The 2008 viral video of an unregistered plane supposedly losing a wing and the brave pilot landing it safely is making the rounds again, much to my disgust and the advertiser’s excitement. The video is completely faked but seems to have done the job of getting people’s attention. To compare, you can see this real video of a radio controlled aircraft landing with one wing – ignoring everthing else, the tilting plane on the runway is what’s clearly missing from the viral video. I find it a little bit bizarre that the advertising clip is continuing to fool so many people. And once they have found out the truth, do they really go and buy clothes?

The reality is not so pretty. The following are true accidents – including video – of the wings falling off during flight. Be warned, the results aren’t pretty. The first two videos are very hard to watch.

In 1983, this light twin (the Italian Partenavia P68C which is not an aerobatic aircraft) was being flown by the owner who had apparently imported the planes and showed them off at local airshows. He began a rapid pull-up at high speed (above the aircraft’s VNE). With an estimated load of 8.3 Gs, the wings separated from the plane. The NTSB determined the probable cause as the pilot in command’s overconfidence in the aircraft’s ability.

Accident Report

No engine sounds were heard during the spin & the prop was observed not rotating before impact. The engine was not equipped with an inverted fuel system. The aircraft was prohibited from aerobatic flight. There was no evidence that the pilot had ever received any aerobatic instruction.

In 2002, this Hercules was hired as fire-fighting plane to combat a 10,000-acre fire in California. The incident occurred on the sixth run of the day, delivering fire retardant. Examining the wreckage, the NTSB discovered fatigue cracks in the right wing’s lower surface skin, originating from the rivet holes. The cause of the accident was metal fatigue with a contributing factor of inadequate maintenance procedures to detect fatigue cracking. All three crew were killed on impact.

Accident Report

Tanker T130 flew down the east side of the drainage valley and proceeded to make a ½ salvo fire retardant drop. Just prior to the completion of the drop, the nose of the airplane appeared to rise and the airplane started to initially arrest its descent and to level out. The nose of the airplane then continued to rise towards a nose up attitude and almost at the completion of the ½ salvo fire retardant drop, the airplane’s wings folded upwards and detached from the fuselage at the center wing box beam-to-fuselage attachment location.

I’ve linked to this before but it is still the most amazing aviation story that I have ever read. Test pilot Bill Weaver tells the story of his SR-71 Blackbird disintegrating around him – and how he survived although he never had a chance to eject.

LiveLeak.com – SR-71 Disintegrates Around Pilot During Flight Test

Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion. I learned later the time from event onset to catastrophic departure from controlled flight was only 2-3 sec. Still trying to communicate with Jim, I blacked out, succumbing to extremely high g-forces. The SR-71 then literally disintegrated around us.

From that point, I was just along for the ride. My next recollection was a hazy thought that I was having a bad dream. Maybe I’ll wake up and get out of this mess, I mused. Gradually regaining consciousness, I realized this was no dream; it had really happened. That also was disturbing, because I could not have survived what had just happened. Therefore, I must be dead. Since I didn’t feel bad–just a detached sense of euphoria–I decided being dead wasn’t so bad after all.

AS FULL AWARENESS took hold, I realized I was not dead, but had somehow separated from the airplane. I had no idea how this could have happened; I hadn’t initiated an ejection. The sound of rushing air and what sounded like straps flapping in the wind confirmed I was falling, but I couldn’t see anything. My pressure suit’s face plate had frozen over and I was staring at a layer of ice.

For an incident with a happy ending, AVweb produced a video showing a wing come off of an aerobatic plane (a Rans S-9 Chaos) during an airshow in Argentina. In this instance, a full-plane parachute saved the pilot’s life.

