Latest Posts   –  Page 164

If It’s Not One Thing

Today I received my first fan mail from a Piper Flyer reader, as it finally occurred to me that I could include my email address in my by-line. It was very exciting. I opened the email and read it slowly, trying to savour the moment. He wrote that he had read my article in the…

Read more… 30 Oct 07

The Night Before

I’m working on an article called Sylvia’s Mother at the moment (er, if you are my editor, read “working on” as “finishing off”. I swear you’ll have it by Friday) and wrote about my thoughts before taking my mom and my son up in the Saratoga. This is from my initial draft. I can’t help…

Read more… 17 Oct 07

Learning from the Masters

This is just a stunning landing you can watch on youtube: Look, ma! No wheels! Yes, I know, I owe you all a post. Soon, I promise. :)

Read more… 11 Oct 07

Instrument Rating – unofficial ground school

Jeremy Zawodny has started ground school where he’ll learn IFR theory for his instrument rating. The fun bit is that he’s posting about it on his blog and plans to keep doing so. This is great, from my point of view. I’d like to get my instrument rating. It’s something I keep putting off, because…

Read more… 26 Sep 07

Scheduled Downtime

Fear of Landing will be down for server maintenance all day on Tuesday, September 18th. We’ll come back showered and refreshed and raring to go! In the meantime, you can take a look at some of the new photographs I’ve uploaded over at Flickr.

Read more… 17 Sep 07

Behind the Wheel

Janet wrote: > just got a car, after months without, and re-learning standard stick shift > routines. today’s big stressor was parking on a hill. > > but, no, there was no control tower. and no one watching. I was in this situation the other day. I don’t tend to have to drive here in…

Read more… 6 Sep 07

Accident Analysis

Social Media Influencers Weigh Down Aircraft

The fatal crash at Scottsdale Arizona took place directly after take-off. The passengers were a self-proclaimed crowd of social media influencers. The jet-setting influencer who had organised the flight, had…

Fatal SR22 Stall on Final at Barwick LaFayette

On the 20th of March, 2025, a Cirrus SR22 crashed in LaFayette, Georgia during an instructional flight, killing both the pilot and the flight instructor. It was a good flying…

Demystifying

Someone has to write the TAF

It turns out that there a person sitting there deciding what the weather is going to do. Which seems obvious, except that I had somehow never asked msyelf who “someone”…

The Pilots, the Probes, and the AF447 Verdict

On the 21st of May 2026, the Paris Court of Appeal convicted Airbus and Air France of involuntary manslaughter for their roles in the crash of Air France flight 447,…

History

The CIA's Shark Screen

Today we have a guest post from the CIA! In their archives, researching something completely different, I found the answer to a question I never thought to ask. I immediately…

The First Jet to Land on an Aircraft Carrier (Deliberately)

“The Vampire was the first jet to land on a moving aircraft carrier deliberately.” This quote from Airshow Luke, our MC at the Legacy of Liberty airshow, made me almost…

Fun Stuff

Petrified, Petrified, Petrified

There’s been some interesting reporting in the UK media about a “near disaster” over Canary Wharf involving the captain having to intervene (the horror!) after air data systems failed on…

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…