The Aviation Herald has the details of the final report by the Dutch Safety Board regarding the Easyjet near miss in Amsterdam. The article includes a translation of the probable cause in English. It sounds like it was a close call:

Report: Easyjet A319 at Amsterdam on Mar 5th 2007, began takeoff without clearance

An Easyjet Airbus A319-100, registration G-EZIP performing flight U2-6164 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Bristol,EN (UK), was lined up on runway 24 waiting for departure. A Boeing 747-400 had been cleared to cross runway 24 at taxiway S2 about 1850 meters (6070 feet) down the runway and was moving into the protected runway area, when the tower cleared another Airbus A330 for takeoff from runway 18L. The A330 crew did not immediately read back their clearance, however the takeoff clearance was mistakenly read back by the Easyjet crew mentioning runway 24L which does not exist. The trainee assistant controller noticed the wrong crew had read back the clearance, saw the A319 start moving and warned the controller, who radioed the Easyjet crew to stop, which was acknowledged and the A319 crew stopped their aircraft. The crew of the Boeing 747-400 cleared to cross runway 24 did not notice the occurrence.

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There’s an interesting post by Aviation Mentor: a book review of The Checklist Manifesto from the point of view of a flight instructor. I recommend reading the full post: Aviation Mentor: The Problem with Checklists. However, if you need convincing to follow your checklists, consider this video of a fatal crash when neither pilot checked the controls were free and clear (not for the faint of heart):

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Remember the ‘Barefoot Bandit’? Aopa Online have written an article about the various aircraft he stole (four confirmed, possibly a Cirrus SR22 at the beginning of the year – I can see the temptation!) and the aftermath from the owners’ points of view:

AOPA Online: Could it happen to YOU?

Thinking it was a prank, Rivers picked up the phone. “He said, ‘We have an airplane down on the Yakama Indian Reservation’s tribal hunting grounds and I’m glad to hear your voice. We can’t find the pilot.”

But Rivers knew that his 1999 Cessna 182 was in its hangar at the Orcas Island Airport in Eastsound, Washington. “I called my mechanic, Geoff, and said I had a nutty call from the state police and they say my airplane has crashed. Would you poke your head in my hangar?”

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This analysis of an Air India flight which went into a nose-dive and lost over 7,000 feet is chilling:
Report: Air India Express B738 over Arabian Sea on May 26th 2010, inadvertent nose dive

An Air India Express Boeing 737-800, registration VT-AXJ performing flight IX-212 from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Pune (India) with 113 passengers, was enroute at FL370 at Mach 0.76 between waypoints PARAR and DOGET with autopilot A in CMD mode and autothrottle engaged. The captain decided to take a short break to visit the washroom and left the cockpit, however noticed the washroom was occupied and wanted to return to the cockpit, when he noticed the airplane was pitching down. He attempted to enter the cockpit, the cockpit door however did not open. He used the emergency access code to open the door and re-entered the cockpit about 40 seconds after he had left the cockpit. He observed the airplane’s attitude was 26 degrees nose down and 5 degrees left bank, the speed in the red band, the mach overspeed clackers sounding.

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On a brighter note, the FlightAware newsletter included this YouTube video of the B787 Dreamliner coming into Keflavic in a heavy crosswind (runway 20 with wind from 120 at 30 gusting 36). It’s a beautiful landing:

There is a great set of photographs making the rounds of single-engine aircraft flying in formation over water. When I first saw them, I wasn’t sure if they were real or photoshopped.

I found out on the PPRuNe Forums that the photographs are real and show the South African aerobatic team the Flying Lions, photographed in 2006 by Frans Dely.

Early morning anglers are treated to the spectacle of four T6 Harvard Aircraft from The Flying Lions Aerobatic Team waterskiing across the Klipdrift Dam near Johannesburg South Africa.

Lead by Scully Levin, with wingmen Arnie Meneghelli, Stewart Lithgow and Ellis Levin, this renowned airshow display team rehearse a sequence for the newly launched “Aviation Action” television program on Supersport. Arnie Meneghelli from Academy Brushware, owner of the aircraft, had this to say, “What we did today I believe is a world first. It illustrates that South African airshow pilots are amongst the best in the world”.

This unusual act, approved by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and supported by Castrol Aviation, was meticulously planned and took place under the watchfull eye of divers and paramedics that were on site.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find official copies of the photographs to link to a larger size but you can see the images on the thread discussing the event.

You can see also the Flying Lions in action over Klipdrift Dam on YouTube:

I get tense just imagining flying that low and skimming the water like that, let alone in formation. I love reading about aerobatics and crop dusters but I don’t think I could do it.