Real Aircraft Loses Wing, Lands Safely (Under Canopy) – YouTube

Comparing a ballistic ‘chute to a normal parachute worn on the body in this case it seems the full-plane parachute was a good choice. Due to the rate of roll induced by the loss of one wing, it appears questionable that the pilot could have escaped the cockpit and saved himself wearing a conventional parachute on his back. Conventional parachutes are not aided by ballistic deployment and may require more altitude to properly open. Had the pilot been wearing a parachute and managed to escape the spinning aircraft without being hit by it, he may have simply have impacted the ground under a partially opened canopy. In this case, full-plane parachute FTW.

Meanwhile, the University of Cambridge has released a video to show that the common explanation of how wings create lift actually goes against the laws of physics.

How wings really work – Research – University of Cambridge

“A wing lifts when the air pressure above it is lowered. It’s often said that this happens because the airflow moving over the top, curved surface has a longer distance to travel and needs to go faster to have the same transit time as the air travelling along the lower, flat surface. But this is wrong,” he explained. “I don’t know when the explanation first surfaced but it’s been around for decades. You find it taught in textbooks, explained on television and even described in aircraft manuals for pilots. In the worst case, it can lead to a fundamental misunderstanding of some of the most important principles of aerodynamics.”

Mind, a little bit of physics would go a long way towards stopping that viral video from being passed around as real!

Class dismissed.

“After a night of freezing rain, this is what we showed up to. Almost an inch of pure ice on almost every surface of the plane. Even the antennas were completely cased in ice.”

It struck me because today is a glorious flying day here in sunny Swansea. I realised it has been a while since I’ve looked around the UK airfields. What a perfect day for getting up in the air. The images below show the view this afternoon when I took the screenshot. If you click on the image, you’ll go to the airfield website which includes the webcam for an up-to-the-minute view.

Cambridge	Cotswold (Kemble)
Dunstable, Bedfordshire	Glenforsa. Isle of Mull
Gloucestershire Airport	Headcorn
Hollym, Withernsea	Jersey
Kirkwall	Lydd
Northumberland	Oxford
Portmoak near Kinross	Sumburgh, Shetland Isles
Shoreham	Shropshire
Wellesbourne	White Waltham

You can see older views of many of the same airfields in the following posts:

• April 2011: Nothing is so Beautiful as Spring
• December 2010: UK Snow Day on Webcams
• January 2010: Snow on the Runway, Ice on the Wings

I’ll have to look at them by airfield instead of date and see how they have changed!

“La Guardia Airport, information Charley. Clear, wind 220 at 10, temperature 65, dew point 42, altimeter 30.27. Landing and departing runway 22. Advise on initial contact that you have information Charley.”

I was still about fifty miles away from the Big Apple, level at eleven thousand on an IFR flight from a small Pennsylvania town where I had spent the previous night.

This is the beginning of Conga Lines, Skylines and the Lady with a Torch, one of the many great essays on the Stoenworks Aviation website.

It had all of the makings of another beautiful day as VFR conditions extended up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Although we were in sunshine, the valleys down below were still in shadows with the cities and towns showing their twinkling lights as we passed eleven thousand feet overhead. This was one of my favorite times as a corporate pilot. Just me and the airplane, early in the morning. It was like you _owned_ the sky.

I have no time/money for flying this month and the weather’s not great for it even if I could get away. But reading Hal Stoen’s stories almost makes me feel like I’m there. He’s been a flight instructor, a charter pilot, worked for mail and commuter airlines and after all that spent eighteen years as a corporate pilot.

“Good morning Approach, Cessna 1557 Golf is with you, five thousand, Charley.”
“Good morning 57 Golf, turn right heading 090, intercept the runway 22 localizer and track it inbound. Descend to and maintain 2,500.”
“Zero nine zero, localizer inbound, out of five for two point five, 57 Golf.”
“Cessna 57 Golf I have traffic behind you, a Boeing 727. Keep your airspeed up as much as practical.”
“Ah, roger (Chuck Yeager homage), I can give you about 175 knots up to the Marker, then I’ll have to slow down.”
“Understand 57 Golf, give me what you can.”

