Latest Posts   –  Page 4

“I Don’t Know Why I Killed Him But I Did”

The true story of Earnest Pletch is hard to believe, even almost a hundred years later. Commonly referred to as America’s first hijack, I’m not sure where else there might have been an earlier one. Also, I think it should technically be referred to as in-flight theft of an aircraft, I guess, not to mention…

Read more… 14 Apr 17

Aviation Horror Movies

This is a fun guest post by my friend John who works at the Royal Vegas casino. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! Setting a horror film on a plane also adds another dimension of fear because there is literally nowhere to run. Some of the best horror films that are…

Read more… 12 Apr 17

Pilot Suicide Disputed by Family: Germanwings 9525

The tragedy of Germanwings 9525 happened two years ago and I reported on the final report from the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) when it was released in March of last year. The BEA concluded that the crash was caused by the deliberate and planned action of the first officer who decided to commit suicide…

Read more… 7 Apr 17

Dubious New Technique: Wing-Stop Manoeuvre

There’s been a lot of chatter about the Peruvian Boeing 737 which collapsed on landing a few days ago. Obviously there’s not a report yet, but I wanted to try to collect the information so far because three days after the incident. It’s still not clear to me what actually happened. (Also, I love the…

Read more… 31 Mar 17

The Mystery of Nightship 282

I often praise the NTSB for thorough and balanced reports but occasionally, there’s one that makes me wonder what the hell someone was thinking.  The Night Ship final report fits into this category.  The accident happened in 2002, on the evening of the 23rd of October. The aircraft was a Cessna 208B Cargomaster, registration N76U.…

Read more… 24 Mar 17

Inflight Casinos: Good Idea or Bad News?

I am moving this week so I have another guest post for you. There have been a few references on Fear of Landing about inflight entertainment and whether or not in-flight casinos are an obvious next step or a problem to be avoided at all costs. So I hope you will enjoy Dan Saymour’s article…

Read more… 17 Mar 17

Accident Reports

Fatal Go Around at Tatarstan Part Two

Last week, we left off as the flight crew of flight TAK363, a Boeing 737-500 inbound to Kazan Airport in Tatarstan, broke off their approach for a go around. The…

Fatal Go Around at Tatarstan

On the 17th of November in 2013, the Boeing 737-500 registered in Bermuda as VQ-BBN departed Kazan Airport for scheduled flight TAK 363 to Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport (the largest airport…

Demystifying

The 1% rule and air disaster avoidance

I asked my friend, Robert Dawson, to help me understand the numbers behind risk assessment and the 1% rule. Robert writes fantastic science fiction and poetry, however I contacted him…

Airplane Pens

This is a bit of a short post today to make up for all the heavy posts recently. Me, I’m enjoying the long weekend and a bit of sunshine… This…

History

Amelia Earhart Captured By Japanese

On Wednesday, the news hit the headlines that a newly discovered photograph could show Amelia Earhart in Japanese custody. The photograph, apparently taken by a US spy in the 1930s,…

Sutlej Missing Over Indian Ocean

On 25 March 1986, three Antonov An-32 transport planes departed Muscat, the capital of Oman, in a staggered formation for the Indian Air Force base at Jagmagar. Initially, the Indian…

Fun Stuff

Maybe an Origin Story

It was a lazy evening in 1980 and I was bored at my dad’s house, when I put on his television and flicked through the 150 channels he had, looking…

This Week's Most Amazing Stories

This has been an amazing week for aviation news with unbelievable stories and videos seemingly coming from all directions. Anna and I have been posting every day to the Fear…