Tudor Owen, who is well-known on PPRuNe as Flying Lawyer (although he is now a Circuit Judge in London), got a chance to try it. He sent me this photograph of himself with the Flying Lions team leader, Scully Levin (on the left) in Cape Town:

He also related this great story about flying with a crop-duster pilot in the States:

I learnt to fly a Harvard on a farm strip in Texas many years ago, and my check pilot was a cropduster. We flew along Padre Island one day – largely uninhabited, just off the coast, stretching for miles along the Gulf of Mexico – and I took up his suggestion of doing some low flying.

After a few miles along the deserted beach, through the headset came, “D’ya want me to show ya low flying?”

I thought I was. I discovered our ideas of ‘low’ were very different. Wow!

As we turned to head for home, “D’ya wanna try it? I’ll watch ya.”

‘Yes Sirreee!’

He took me up in a crop-duster before I left. (Single-seat, but a roomy cockpit – and many miles from any FAA eyes. ) His precision and low level handling skills were absolutely phenomenal.

I’d always assumed cropdusters stayed above, or climbed over, any telephone lines/small power lines stretched across fields. Wrong!

“No way, wires can kill ya! Gotta stay under wire height in case ya don’t see ‘em. Anyways, if the farmers round here see daylight under your wheels they complain to the boss and won’t pay.”

The first wing-over from virtually ground level when doing a 180 at the end of a field took me a little by surprise (to say the least), but it was one of the most exhilarating and exciting flights I’ve had yet.

I was lost in admiration for his skill, but it was just another day’s work for him.

Every man to his job, as they say.

Well, as for me, I think I’ll be staying above those wires and keeping my wheels out of the water. Still, I wouldn’t mind being a passenger on one of those flights – as long as I’m allowed to keep my eyes closed.

Although I’ve never had an issue with flying or even heights, I found myself terrified of the plane. I was deeply afraid of being in control … or specifically of losing control of the aircraft and plunging to my death. Fortunately, my instructor and my partner were both very patient and their support was unwavering. Eventually, however, I had to make it through my first solo flight, alone.

“Seriously,” Oliver said for the 15th time. “You’ll be fine. I wouldn’t tell you to go out there alone if I didn’t think you could do it.

I stood on the tarmac, staring hatefully at the plane. I didn’t like it, it didn’t like me. The night before I had checked my log book to see if I could argue my way out of this based on inexperience. I had logged 25 hours in the plane, with 60 take-offs and landings. Everyone else had long since done their first solo: taking the plane once around the circuit and then landing again. They’d been out alone with the plane plenty of times, even flying out over the coast and back. Everyone but me.

“What if I get lost?”

“In the circuit?” Oliver rolled his eyes.

“What if I miss a turn or something and then end up in Malaga airspace and they send over the police helicopters and shoot at me with long range rifles to get me out of the way?”

“Get in the plane, Sylvia.” He held up his hand to forestall any further arguments. “You’ll be fine. I promise you. I’ll be on the radio so you can talk to me if you need to.”

I pulled myself into the cockpit and sat in the left seat, staring at the instruments. Then, for the first time, I leant over the right seat and checked the door was latched shut. I was going up alone.

I knew it was time. The instructors were only going to be in Spain for another week. Cliff had given up on asking me when I was going to do my solo, instead he took it up directly with Oliver. I heard them whispering my name, glancing in my direction and talking about confidence. Oliver wouldn’t send me up if he didn’t think I was competent, I knew that. I’d been flying this plane every day and I knew how the circuit worked. Just yesterday, I’d told Cliff how Oliver was leaning over, watching a helicopter fly past while I was downwind. I smacked Oliver’s thigh, complaining he was supposed to be watching over me! But instead he told me the make of the helicopter and how he would love to fly it. He knew I had control of the aircraft. He knew I could do it.

It was only me holding myself back now.

I got out my checklist and started the engine. Just one circuit. Just one and then I could go home and hide under the duvet. I taxied out, did the longest power checks I could possibly justify, and then pulled onto the runway and stopped. I could barely hear the engine over the pounding of the blood in my head.

Axarquia is a quiet little airfield, it doesn’t see much traffic. But still, I knew that the one place I could not stop was here, blocking the runway. I keyed the mike. “Rolling,” I whispered. I clenched the controls, knuckles white with effort. I took a deep breath and started talking to myself. For reasons that I will never understand, my personal pep-talk came out in badly metered rhyme.

“OK, Sylvia, do it. Full power, do it now, watch that airspeed, you know how. One-two-three-four, you been flying all week, what’s a little bit more? 500 feet, that’s what he says, then a gentle turn like you do best.”

