Latest Posts   –  Page 119

Asleep in the Tower

Everyone seems to be talking about ATC asleep at the wheel today. On Wednesday, 23 March, the air traffic controller at the tower of DCA (Ronald Reagan National Airport which services Washington DC) stopped responding and two flights landed without establishing contact. I’m starting to hear some interesting rumours and guesses already, so I put…

Read more… 25 Mar 11

Stunt Pilots Survive Crash at Air Fiesta

A few years ago, Kyle Franklin allowed me to put up a video of his Drunken Pilot act as a part of the Franklin’s Flying Circus & Airshow. At the time, the video was only available as a download, so I was proud to have the chance to offer it as streaming video on my…

Read more… 18 Mar 11

Destination: Vatra Dornei, Romania

As I am not flying at the moment, I am feeding my obsession with exploring new locations: virtual flights into airfields off the beaten track. Would you like to join me? This week, we’re exploring Vatra Dornei in the historical region of Moldavia, in the north of Romania. The Aerodrom Floreni website is currently only…

Read more… 11 Mar 11

“How Slow Can You Fly” and Other Questions Answered

This week, a round-up of questions: What do you do if your wheel falls off in mid-air? This lovely classic video posted on the PPRuNe Forums shows Gladys Ingle of the 13 Black Cats – clearly an amazing woman – changing plane mid-air to replace a lost wheel for a stunt film. What was the…

Read more… 4 Mar 11

Living in a Lighthouse

It might sound silly to highlight lighthouses on an aviation blog but pilots who fly on the coast know why they are important. Lighthouses make for unmistakeable landmarks and are often used as Visual Reporting Points. Also, they tend to be on the most scenic of locations (why is that?) and so I know I’m…

Read more… 25 Feb 11

Unfit to Fly

I read a lot of accident reports – most pilots do – in the hopes of learning more about flight and human factors and just maybe how to avoid ending up a statistic. But there are some accidents that are simply sad, with no lesson to be learnt nor explanations that can help us to…

Read more… 18 Feb 11

Accident Reports

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…

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…

Demystifying

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…

Extreme Turbulence in Singapore Airlines flight 321

A few days ago (21st of May 2024), Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 encountered heavy turbulence on a passenger flight from London-Heathrow to Singapore. There were 229 on board, including eighteen…

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

Terminally Early: The Berlin Viewing Platform

Mistakes were made. All of them were mine. Before I left for Dresden, I planned out my full itinerary. Berlin is a much busier airport than Tallinn, so I needed…

A Few Good Stories

I’m in Dresden at the moment and I’m afraid I haven’t had a free moment to write you a new article. Luckily, lots of other people are on the internet…