Category: Miscellaneous
An Hour with Sid, Zero Speculation Required
Last week I sat down with Sid for the Sit Down With Sid podcast, and he let me ramble on about MH370 for two straight hours. We talked about the forensic data, the limits of radar, why the Ocean Infinity search came up empty, and why the “pilot did it” narrative is on shakier ground…
Read more… 5 Jun 26
I wanted to post this from 30,000 feet
I’m in transit this week, somewhere between time zones, airport coffee, and the unsettling suspicion that I’ve forgotten something important. The article about a double-engine failure that I planned to finish in advance kept getting more complicated. At the point where I thought “maybe this is a three-part article”, I realised that I wasn’t going…
Read more… 10 Apr 26
Fear of Landing Turns Twenty
It’s a curious thing to realize you’ve been doing something for decades without ever quite intending to. Last month, I realised that I created Fear of Landing exactly twenty years ago. The original hook was a crazy dream: fly into every British island with a strip. The kind of plan usually reserved for people who…
Read more… 13 Mar 26
Happy New Year!
My very first post on this site was February 2006, with a crazy plan to fly to all of the British Isles with a runway. I don’t think I managed more than ten: the whole escapade turned out to be a lot more expensive and a lot more time consuming than I had envisioned. But…
Read more… 2 Jan 26
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 who offered condolences and thoughtful comments. One person sent me this comic which actually made me laugh out loud. Nathan Pyle is an American cartoonist…
Read more… 12 Dec 25
Holding Pattern
My mother has died after a terrible stroke. I’m in New Mexico now, dealing with everything that follows, and I’m struggling with it all. There won’t be a post this week. I’ll be back next Friday.
Read more… 5 Dec 25
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
The Pilots, the Probes, and the AF447 Verdict
On the 21st of May 2026, the Paris Court of Appeal convicted Airbus and Air France of involuntary manslaughter for their roles in the crash of Air France flight 447,…
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. …
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…
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…