I bring the power up a few more inches to raise the airspeed to 175 knots indicated. The expensive real estate of Manhattan Island begins to fill the right side of the windshield as I see higher traffic most likely descending into Kennedy, about 15 miles ahead and to our left.

Even better, Hal Stoen takes me places that I’ve never been. He let’s me join him on flights that I will never fly. He’s in the Cessna 421B, a pressurised 8-passenger aircraft. It’s a beauty.

My head is down for a moment as I verify and then switch the auxiliary main fuel pumps from “on” to “standby”. When I look up again I see that we are aimed directly at the Empire State Building. Not a few degrees left of it, nor a few to the right. We’re headed right at the darn thing. This is not faulting the guys at La Guardia, we’re VFR- see and avoid. Wow, what a perspective. 57 Golf had a large front windshield, and the 102 story structure was occupying a fair portion of it.

“Cessna 57 Golf, squawk 1200. Good morning.”
“Ah, roger 57 Golf…..shouldn’t we call somebody?”
“Well Sir, you can give Newark Departure a try if you like, they’re on 126.45. So long!”

It just amazed me. Here we were, over one of the largest cities in the world, and it was “..if you like.” I watched for traffic, and the skyscraper, as I tuned Comm. 2 to 126.45.

“Good morning Newark, Cessna 1557 Golf with you, over downtown Manhattan, squawking 1200. Advisories if you have the time.”
“Cessna 57 Golf, Newark. Stand-by.”

As we were “standing-by” we whisked past the Empire State Building. I could see people out on the observation deck, even at this time of the day. I couldn’t help myself- I waved at them. The temptation to circle around the lovely structure was almost overpowering.

When I mailed him to tell him how much I loved this story, he told me that he thinks he will always regret not making a turn around the Empire State Building. But man, what a view he must have had.

You can read this full story and many more on the website. I swear, if Airman Lost doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, you might not be human.

I’m warning you though, be sure you have an hour or two free before you visit the website. His stories include life lessons (“Never take your first flight with your new boss without the keys to the airplane”) and practical advice (“How to find a good restaurant when at high altitude”) and pilot training (including “a basic primer for the flight simulator neophyte”) and not-so-practical advice (“Achieving weightlessness in a Cessna 150″).

His entire collection is available for sale – 900 pages devoted to aviation stories and flight instruction help – for $12.50 on CD or as a Kindle eBook series on Amazon. Based on what I’ve read on his website, it’s a bargain.

But you should go look for yourself: Stoenworks.

It happened just last week. Dr. Richard McGlaughlin and his daughter Elaine were flying his Cirrus SR22 to Haiti to do charity work, something Mr McGlaughlin has done regularly since the earthquake.

Dr. McG’s Haiti Chronicles – Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association

Dr. Dick “McG” McGlaughlin flew in with a Cirrus full of medical supplies because he “couldn’t stand to hear one more thing on the TV”. His first (short) report from ground zero said, “Everybody should come here- a great ameliorative for feeling put upon.” Interesting that McG ended up taking his own advice to heart. He has since flown his Cirrus to serve in Haiti more or less on a once-monthly basis.

They were a few miles out from Andros Island when they encountered engine trouble. The oil pressure dropped slightly and then within a few minutes it dropped to zero.

Elaine wrote about the experience in the COPA comments:

I’m writing this email from the Sheraton hotel in Nassau, after one of the most exhilarating days of my life. My dad and I took off from the smaller Tamiami-Executive Airport this morning, en route to Haiti after picking up his plane from a couple weeks of routine annual maintenance. I had bought a shiny new digital camera for the trip that morning, and was hungrily reading through the owner’s manual (something I never do) when I heard my dad speak into the headset, calling out to the nearest air traffic controllers that he planned to do an emergency descent because of an unexpected drop in oil pressure.

