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Last Journey of the Endeavour

This week, the space shuttle Endeavour travelled across the U.S. to its final destination of Los Angeles, where it will be on display as a part of the California Science Center. The Endeavour completed 25 missions, spent 299 days in orbit and orbited the Earth 4,671 times while travelling 122,883,151 statute miles. The fleet was…

Read more… 21 Sep 12

The Worst Aircraft Ever Constructed

Dr William Whitney Christmas (1865-1960) loved planes. He claimed to be one of the first aeroplane pilots: Dr Christmas said that he made his first flight in 1908 but he burned the aircraft in order to protect his design secrets. In his lifetime he patented 300 inventions to do with aviation. This, despite the fact…

Read more… 14 Sep 12

“We Have Some Planes” – A timeline of events on September 11th

Over a decade later, I am writing about the September 11 attacks for the first time. Initially it was just too raw and I couldn’t stand to try to analyse the situation when my own emotions were so close to the surface. Then, each anniversary, it seemed like everyone was writing about it and I…

Read more… 7 Sep 12

From the Archives

I’ve got some new and exciting projects in the pipeline which I can’t wait to share with you. Unfortunately, they are taking a lot of my time — I hope you don’t mind if this week I leave you with a fun story from the archives. If you would like to follow me on Twitter,…

Read more… 31 Aug 12

Everyone Loves a Happy Ending

This week: a collection of aviation news that turned out well. I find it terribly disconcerting to see a large plane doing a wheelie: Photos: Airbus A310-325/ET Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net CS-TKN (cn 624) This month of November had been really good for us spotters, with so many different things coming by!! Not being a…

Read more… 24 Aug 12

Fly Like an Eagle, Land Like a Crow

Edit: This was written directly after the accident. I wrote an updated two-part piece after the final report came out, which you can find here: https://fearoflanding.com/accidents/accident-reports/land-like-a-crow-part-1/. On the 1st of November in 2011, LOT airlines flight LO16 was flying into Warsaw-Okęcie when the main landing gear and nose gear failed to deploy. They landed on…

Read more… 17 Aug 12

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…