Category: Miscellaneous –  Page 13

Flying Dutchman Hoax

This flying like a bird video was released on Monday and swiftly shared around the aviation community. In this two minute video, Janos Smeets shares the success of his 8 month long project to fly with “human bird wings” that he developed based on principles from Leonardo DaVinci. Last August he wrote that he was…

Read more… 23 Mar 12

Top Ten of 2011

If it happens two years in a row, that makes it tradition, right? Last year I put together the ten most popular posts as an end of year wrap-up. I’ve checked the results for 2011 and I’m a little bit surprised that we have only one repeat entry. All the rest were posted this year.…

Read more… 30 Dec 11

Last-Minute Christmas Presents

In the past, I’ve posted ideas for Christmas presents for pilots. But that’s silly. Honestly, pilots are easy to find presents for. We love planes. We love gadgets that attach to our planes. We love books about planes. We love models of planes. We love movies showing planes flying. We love running around the living…

Read more… 23 Dec 11

Sex and Skydiving and the FAA

Last week I posted a link on Facebook about a “sex diving incident” which had the FAA investigating two skydivers after a sexually explicit video was passed around at a local high school, showing a couple having sex in a small plane and continuing through a skydive. Since then I’ve done a little more research…

Read more… 4 Nov 11

File a Flight Plan Day (made easy)

For pilots here in the UK, the Airspace & Safety Initiative (ASI) have launched an initiative that might be interesting: ‘File a Flight Plan Day’ to get GA pilots warmed-up for Olympics. A unique, one-day event in November, will aim to get as many GA pilots as possible thinking about flight planning, ahead of next…

Read more… 14 Oct 11

The Route to an Aviation Career.

This guest post is from Stephanie of Hillsboro Aviation in Oregon, who was kind enough answer my questions about how to start an aviation career. I hope my son is reading this! The Route to an Aviation Career The route to becoming an employable commercial pilot is not necessarily easy. Is it worth it? That…

Read more… 2 Sep 11

Accident Reports

The Unstallable Plane That Stalled

The Cessna 185 Skywagon is a high wing, single engine aircraft: basically a Cessna 180 with six seats, a strengthened fuselage and a slightly more powerful engine. It’s a popular…

Unbolted in Fairfield (Update on the 2022 Bell 407 GXP Crash)

On the 4th of June 2022, a Bell 407 GXP helicopter crashed in a field near Fairfield, New Jersey. I wrote about it at the time. The final report and…

Demystifying

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…

The Missing Bolts from Alaska Airlines flight 1282

On the 5th of January 2024, Alaska Airlines flight 1282 had just taken off when it lost a door plug, leaving a gaping hole on the left side of row…

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

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…

Flying Fails and Airshow Considerations

Long-term readings of Fear of Landing know that my favourite aerobatics show of all time is Kyle Franklin’s Ben Whabnoski Comedy act. Just in case some of you haven’t seen…