Latest Posts   –  Page 167

Alderney Lighthouse

Alderney Lighthouse Originally uploaded by fearoflanding. I’ve set up a separate flickr account for this blog, so I can add photographs quickly and not confuse people with a photostream full of my house in Spain. I’ll probably retroactively add stuff but more important at the moment is to go through all the images (some 200!)…

Read more… 2 Jan 07

Happy New Year!

My resolutions. Short-term: 1) I will get working on Alderney this week and finish it off. 2) I will sort through and post all the millions of photographs gathering virtual dust on my hard-drive. 3) I’ll go back to thinking about this one island at a time rather than get overwhelmed at the total number…

Read more… 30 Dec 06

Isle of Wight – local white wine?

“Marked as medium-dry but not sweet at all. In fact, it’s sour … but surprisingly drinkable after the first shock. I could imagine enjoying it in sunnier climates mixed with mineral water as a tart wine spritzer.” Why I would bother to write all that and not name the wine is beyond me. I don’t…

Read more… 10 Oct 06

New Look

A winter re-design. There were quite a few small things on the site that needed dealing with and Cliff volunteered to help with bringing WordPress to heel. I have to admit I thought the grey was particularly appropriate, given the issues with winter flying in the UK. The categories and archives should be a bit…

Read more… 7 Oct 06

The Shipwreck of the Stella

The Casquets, the set of towers we’d seen on the flight in, is not surprisingly an important figure within the recent history of the island but the most interesting and tragic story is told at the Maritime Museum: the wreck of the Stella. In the 1890s the competition between the ‘London and South Western’ and…

Read more… 5 Oct 06

I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore…

This trip, I learned how to tie down the plane after the housekeeper at our Bed and Breakfast warned us of an upcoming hurricane. “It’s really a hurricane?” I asked Lynne. “Yes, tail-end of one. Which one is it?” “Gordon,” piped up someone in the corner of the room. “No, not Gordon,” said Lynne. “That…

Read more… 30 Sep 06

Accident Reports

Ferry Tank Failure: Successful SR22 Ditching in the Pacific

In 2015, I shared a video of an SR22 whose pilot successfully deployed his Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) off of the coast of Maui, Hawai’i. I wrote at the time…

The Man in the Right Seat at Prestwick

On the 23rd of April 2024, a Piper Archer II crashed in South Ayrshire, Scotland, after losing power. There were two on board. Both suffered serious injuries and the light…

Demystifying

Meowing on Guard (an attempt at an explanation)

Last week a video went viral and it’s been fun to see the mainstream media coverage try to cover two pilots who were heard making animal noises on the radio. …

Trump Threatens to Ground Canadian Aircraft Over Gulfstream Certification

The US President, Donald Trump, posted the following to Truth Social last night. Based on the fact that Canada has wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly refused to certify the Gulfstream 500,…

History

Four Point Two Stars Where You Only Stop If You Have To

I always look up airports when I’m writing about them, partly out of habit and partly because I’m afraid I’ll miss an important detail. When I was writing Any Landing…

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…

Fun Stuff

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…