Category: Miscellaneous –  Page 17

Seat Selection

I saw this on xkcd and laughed out loud. Why did I never think of that?

Read more… 15 Apr 10

Sky Dance

Unfortunately I am somewhat under the weather so no post today. And although I’ve got a great YouTube clip for you, I strongly suspect that I am the last person left on earth who hasn’t already seen this video. But gorgeous views like these are worth watching more than once, aren’t they? This is apparently…

Read more… 12 Mar 10

Why You Should Follow Me on Twitter

I spent last week in England, hoping to get a chance to fly the Saratoga and get current with my take-off and landings. The one day that the plane was not available was Tuesday. That was, of course, the only sunny day of the week. The rest of my time in England was spent watching…

Read more… 5 Feb 10

Ditching in the Irish Sea

Kate Burrows was flying from Guernsey back home to the Isle of Man in her PA30, a Comanche Twin, when she noticed problems with her right engine. She shut down the engine and, as she was still some 38 miles from the Isle of Man, she decided to divert to Blackpool. A few minutes later,…

Read more… 22 Jan 10

Haitian Relief Efforts

In lieu of a post today, here are some links regarding the situation in Haiti, with a focus on aviation. These photographs are not easy to look at but helped me to understand the scale of the devastation. Earthquake in Haiti – The Big Picture – Boston.com Tuesday afternoon, January 12th, the worst earthquake in…

Read more… 15 Jan 10

Odds of Airborne Terror (Gizmodo)

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: The Odds of Airborne Terror has done some interesting research: Over the past decade, there have been, by my count, six attempted terrorist incidents on board a commercial airliner than landed in or departed from the United States: the four planes that were hijacked on 9/11, the shoe bomber incident in…

Read more… 3 Jan 10

Accident Reports

Hand on Thrust, Brain on Autopilot

On the 28th of June 2024 a Boeing 777-236, registered in the UK as G-VIIT, rejected a take-off after reaching V1 during the take-off roll on 26L at London Gatwick…

Challenger 300 Fatal Upset Wasn't Turbulence

On the 3rd of March 2023, a passenger in a private jet died after severe injuries in the cabin, which were originally reported as caused by severe turbulence. This was…

Demystifying

How to tell a Russian Su-27 from a British Typhoon

This is not an article that I ever thought I would feel compelled to write! However, given the confusion over a photograph chosen in a regional English paper, apparently it’s…

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…

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

Friday Lightness: A Short Respite from Crash Reports

It seems a good time for something a bit more lighthearted. After weeks of analyzing serious incidents and technical failures, I thought I could a moment to appreciate aviation humuor…

Flights of Fantasy: Aviation April Fools Worth Celebrating

I’m going to admit that I’m not a great fan of April Fools’ pranks, especially not attempts to trick people into believing something and then pulling the rug out from…