I went into the turn, taking deep breaths. I could feel the panic welling in my throat. I was in control of a fucking plane in the fucking air with no one there to stop me from crashing it into the side of a mountain. Like the one looming up right in front of me. I went back to my odd chanting. “1,000 feet, make that turn, feel the beat, feel the burn. You’re downwind now, need a radio call, you remember how, you remember it all.” I swallowed hard. It was time for my downwind call. “Golf Papa Echo, downwind for runway zero nine to land.”

I let go of the button as the cold realisation struck me that I’d been pressing it all along. I’d broadcasted every word of my impromptu doggerel to the crowded instruction room, where they stood huddled around the radio in case I made a call for help.

My embarrassment was cut off by the fact that I was still heading downwind and hadn’t done my next set of checks. I didn’t care what I had to do to get through this, I honestly didn’t. Still, I wiggled my finger to ensure that I wasn’t still broadcasting to the field radio.

The downwind checks were encapsulated in an mnemonic called BUMPFFICH which worked almost as well as my nerve-easing chant. Brakes, Undercarriage, Mixture, Prop, Fuel, Flaps, Instruments, Carb-heat, Hatches and Harnesses. I made the adjustments to the plane as needed. I took another deep breath. I had plenty of time, I knew exactly where I was, everything was fine. More than fine, everything was perfect.

I turned the plane again and began my descent. This was the tricky bit: I needed to descend into the valley without reacting to the olive-tree covered hills which seemed so desperately close. I turned again onto final, the runway straight in front of me.

That’s when it struck me. I was flying. I wasn’t just along for the ride. I wasn’t going through the motions as someone told me what to. I was alone in this plane, reliant on no one but myself and I was flying it. And dammit, I was flying it well.

I pressed the lever for a final level of flaps and called in. “Golf Papa Echo, final to land, zero nine.”

I was calm and confident. I’d done the circuit, this was a good approach and I was ready to land the plane. I felt focused and centred. Hold it up up up right over the trees, watch that airspeed, look at the numbers and then let the plane sink down towards the ground and hooooold it steady. My arms shook with concentration. I felt the rear wheels touch first and then gently, the nose wheel sunk onto the tarmac. I pressed my feet hard on the pedals to stop the plane. I’d done it.

“What was that supposed to be, rap?” It was Lee, the other instructor, who had run out to the apron to be the first to speak to me. lauging even as he hugged me. Oliver waited by the tower, clapping his hands in applause as I climbed out of the cockpit which a huge smile on my face.

“Best circuit I’ve ever seen you do,” he said. He patted me on the shoulder. “Seriously, that was great. Really awesome. Come inside for a break, have a glass of water. Then I want to see you do that six more times.”

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Read the whole story in my ebook: You Fly Like a Woman

Qantas Airways flight QF32 made an emergency landing in Singapore yesterday after what was initially described as an “engine explosion”. The Airbus A380 was carrying 440 passengers and 26 crew to Sydney via Singapore. A few minutes after take-off, the No 2 engine showed “abnormal engine indications” and was shut down. The flight continued for a further forty minutes to reduce fuel and then landed at Singapore. A passenger described it as two explosions followed by the cabin rattling and another stated that he could see where the engine had come away and torn through the wing.

Pieces of fibre debris up to one metre dropped onto a densely populated area on Batam Island. After landing, a further engine failed to shut down, the cause of which is being investigated.

Qantas, who reportedly has a further 20 A380s on order from Airbus, suspended all A380 flights “until sufficient information has been obtained about what occurred on the QF32 aircraft”.

The Airbus 380 is the largest passenger jet and can carry up to 800 passengers.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is leading the investigation and have stated that a preliminary factual report will be available by the 3rd of December.

Updates are being posted here: Investigation: AO-2010-089 – Qantas Airbus A380 – Inflight engine failure, Indonesia

One of the passengers, Ulf Waschbusch, posted to his blog with a set of photographs from the incident: I’m safe | blog.ulfw.com

The China Post has reported that Qantas believes the cause of the incident was a design flaw in the Rolls Royce engine and that maintenance was not a significant factor. Qantas have stated that they expect A380 flights to resume in 24-48 hours after they have completed safety checks. Singapore Air, who have 11 A380 aircraft using the same engine, also suspended their A380 flights but have announced that they are now resuming all flights.

Perth Now has a slide-show of high quality photographs of the A380 in-flight and the detail of the wing.

Coincidentally, a Qantas 747 also made an emergency landing this week in Singapore, also as a result of engine issues shortly after take-off. Flight QF6 returned to Singapore without incident and the flight will depart later today using the same plane. The BBC News – Factfile: Airbus A380 contrasts the Airbus A380 to the Boeing 747.