Latest Posts   –  Page 106

We’ve Lost the Cabin: Update on Southwest Flight 812

Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board released an accident brief about the emergency descent of Southwest Airlines flight 812 to Yuma, Arizona on the 1st of April, 2011. At 34,000 feet, climbing through to FL360, there was a loud sharp noise. The cabin experienced rapid decompression. Shawna Malvini Redden, a passenger on the flight,…

Read more… 4 Oct 13

The Incredible Story of David Riggs

It made international news: David Riggs’ body was discovered on Friday by a search and rescue team diving a lake in northeastern China after a Lancair 320, carrying the pilot and his translator, struck the surface and crashed. David Riggs, notorious stunt pilot who lost his pilot’s license twice, had been in the news –…

Read more… 27 Sep 13

Loss of Control – Collision with Water

Transportation Safety Board of Canada – Aviation Investigation Report A10P0147 Loss of Control – Collision with Water Atleo River Air Service Ltd. Cessna 185F, C-GIYQ Ahousat, British Columbia 29 May 2010 The first thing that struck me about this TSB Canada report was the title. Loss of control seemed an odd description and certainly isn’t…

Read more… 20 Sep 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

Aviation News and Posts that Made Me Smile

So, I’m finally back online but boy, do I have a lot of catching up to do. Here’s a number of links, photos and videos that made me smile as I started reading through the aviation news that I had missed. Young pilots praised for ‘textbook’ crash landing at Victoria Point – ABC News (Australian…

Read more… 6 Sep 13

Always climb straight ahead to 500 feet before turning?

Captain Jon is a professional flying instructor based at Halfpenny Green in Wolverhampton. He’s a former LHR Airbus pilot turned instructor and has trained Sir Richard Branson, Nigel Mansell, and Jasper Carrot, among others. I first encountered him because of his Ask Captain Jon web site where he talks not just about learning to fly…

Read more… 31 Aug 13

Accident Reports

Bomber 139's Third Run: What the Investigation Found

In order to follow this analysis, you’ll need to have the details of the flight and the crash from last week’s article about the flight. When we last saw Bomber…

Bomber 139's Third Run: Downhill to Disaster

On the 6th of February 2023, a Boeing 737-3H4 Large Air Tanker crashed into a ridge line of 222 feet elevation in Fitzgerald River National Park in Western Australia. There…

Demystifying

Another quick round of questions and answers

It’s time for another Questions and Answers session. I started this series a few years back, when a reader asked if there was a way to pose aviation questions outside…

Durga Puja Pandal Shows Air India Flight 171 Crash

The following video from a religious festival in West Bengal, India, has caught a lot of social media attention. It shows a detailed representation of an Air India Boeing Dreamliner…

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

The Mystery of the Caged Tyres and the Porcupine Who Flew Home

This photograph was posted to r/shittyaskflying, a subreddit dedicated to asking silly questions and giving silly answers. In this case, the photograph is enough to make one wonder what’s going…

Songs About Failed Spacecraft and Space Disasters

This week, I’m handing over Fear of Landing to my friend Jack Keller who promised me a playlist of music relating to my interests. All of the titles except one…