You may recall these photographs from the mainstream media in 2009, when an aircraft crashed into an airport building, killing one passenger. The CRJ-100 had just taken off from Kigali International Airport when the flight crew declared an emergency after developing a fault with the throttle. They returned to Kigali and landed safely. At the…
Read more… 21 Apr 17
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
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
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
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
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
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…