Latest Posts   –  Page 81

MH370 in the news again

So there’s been an influx of headlines about Malaysia Airlines flight 370. The real news is that Malaysia, China and Australia have agreed that the current search is to be completed, after which they will suspend the search. Operational Update 20 July 2016 Consistent with the undertaking given by the Governments of Australia, Malaysia and…

Read more… 29 Jul 16

Wrong Way Corrigan mistakes Ireland for California

The story of how Douglas Corrigan ended up in Ireland while aiming for California is one of my favourites. In fact, I feel sure that I’ve written about him before*. It was seventy-eight years ago, the 17th of July in 1938, when Douglas Corrigan earned the nickname “Wrong Way Corrigan”. He started his aviation career…

Read more… 22 Jul 16

The Glorious Details of the South Pole Rescue

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the Twin Otter Emergency Winter Flight to the South Pole, when it became clear that a rescue mission was needed to land at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in the dead of winter. Point of no return: 5 hrs. Despite extra tanks, Twin Otter doesn’t carry enough…

Read more… 15 Jul 16

Losing Two Functional Engines: TransAsia Airways flight GE235

On the 4th of February 2015, these horrifying photographs of TransAsia Airways flight GE235 were published around the world. These appear to be some photos of the TransAsia ATR72 crashing over the roadway. via @missxoxo168 h/t @marker7193 pic.twitter.com/7WlvhVFI6j — Airline Reporter (@AirlineReporter) February 4, 2015 Just three minutes after take off and three nautical miles…

Read more… 8 Jul 16

Half Asleep Pilot Attempts Go-Around

On the day of the accident, the captain woke up at 2am to drive to the airport. He knew it was going to be a tough, tough day. Although he tried to grab a few hours sleep in a chair in the pilot lounge, it wasn’t enough. Clearly fatigued by the end of the day,…

Read more… 1 Jul 16

The first supersonic jet bomber

This week, I am away camping in rainy North Wales. However, my friend Tatiana works for Picryl (https://picryl.com), a cross-platform application to find traces of history in photos, rare and ancient books, photos, posters and postcards in hundreds of sources like Library of Congress, the Internet Archive, and NASA. Tatiana is an aviation geek too…

Read more… 24 Jun 16

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…