I thought that was kind of weird, but was mostly interested in organizing my granola bars and putting my travel sunscreen into MY backpack instead of his, and figured that if anything was really going on we would calmly make an unplanned landing on some dusty runway in the Bahamas, fix whatever was going on with the oil pressure, and be on our way. Then my dad’s voice became a little more pressured, and I noticed his hands were shaking.

They were at 9,500 feet. After the radio call, the engine seized and the propeller stopped. Dr. McGlaughlin configured the plane as best as he could and continued to speak to air traffic control. Elaine gradually became aware of the gravity of the situation.

My dad was obviously spooked, but mostly composed, adjusting whichever controls would respond at that point and continuing to communicate with air traffic controllers in various locations. They asked how many “souls” were on board, and I thought to myself that that particular word choice was decidedly morbid for a moment like this. As my dad’s voice became more gravelly, I sensed in him and began to feel myself what I now have the time and luxury to recognize as dread. Dread is sticky, humid; it fills the air and waits heavily, knowing and fearing, hating to have to know, but knowing all the same.

[...]

The air traffic controllers told us that the U.S. Coast Guard had been notified, and that we were four minutes from land. Four minutes was about three minutes too far, because we sank to 2200 feet at what looked to be a mile off shore, and my dad decided to pull the parachute. BOOM! We shot forward, I hit my head pretty hard on the dashboard– the energy of the parachute rocketing out the back of the plane caused us to pitch forward, and all of a sudden we were stopped still, dangling it seemed, looking straight down at so much flash-blue water. Just as quickly as it had careened over, the plane righted itself, the parachute slider doing its job, working the larger overarching parachute upright into the sky. Then we floated downwards, somewhat slowly, and hit the water HARD, a big firm collision right up your spine and down, but before I knew it water was rushing in EVERYwhere, and I couldn’t get my door open and whoa that water was pretty cold, aren’t we in the damn Caribbean here anyway?

Dr McGlaughlin stated separately that he was unsure of what would happen with a Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) splash-down. He decided that he would pull at 2,000 feet above the ocean but then became impatient and deployed at 2,300 feet.

Early Reflections on CAPS Pull #32 by Dick McGlaughlin in the Bahamas – Pull early, pull often! – Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association

Dick vividly describes their splash down as a hard landing, harder than he expected. But both he and Elaine were uninjured. The cabin quickly began to fill with water through the fresh air vents, so they felt urgency to get out of the plane. While Elaine’s door would not open, the pilot door opened easily and both got onto the wing with their life vests and life raft.

As you can see, the plane did not break up on impact and they appear to be waiting relatively comfortably considering the 4-man raft looks about the size of a postage stamp.

Currrus have stated that this is the 28th save (making for a total of 53 survivors) since the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System was launched. Although having read the account, I’m sure Dr McGlaughlin could equally have handled a standard water ditching – he was perfectly in control and making decisions in what is for all of us a frightening possibility: engine failure during a water crossing.

Don’t you just love a happy ending?

The media is very focused on on fatigue at the moment and how it affects pilots. This 737 running off the runway, killing 158 people, is a reminder that fatigue is only one small piece in the puzzle.

Air India Express 812 was a quick-turnaround night flight, Mangalore to Dubai and back.

The captain, a 55-year-old Serbian national, had just returned from a few weeks spent at home. Air India Express employs a number of foreign captains, on a contract of eight weeks of flying duty followed by two weeks at home. The captain just had returned from two weeks in his hometown. This was his first flight since coming back on duty. He had over ten thousand hours flying experience as a Pilot in Command with 2,844 of those on the B-737-800.

The First Officer, a 40-year-old Indian national, was waiting for Command Training on the 737. He’d queried about the conversion six months before the accident but had received a generic response regarding company policy. He was a stickler for procedure and had previously complained about another foreign Captain who had not followed the company SOP. A note was made not to pair those two pilots together. It’s not hard to imagine his frustration at not being taken seriously.

