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
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
This three-part story was originally published in the November 2007 issue of Piper Flyer magazine. Part One: If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother Part Two: Sylvia’s Mother Said After spending over two hours filling out paperwork at the Rome Urbe airfield, I asked the one friendly person in the place for details about…
Read more… 26 Jun 09
This three-part story was originally published in the November 2007 issue of Piper Flyer magazine. Part One: If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother Come back on the 26th of June for Part Three. When my mother announced she’d be in Europe for a few weeks, I asked for her itinerary so that we…
Read more… 19 Jun 09
This three-part story was originally published in the November 2007 issue of Piper Flyer magazine. As a result, I received my first ever piece of fan mail – a reader asked if I could possibly put him in touch with my mother regarding a conference that he thought she might be interested in. As an…
Read more… 12 Jun 09
Our flight last weekend out of Málaga was very frustrating. I couldn’t fly the first leg because they won’t allow VFR traffic Thursday – Monday. The fuel bowser took forever to get to us at which point the driver told us that it wasn’t working right and that he needed to get someone to help…
Read more… 5 Jun 09
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…
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…
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.…
Aviation Stories You Might Have Missed
I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season. This week, I’ve put together a compilation of interesting items in the press that you might have missed while enjoying…
Nathan Pyle Strange Worlds
Thank you so much for all the kind words. I don’t quite have the wherewithal to respond to each of you individually but I very much appreciate all of you…