Category: Miscellaneous –  Page 24

Landing in Lausanne

To prepare for our trip to Switzerland, I flew with the Saratoga to Andrewsfield, a small airfield near Stansted in Essex that I’d not been to before. Andrewsfield was built by the Americans in World War 2 and is one of the few airfields around London which will allow for unlimited circuits – as long…

Read more… 7 Jun 08

Dinner in Djemaa

“Head towards the mosque,” seems to be the start of all directions in Marrakesh. Even if you don’t ask for directions, they point you that way, telling you that you should go to the square. The Koutoubia mosque and the Djemaa el Fna square are the centre of the world. During the day, the centre…

Read more… 12 Apr 08

Update from Abroad

Just a quick update to say we had a wonderful time at Birling Gap – my mother and my son both loved it, much to my relief. The weather was IFR (in fact, we arrived a day later than initially planned to wait out a storm) but the South Downs still look beautiful in rain…

Read more… 23 Mar 08

Birling Gap

Barely home again before it’s time to go. Assuming the weather plays along, we’ll be taking the Saratoga out for an extended trip. We were initially planning an initial stop (well, if you don’t count refuelling) in Dublin, where my mother is at a conference. But having been away last weekend, things have backed up…

Read more… 13 Mar 08

Enter the Cockpit

This is very cool. A 360 degree view of the A380 flight deck that allows you to swivel the camera around. I’ve only seen this sort of view of hotel rooms before – where it always struck me as a bit wasted. There’s the sofa, there’s the bed – the 360 view doesn’t really offer…

Read more… 18 Feb 08

£50 Cake

It’s disappointing. I had this great idea of flying to various little airfields and compiling a list of the best cakes in southern England. Enstone usually has slices of home-made carrot cake on the counter (next to a tin where you drop in your coins) and North Weald have a coffee shop with the cake-of-the-day…

Read more… 11 Feb 08

Accident Reports

Following the story of the Fokker F27

Last week I wrote about the Fokker F27 mk 500 Friendship that came off the runway at take-off at Bournemouth Airport. Rudy commented on his experience flying the F27 in…

Pneumatic Pressure Required

The flight crew reported for duty at Bournemouth Airport at 3am on Friday the 7th of May 2004. They were flying a thirty-three-year-old Fokker F27 Mark 500, registered in the…

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…