The cockpit recorder has two hours of five minutes of the flight – the recording cycles over itself. I’m not sure why that might be, in this day and age of cheap storage. It would seem trivial to record twelve hours before recording over itself in order to give us a full picture of flight interactions. The result, in this instance, is that we do not know what interactions took place between the pilots that evening. We don’t know what conversation took place in the cockpit prior to the final descent.

The aircraft and crew departed Mangalore at 21:35 local time (Indian Standard Time, which I will use for all further times). No pre-flight medical check took place; however the crew interacted with engineering personnel at Mangalore who said both pilots seemed healthy and normal. It was a routine flight and they landed at Dubai on schedule at 01:14. They stopped at Dubai for just under an hour and a half and then at 02:36 they departed, on schedule for a 06:30 arrival in Mangalore. There were 160 passengers on board, including four infants. The take-off, climb and cruise appear to have been uneventful. There were many families in the cabin, quite a few first-time flyers. As the plane levelled off into the cruise, they probably dozed.

Certainly the captain did.

Our recording from the cockpit begins at 4am with the sound of the Captain snoring. He’s clearly deeply asleep for the first hour and forty minutes of the recording. He’s breathing deeply and is unaffected by the sounds of the First Officer making radio calls.

05:32:48 The first officer contacts Mangalore Area Control to say they are approaching reporting point IGAMA at flight level 370. He requests radar identification and is informed that the Mangalore Area Radar is out of service.

Mangalore Area Radar had been out of commission since the day before and a NOTAM had been issued. I would have expected the flight crew to have been made aware of this when they left Mangalore that evening.

05:33:20 The first officer reports position at IGAMA and asks regarding the approach. He requests descent clearance, which is denied to ensure safe separation with other aircraft.

Airlines that allow for controlled rest in the cockpit – that is to say, taking a quick nap while in the cruise – have specific regulations in place including this key point: a sleeping pilot must be woken at least 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the descent. This is to ensure that the pilot is properly awake before the critical phase of flight begins. Air India Express does not have a policy in place for controlled rest. It may not have occurred to the First Officer that he was obliged to wake the Captain with plenty of notice before the descent. There’s no evidence that he attempted to wake the Captain at all.

05:46:54 The first officer reports position and is cleared to descend to 7,000 feet. The aircraft begins the descent.

The cockpit recorder has some quiet mutterings from the Captain’s channel just prior to the descent. He’s woken up. There is no evidence of a descent and landing briefing.

From the accident report:

The crew had failed to plan the descent profile so as to arrive at correct altitude for positioning into ILS approach. The First Officer had said on the intercom to the Captain “RADAR NOT AVAILABLE, BUT I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO.” This indicated that he was possibly not aware of procedure in case the radar was not available and in such a scenario, how to plan a descent and approach if not permitted by the Area Control to descend at the desired distance on DME.

Mangalore has a table top runway located at 337 feet above mean sea level. It is considered a challenging airport because of the surrounding terrain. Because of this, Air India Express standard operating procedure is such that only the Pilot in Command – that is to say the Captain – can carry out take-off and landings at Mangalore.

The Captain had done 16 landings at Mangalore. The First Officer had acted as co-pilot for 66 flights at Mangalore.

The flight is cleared to continue descent to 2,900 feet. The First Officer requests a direct route to radial 338 to join the 10 DME arc, which is approved.

The plane is high throughout this descent.

05:52:43 The aircraft is handed to ATC Tower at Mangalore. The tower is manned at this time of the morning specifically for the Dubai-Mangalore flight which is the first of the morning. ATC ask Air India Express to report established on the 10 DME arc for ILS runway 24. The First Officer acknowledges and yawns.

The airport reports the 10 DME arc and are asked to report established on the ILS.

The Captain selects Landing Gear DOWN at an altitude of approximately 8,500 feet, with speedbrakes still deployed in the Flight Detent position. This is clearly to increase the rate of descent. He’s too high and he knows it.

