Latest Posts – Page 3
Guest post from Rudy: 22,000 Hours and a Lot of Luck
I’ll be travelling for the next few weeks but I am glad to say I’ve got some great content lined up for you, starting with a new guest post from Rudy! I’m sure you’ll love the final image as much as I do. Please give Rudy a warm welcome and say hello in the comments!…
Read more… 24 Oct 25
It’s clear, but just barely: Ground collision at Seattle
There was light snow and congestion on the morning at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on the 5th of February 2025. Visibility was good but the temperatures hovered just above freezing and the ramp was slippery with a mix of light snowfall and de-icing fluid. Delta Airlines flight 1921 was a Boeing 737-832 registered in the US…
Read more… 17 Oct 25
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 crash into a residential building, clearly meant to depict the fatal crash of Air India flight 171. The passenger flight crashed into the hostel block…
Read more… 10 Oct 25
“A Group of Pissed Off Hornets”: An Instructor’s Snapchat Story of a Fatal Flight
I don’t like to be negative about flight instructors; it’s a difficult job that usually pays badly and requires superhuman levels of focus and patience. I had two amazing instructors who very much loved flying and were excited to share their passion with me. But of course the fatal accidents caused by bad instructors are…
Read more… 3 Oct 25
Pilots or Toilets: Is This Viral ATC Audio Real?
There’s a YouTube video by ATC Audio making the rounds with a shocking title: She says Both Pilots INOPERATIVE. Real ATC Audio. The video claims to have real ATC audio of Tap Air Portugal flight TAP484H, a scheduled passenger flight from Lisbon, Portugal to Nice, France. The audio covers an aviation miscommunication which led to…
Read more… 26 Sep 25
The Mystery of the Caged Tyres and the Porcupine Who Flew Home
This photograph was posted to r/shittyaskflying, a subreddit dedicated to asking silly questions and giving silly answers. In this case, the photograph is enough to make one wonder what’s going on. The caption reads: Why all the wheel chocks? Strong winds? The answers are predictably hilarious. No_Mathematician2527 writes: Stops porcupine from chewing the tires. Why…
Read more… 19 Sep 25
Accident Reports
Any Landing You Can Float Away From: Successful Ditching in the Arctic
On the 29th of July 2024, a light aircraft encountered engine trouble off the coast of Greenland and was forced to ditch in the North Atlantic. The aircraft was a…
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…
Demystifying
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…
Greg Bagwell on Scheduling a Combat Air Patrol
I was fascinated by Greg Bagwell’s thread on X/Twitter last week and I can’t help wanting to share it with you. Greg Bagwell CB CBE is a retired senior Royal Air…
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
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…
