It’s a curious thing to realize you’ve been doing something for decades without ever quite intending to. Last month, I realised that I created Fear of Landing exactly twenty years ago.

The original hook was a crazy dream: fly into every British island with a strip. The kind of plan usually reserved for people who don’t have to pay for their own petrol. It took me weeks just to compile the list: thirty-eight islands that vaguely qualified as “British.” I managed six.

The reality of the cost and the sheer time-consuming nature of the project finally set in, especially considering I was starting from Spain. I’m still annoyed that I didn’t get Gibraltar, which would have been my first, but at the time they wouldn’t accept direct flights from Spain except in emergencies.

The following year, I was invited to write a monthly article for Piper Flyer. As a part of this, I discovered the wonders of having a deadline. I started updating Fear of Landing every Friday. By 2008, Fear of Landing was becoming something different: less about me, more an information resource.

I think I’ve found my first real accident analysis. I wrote about the death of a 16-year-old student pilot which really shocked me (and has still stuck with me): Southend Inquest Declares Student Death Accidental. By 2009, I was actively documenting aviation events as my primary content. That year, I had my first viral article: I posted photos of a plane eaten by a bear and repaired with duct tape. I discovered that people love a disaster they can fix with their bare hands. FAA Approved? remained in my top-ten posts for the next decade.

It’s been very hectic lately and I couldn’t find the time to properly mark the milestone, so it was a pleasant surprise when Janine Canillas reached out to do a feature on Fear of Landing. She writes for AOPA (the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) which is a massive, US-based organisation which advocates for general aviation pilots.

What was supposed to be a standard professional exchange quickly spiraled into a marathon chat. We spoke for two hours, which is a very long time to justify one’s life choices to a stranger. But it wasn’t just about Fear of Landing. We talked about flying lessons and writing and favourite planes and moose.

I sent her my favourite photograph of me with the Piper Saratoga. I found the Saratoga a fast and complicated aircraft at first, and at one point I outright accused it of trying to kill me. But you can tell that we’d made friends by the time that photo was taken by the way my hand is resting on it possessively. I went back and reread the break-up letter I wrote to it when we sold the Saratoga. All I’ll say is that I never loved another plane the way I loved that one.

Anyway! Enough reminiscing. Go read Janine’s article: Lessons Before the Accident. It’s a version of Fear of Landing that almost makes sense.