Latest Posts   –  Page 129

In the News

I don’t have a new opinion piece for you today but I did put together a selection of aviation news from the past week. Unfortunately, plane crashes have dominated the headlines. Aviation Headlines Cessna takes off without pilot – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) A light aircraft has taken off at Coober Pedy in outback…

Read more… 7 Aug 09

D. B. Cooper

The other day, Paul Tocknell from Ask a CFI.com made a throw-away comment on Twitter: Just learned about the D.B. Cooper story. Crazy. As I am easily distracted, I wandered off to find out who D.B. Cooper was and spent the rest of the day reading about the only unsolved hijacking case in the US.…

Read more… 31 Jul 09

Houses I Could Live In

When I was a little girl, we used to go on a lot of long car journeys. The adults were not as sympathetic as I felt perhaps they should be and my attempts to make conversation (“Where are we going again?” “Are we almost there yet?”) were largely scorned. I learned to occupy myself by…

Read more… 24 Jul 09

Destination: Glenforsa

It took a couple of visits before I felt confident landing at Glenforsa airfield. It’s a grass runway with no margin for error: hills on one side and the Sound of Mull on the other. Having said that, there has never been a serious injury at Glenforsa although the Glenforsa Airfield History includes some incredible…

Read more… 17 Jul 09

Pitch vs. Power: Landing Better

Flying is hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. When I first started flying, I presumed that the phrase was referring to the take-off and landing. I hadn’t even begun to conceive of things going wrong in the air; flying from A to B was the easy bit. Getting into the air and…

Read more… 10 Jul 09

Best of the Rest

This week I’ll shut up about myself for once and share a collection of links that have shown up in my inbox. Vincent (Plastic Pilot) and Jason (MzeroA) have successfully launched their new website: http://www.flyingacrossamerica.com. They are starting in Florida and aiming to make their way west to my home-state and visit Catalina Island –…

Read more… 3 Jul 09

Accident Reports

Unbolted in Fairfield (Update on the 2022 Bell 407 GXP Crash)

On the 4th of June 2022, a Bell 407 GXP helicopter crashed in a field near Fairfield, New Jersey. I wrote about it at the time. The final report and…

Madness on the Runway at Manchester

The Manchester Airport Group Plc owns and operates three airports: Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands. Manchester Airport is the third busiest airport in Britain. Their website says Manchester Airport…

Demystifying

Training an AI Copilot To Spot Gliders

My friend Maria at Daedalean wrote this article about how they are using AI to help pilots detect gliders. I thought it was fascinating and Daedalean gave me permission to…

The Missing Bolts from Alaska Airlines flight 1282

On the 5th of January 2024, Alaska Airlines flight 1282 had just taken off when it lost a door plug, leaving a gaping hole on the left side of row…

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

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…

Flying Fails and Airshow Considerations

Long-term readings of Fear of Landing know that my favourite aerobatics show of all time is Kyle Franklin’s Ben Whabnoski Comedy act. Just in case some of you haven’t seen…