Category: Miscellaneous – Page 12
Top Five Gifts for Pilots and Aviation Enthusiasts
It’s that time of year again and many of us are frantically starting to search for the perfect gift to give. I’m not fond of shopping but I do like browsing online for interesting items for myself. So this year, I thought I’d take advantage of my window-shopping and offer up some ideas for interesting…
Read more… 29 Nov 13
Eight Reasons Why I Need an Espresso Machine on my Desk
This morning, I wasn’t feeling very awake and thought I’d read through my aviation links and news while I woke up gently. Somehow today, though, the entire world seemed full of WTF… 1) I was reading this report and made it on to the next paragraph before my brain caught up and said Wait, what?…
Read more… 15 Nov 13
Non-Stop to Havana: Better to be Lucky than Smart
Captain Dick Blizzard spent seven years as an aviator in the US Navy and a further 33 years as an airline pilot. I’m thrilled to have the chance to share one of his pieces with you. Non-Stop to Havana! Better to Be Lucky Than Smart by Dick Blizzard The airlines only put enough fuel on…
Read more… 18 Oct 13
Unexpected Uses of Drones
I’ve become mildly obsessed with drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) after watching the excellent quadcopter demonstration on Ted. Raffaello D’Andrea: The astounding athletic power of quadcopters In a robot lab at TEDGlobal, Raffaello D’Andrea demos his flying quadcopters: robots that think like athletes, solving physical problems with algorithms that help them learn. In a series of…
Read more… 13 Sep 13
What I Was Doing While I Wasn’t Here
Well, it’s been a busy but exciting week here! First off, I was interviewed by Dave Goodwin for PlaneViz, a brilliant weekly aviation podcast. You can hear Dave and me discuss planes, crashing, Tokyo and TCAS in Why Planes Crash Author Sylvia Wrigley – Ep. 15. Dave: When I read about airplane crashes or incidents…
Read more… 2 Aug 13
Top Ten Amazing Air Traffic Control Towers
When I’m not flying, I like to look at all the places around the world I could go, if I were flying. And today, that led me towards looking at Air Traffic Control towers around the world. These are my ten favourite towers, along with one bonus disused tower which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. 10.…
Read more… 24 May 13
Accident Analysis
Fatal SR22 Stall on Final at Barwick LaFayette
On the 20th of March, 2025, a Cirrus SR22 crashed in LaFayette, Georgia during an instructional flight, killing both the pilot and the flight instructor. It was a good flying…
There Is a Parachutist in Front of You
On the 15th of June 2023, a light aircraft crashed into the runway at Aversi private airfield in Denmark. The aircraft, registered in Germany as D-EPRR, was a Cessna TU206G…
Demystifying
The Pilots, the Probes, and the AF447 Verdict
On the 21st of May 2026, the Paris Court of Appeal convicted Airbus and Air France of involuntary manslaughter for their roles in the crash of Air France flight 447,…
Meowing on Guard (an attempt at an explanation)
Last week a video went viral and it’s been fun to see the mainstream media coverage try to cover two pilots who were heard making animal noises on the radio. …
History
The CIA's Shark Screen
Today we have a guest post from the CIA! In their archives, researching something completely different, I found the answer to a question I never thought to ask. I immediately…
The First Jet to Land on an Aircraft Carrier (Deliberately)
“The Vampire was the first jet to land on a moving aircraft carrier deliberately.” This quote from Airshow Luke, our MC at the Legacy of Liberty airshow, made me almost…
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…
