Latest Posts   –  Page 53

360° at 100 feet

Last week, “Captn Al” called out poor decision making in a video of an 727 doing a low-level 360° when he found the runway occupied by a light aircraft. In a week where there have been videos of poor decision making below MSA, sadly here’s another one. Accidents just don’t happen, they are caused! #flying…

Read more… 13 Dec 19

Airbus A320 vs Grumman Avenger

I was offered the opportunity of a free week in Berlin, which is fabulous but I’ve been travelling so much, I haven’t had the time to write something new. What I did write, for reasons that are difficult to explain, was a comparison of the Grumman TBF Avenger and the Airbus A320. These two planes…

Read more… 6 Dec 19

Crop Duster Crashes in Gender Reveal Stunt

On the 9th of July 2019 an Air Tractor AT-602 crashed in Turkey, Texas. Air Tractors are agricultural aircraft and the AT-602 is a good mid-ranged option for a farmer: a single-seater low-wing taildragger with a range of 600 miles and a 630-gallon chemical hopper for crop-dusting or fertilizer distribution. Air Tractor AT-602 AT-602 :…

Read more… 29 Nov 19

Wingless Flight in the M2-F1

Sometimes, the most interesting aircraft are the experimental ones that barely made it off the ground. Sometimes the most intriguing stories come out of things I don’t understand. ​ I was thinking about hybrid airships and I was struggling to understand the concept of a lifting body. My attempt to understand how a wingless vehicle…

Read more… 23 Nov 19

GoAir Balked Landing (Passenger Video)

Passenger videos often appear scarier than the circumstances warrant, amplified by a lack of aviation experience to know how dangerous the situation actually is. This one is the clear exception to the rule. This video was taken on Monday on GoAir flight G8-811D, a scheduled commercial flight from Nagpur to Bangladore with 180 passengers on…

Read more… 15 Nov 19

Some Jokes Are Not That Funny

I originally saw the headline on BBC news: Southwest Airlines pilots livestreamed plane toilet on hidden camera. A Southwest Airlines flight attendant has filed a lawsuit accusing two pilots of livestreaming a plane’s toilet on hidden camera. The cabin crew member had been asked to the flight deck while the captain used the lavatory, standard…

Read more… 8 Nov 19

Accident Reports

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…

Bomber 139's Third Run: Downhill to Disaster

On the 6th of February 2023, a Boeing 737-3H4 Large Air Tanker crashed into a ridge line of 222 feet elevation in Fitzgerald River National Park in Western Australia. There…

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…

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…

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

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…

Songs About Failed Spacecraft and Space Disasters

This week, I’m handing over Fear of Landing to my friend Jack Keller who promised me a playlist of music relating to my interests. All of the titles except one…