His configuration changes aren’t enough. The aircraft is still too high and fails to intercept the ILS glide path. In fact, it is at almost twice the altitude as it should be for a standard ILS approach.

06:03:14 The Captain selects the flaps at 40 degrees and completes the landing checklist.

06:03:35 At about 2.5 DME, the radio altimeter alerts the crew that their altitude is 2,500 feet.

06:03:33 The First Officer calls “it’s too high” and then “Runway straight down!” He’s just spotted the runway, coming up fast. They’re not on the approach path.

The Captain responds with “Oh my god” He disconnects the auto-pilot and increases the rate of descent.

06:03:53 The First Officer queries: “go around?”

They are in an unstabilised approach. The aircraft is too high and going too fast. It is absolutely correct that they should go around: break off the approach and circle around and try again.

06:03:56 The Captain responds with “Wrong Loc .. Localiser … glide path.”

So it is clear: the captain is not incapacitated. He is in control of the aircraft and comprehending at least some of the issues affecting the approach. However, he makes no move to go around. He’s still trying to get down to the runway in time.

The Extended Ground Proximity Warning System begins to sound an alarm: SINK RATE, SINK RATE. They are going down too fast.

06:04:02 The First Officer says “Go around Captain” and “Unstabilised!” but does not take any action to initiate a go-around.

There’s no question that they should go around. As a part of his training, the First Officer should have received very clear instructions as to when to take this decision. In most commercial airlines, the First Officer is expected to break off an unstabilised approach if the Captain is continuing despite a call to go around. This approach is clearly unstabilised. Assertiveness training is often offered in order to give the First Officer the confidence to override his captain in exactly this situation. A First Officer must have clear guidelines, confidence that his decision will not be held against him, and a good working environment within the cockpit. On Air India Express 812, the First Officer had none of the above.

The Captain does not go around. He makes visual contact with the runway and increases the rate of descent to almost 4,000 feet per minute.

This isn’t enough to cause screaming in the back. It’s unlikely that the passengers in the cabin even noticed that this is a more rapid descent than normal. They aren’t regular commuters and the rate of descent is not aggressive enough to feel like the plane is diving. Nevertheless, it is much greater than it should be for that approach.

The tower hasn’t heard from the flight and so they make contact: “Express India Eight One Two – confirm established.” Are you established on the ILS? Are you at the correct height going at the correct speed?

The First Officer doesn’t respond.

The Captain says “Affirmative” to him. When the First Officer doesn’t make the call, the captain barks it at him again: “Affirmative!”

The First Officer keys the radio. “Affirmative,” he says to the tower, even though he knows they are not established. They are too high and too fast.

Air India Express 812 is given landing clearance. Winds are calm.

For this flight, the target speed should have been 144 knots at 50 feet as they cross the threshold of the runway.

They cross the threshold at 200 feet with an indicated speed in excess of 160 knots.

06:04:38 Just before they touchdown, the Flight Officer calls out “Go around captain,” followed by “We don’t have runway left.”

From the accident report:

With the first Officer not showing any signs of assertiveness, the Captain had continued with the faulty approach and landing, possibly due to incorrect assessment of his own ability to pull off a safe landing. This violation of laid down SOP by the Captain can be attributed to fatigue, sleep inertia and the phenomenon of ‘GET OVER WITH IT’.

The captain continues the landing. Final touchdown is at 5,200 feet from the threshold of runway 24, leaving 2,800 feet of remaining paved surface.

Two thirds of the runway was behind them when the final mistake was made.

The captain selected the thrust reverser and commenced braking in order to stop as quickly as possible in the last third of the runway.

The full runway is 8,003 feet, more than enough for a 737 to land on. Boeing did tests simulating the conditions of the Air India Express 812 landing using the configuration of the aircraft. They came to the conclusion that if the Captain had applied maximum manual braking – that is, remained committed to the landing – the aircraft would have come to a halt at 7,600 feet beyond the threshold. The plane could and would have stopped before the end of the runway.

