Latest Posts – Page 73
Parachute deployed in flat spin at 1,000 feet
This video was posted to a number of aviation forums last week and it’s easy to see why. I literally watched it three times in a row on the spot when I first encountered it. The clip is from a cockpit video of a pilot in a spin who then deploys the parachute as the…
Read more… 22 Dec 17
Goddamned Cat
Sometimes the best stories are the ones that aren’t so famous, where the race was not won and the record was not broken. This is such a story. It’s the story of a cat, who was neither the first cat to fly nor the first cat to cross the Atlantic. But the cat rubbed shoulders…
Read more… 15 Dec 17
Ground to EVA35, Apparently You Hit a Pole
Earlier this week there was a bit of a fender-bender at Toronto Pearson International Airport. EVA Air flight 35 was a scheduled flight from Toronto departing at 00:45 am local time for a 16 hour flight to Taipei. The aircraft was a Boeing 777-300 B-16718. It was early morning and dark at Toronto, although the…
Read more… 8 Dec 17
Do Not Remove From Aircraft
I’m going to Helsinki this weekend (sadly by ferry not by plane) but I have a guest post by Simon Rockman for you which is, I think, delightfully different. I worked with Simon in the previous century (!!!), way back when the Internet was a new and shiny thing. He was the go-to man for…
Read more… 1 Dec 17
Moose Hunt Crash, Bethel Alaska
This video is from an accident in September 2015 but it only just recently has come to my attention. As usual, I couldn’t resist trying to find out as much as I could about the incident. You already know I’m a sucker for a happy ending. The aircraft, registration N910SP, is a Helio H-395 Super…
Read more… 24 Nov 17
Quite the Fall
This video from the 11th of November shows a cabin crew member falling out of an aircraft, grabbing the doorway edge before losing her grasp and landing on the tarmac below. The drop from the rear doorway of the 737 is around 2.7 meters (9 feet). The story was originally reported in the Beijing Youth…
Read more… 17 Nov 17
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
The First Jet to Land on an Aircraft Carrier (Deliberately)
“The Vampire was the first jet to land on a moving aircraft carrier deliberately.” This quote from Airshow Luke, our MC at the Legacy of Liberty airshow, made me almost…
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…
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…
