Latest Posts   –  Page 29

VSS Unity: Trajectory Deviation at Mach 3

On the 11th of July 2021, Virgin Galactic’s space vessel, VSS Unity, was launched from the Spaceport American facility near Truth or Consequences in New Mexico, which I have to admit sounds more like a Hunter S. Thompson novel than a real place. There were two pilots and four passengers on board, including company founder,…

Read more… 3 Sep 21

A Little Bit of Everything

There’s so much great aviation writing and video out there and I’m always appreciative when people send me fun things; it seems a shame not to share them! So here’s a collection of pieces that caught my eye this month. My Favorite Aunt Nancy (FAN) sent me this one about the tragic end of the…

Read more… 27 Aug 21

The Mount Erebus Disaster

On the 28th of November 1979, a sight-seeing flight to Antartica crashed into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 on board. The Mount Erebus Disaster, as it came to be known, is famous not just for the tragic accident, New Zealand’s worst peacetime disaster, but also because the final accident report’s conclusion was overturned within a…

Read more… 20 Aug 21

Dreamliner Pre-flight Maintenance

On Wednesday, the 16th of June, British Airways flight 881 from Moscow arrived at Heathrow airport. The aircraft was registration G-ZBJB, a Boeing 787-8 which had been converted from a passenger aircraft to cargo transport. This was one of four Dreamliner aircraft that British Airways began operating in 2013. The next scheduled flight for the…

Read more… 13 Aug 21

Taking Off on One Engine: A Confession

Last week, I posted a follow-up from this runway excursion at Portland, focusing on the cockpit voice recording which proved that the pilot knew he had only one engine before deciding to take off. This week, Rudy is taking control for the blog to tell us about the time that he took off on one…

Read more… 6 Aug 21

Engine Failure Before Take-Off

Last week, we looked at an accident in a business jet which ran off the runway during a failed take-off run. I tried to give you all of the information that the investigators would have had at the scene, although as Mendel pointed out, because I removed the date, I obscured the time of year,…

Read more… 30 Jul 21

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…