The only thing the Captain needed to do was continue braking.

But the Captain didn’t do that. He changed his mind. With two thirds of the runway behind him, having successfully landed and begun to slow the plane, he put full power on and attempted to take off again.

The last words recorded was one of the pilots saying, “Oh my God.” At this moment, 06:05:00 am on the 22nd of May 2010, the cockpit voice recorder went blank.

The 737 accelerated across the remainder of the runway and the overshoot. The right wing hit an ILS antenna mounting structure. The aircraft hit the fence and fell into a gorge.

INDIA Mangalore, survivor tells of air disaster – Asia News

Joel, a 24-year old native of Vamanjur, a town near Mangalore, was returning from a month spent in Dubai with his sister after completing a course of study on computer aided design in mechanical engineering. “I was in seat 23 – he tells AsiaNews – and we had barely touched the ground when it seemed that the pilot lost control of the aircraft.” He adds that “despite attempts by the pilot to stop the vehicle, it did not happen, the airplane crashed and the cabin was filled with a thick blanket of smoke. “Me and six others managed to escape – he confesses – and then we saw the plane break in two.”

The aircraft was destroyed in the impact and resulting fire. There were only eight survivors. All six crew members and 152 passengers lost their lives.

The DCGA cited the Captain’s persistence in landing as the direct cause, especially in light of the three calls from the First Officer to go around.

Even that was still survivable, if he’d just hit the brakes and done everything in his power to stop the plane. But there’s no question that continuing the approach was the primary factor.

Contributory factors:

1) Sleep inertia leading to impaired judgement. The Captain was in a prolonged sleep, waking at the top of the descent. The slowness of waking would be accentuated while flying in the Window of Circadian Low.

Quite honestly, I can’t see any other reason why he would make that bizarre choice to try to go around at the last minute, having successfully brought the plane to the ground. I can understand the desire to recover the approach. But having succeeded, and to the Captain’s credit, he had, it is beyond bizarre that he would then change his mind. This goes against all training and againt all standard operating procedures for the plane. It is crazy that an experienced Captain with over 10,000 hours in command would make such a reversal. I can only think that he was truly not quite awake and not actually understanding what was going on. Nothing else makes sense.

2) The aircraft was given a descent at a shorter distance than normal.

This should be a non-issue. However, it’s clear that the First Officer did not know how to deal with the last-minute change and the crew never planned the descent profile in order to correctly intercept.

3) The First Officer did not initiate a go around. Specifically: “the First Officer gave repeated calls to this effect, but did not take over the controls to actually discontinue the ill-fated approach.”

This strikes me as incredibly unfair. There is a clear training and cockpit resource management emphasis that needs to be in place at an airline in order to empower a First Officer to take control of the aircraft.

In this cockpit, the Captain expected the First Officer to do as he was told. This is clear from his insistence that the First Officer respond to ATC that they were established on the ILS when they most clearly were not. If ATC had been aware that the flight was not established, they would not have given the clearance to land.

But more importantly, the DGCA, even following this devastating report, has not clarified the issue in order to offer confidence to First Officers. In fact, going through their circulars, it seems clear that the Pilot Not Flying should not initiate a go around in a circumstance such as this.

The 15/2010 circular, still in effect now for Go-around following unstabilised approach is less than helpful:

Subtle incapacitation is associated with non-response to particular stimuli, as the crew is deeply involved in a particular maneuver. To assist in identifying subtle incapacitation, the PNF is expected to give two calls before taking any further action. In case the response is there from the PF towards the correction expected by the virtue of his action, it is taken as satisfactory. But the case where the response from the PF is absent or inadequate and the situation continues to deteriorate is something that needs to be addressed.

