entertainment

I’m clearing out my inbox once again and found a number of links that I think you will enjoy. Mayday, mayday, we have a delivery for you. I was bemused to see this fly past on Twitter (and grateful that the person included a source; I wish everyone did this!) Today I learned that Iran's…

Read more… 30 Apr 21

Accident Reports

The Sad Story of the Seawind 3000 N8UU

For this post, I’m going to start with the NTSB report of an accident which took place on the 3rd of July 2021 on Lake Michigan. The aircraft was a…

Causal Factors of the Piper Malibu Crash near Guernsey

Sometimes it seems like these posts get longer every year that I keep doing this. This collection of details from the AAIB report that I left out of the Piper…

Demystifying

Questions and Answers: It's Your Turn

A Fear of Landing reader asked me a great question in email. Is there some way of asking general technical questions that relate to aircraft or airport operations rather than…

Wings for Wildlife: Aviation at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, founded in 1977, is a charity focused on the conservation, preservation and protection of wildlife and habitats in Kenya. Their well-written newsletters are always a joy…

History

The Mount Erebus Disaster

On the 28th of November 1979, a sight-seeing flight to Antartica crashed into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 on board. The Mount Erebus Disaster, as it came to be known,…

An Icon of Aviation

I have a guest post this week by Nicholas Brown, the Campus President of Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology. The college has been rebuilding a replica of Little Stinker,…

Fun Stuff

Funniest Thing You've Heard On the Radio

I’ve been struggling this week and was just panicking that I would not have a post finished in time for you for today when I discovered that Reddit had saved…

A Little Bit of Everything

There’s so much great aviation writing and video out there and I’m always appreciative when people send me fun things; it seems a shame not to share them! So here’s…