Latest Posts   –  Page 11

Aviation Tales from the Fringes

This week, I have a collection of flying stories that aren’t really about the flying part of the flight. They are all stories that reminded me that aviation isn’t just about getting from A to B and I couldn’t resist sharing them. I hope you find them interesting as well! A Communication Breakdown at Oslo…

Read more… 11 Oct 24

Overrun in Ireland

On the 19th of February 2023, a private pilot arranged to meet with a flight instructor at Birr Airfield to fly a Cessna 172 Skyhawk. That morning, the flight instructor arrived early. He was rostered to do a local flight with a new club member. He held his commercial licence but was presumably new to…

Read more… 4 Oct 24

Rotation Gone Wrong: The Critical Error Behind LATAM’s Milan Tail Strike

On the 9th of July 2024, flight LA8073, operated by the Chilean airline LATAM, departed from Milano Malpensa for a passenger flight to São Paulo, Brazil. However, during the take-off run the “back end suddenly dropped after an apparent malfunction”, as Italian newspaper Corriere delle Serra described it. I still can’t watch the video without…

Read more… 27 Sep 24

Icing, Systems, and Human Factors: Preliminary Findings on Voepass flight 2283

On the 9th of August 2024 at 16:22, Voepass flight 2283, a scheduled flight from Cascavel, Paraná, to Guarulhos, São Paulo entered a flat spin and crashed into a residential district, killing everyone on board. CENIPA (CENtro de Investigação e Prevenção de Acidentes Aeronáuticos), the Brazilian Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Centre, is charged with…

Read more… 20 Sep 24

Vintage Chipmunk Crash at Jandakot

On Wednesday, the ATSB released an urgent advisory asking all owners of the vintage aircraft DHC-1 Chipmunk to check their rivets. This advisory came as a part of the still in-progress investigation of a fatal crash at Jandakot Airport on the 26 of April 2024. The DHC-1 Chipmunk is a two-seater single-engine aircraft introduced in…

Read more… 13 Sep 24

Over-The-Top Gun: When Overconfidence Meets Gravity

I’m excited to share this guest post with you, by our own David Provan! It’s a great piece about his early experience flying the Champ. Over-The-Top Gun by David Provan I was eighteen in 1961. I’d not long done my first ever solo flight on an Aeronca Champion 7EC at Middle Districts Aero Club, Palmerston…

Read more… 7 Sep 24

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…