That is to say, it is up to the First Officer to decide that the response is “inadequate” and that the situation is continuing to deteriorate and to then consider addressing the situation. That’s not particularly inspiring for a First Officer who needs to be empowered to take control of the situation from an authority figure. But wait, it gets worse:

The action to take over controls by the PNF should only be in the case of total / subtle incapacitation. A situation of conflict in the cockpit is most undesirable for flight safety and would lead to a hazardous situation and needs to be avoided in all circumstances.

So rather than a straight-forward decision, such as “is my Captain continuing an unstabilised approach, yes or no?”, the Pilot Not Flying is told he shouldn’t take control unless the Captain is incapacitated, with a get-out clause of “subtle incapacitation”, in which case the PNF is expected to monitor to see if the situation continues to deteriorate.

Completely unreasonable to then allocate blame to the First Officer for not taking control, in my opinion, even as a contributing cause.

As the Ministry of Civil Aviation Court of Enquiry website appears to be timing out, I’ve included a PDF of the Report on Accident to Air India Express Boeing 737-800 Aircraft VT-AXV on 22nd May 2010 at Mangalore as a local file for your reference and convenience.

Number Ten: We’ve Lost the Cabin: Southwest Flight 812

On the 1st of April this year, Southwest Airlines flight 812 departed from Phoenix for Sacramento. There were five crew and 118 passengers on board.

At 34,000 feet, climbing through to FL360, there was a loud sharp noise. The cabin experienced rapid decompression and the oxygen masks deployed.

Interesting to see this particular incident in the top ten. You can be sure I’m planning a follow-up to this piece!

Number Nine: Unfit to Fly

After parking at the clubhouse, the pilot spoke to several club members. They described him as being in a highly agitated, even distressed, state. He was sweating profusely, with sweat-soaked clothing. He was also very voluble, and talked of a number of things, including personal family issues which were obviously a source of concern to him. He was given a hot drink but did not eat anything.

If you have read a few of my accident analyses, you’ll know that I’m usually pretty quick to defend the pilot but in this case, there’s really no excuse. He should not have been flying that plane.

Number Eight: How to Drown a Jet

Somewhat telling is the commentary from the person who started filming: “We’ve got a nutball trying to land.” Even he didn’t expect to see the landing go so completely wrong, though. And then at the half-way mark of the video, just when I thought it was all over, things suddenly get exciting again.

Well, this one is pretty hard to justify as well. The video is amazing to watch and I’m still giggling at the registration for his new Citation.

Number Seven: Sex and Skydiving and the FAA

The film, titled “SexSkyDive” by Live2FlyVoodoo Productions, was a low-budget project. In the early hours of the morning before the skydiving school opened, Torres and Howell met up with a pilot and a camera man to create the footage. The good-looking couple boarded the plane naked and were filmed having sex next to the pilot as the flight began and then continuing with their, um, throes of passion as they jumped out in tandem and soared through the sky. The cameraman jumped after them for long range shots and Torres appears to have had a camera in his hand to get a close-up view of Howell’s ecstasy.

Of course, you all only watched the video to see if the pilot violated any federal guidelines, right?

Number Six: Stunt Pilots Survive Crash at Air Fiesta

When the engine quit, Amanda was on the top wing in the rack. Kyle continued to fly the airplane in a straight and level fashion as long as he could to give Amanda every opportunity to unstrap and get into the front cockpit where she would have the best chance in the event of a hard landing.

Just seeing this post again breaks my heart. Amanda Franklin did not survive the injuries and burns received in the accident. However, you can still support Kyle Franklin who is committed to continuing flying. His website is at Franklin’s Flying Circus & Airshow and he has a Facebook page (you don’t have to be a member of Facebook to read it) at Facebook: Franklin’s Flying Circus

Number Five: In Deep Shit

I have been researching the original rivers of London, specifically the Fleet, which is a part of the famous Victorian sewer system designed by Bazalgette in the 1860s and 70s. I found photographs on various websites: dark brick curved walls with a trickle of grey water pooling at the centre, all edges fuzzy in the low light. I wondered if there was a way to see them for myself and, on a whim, I sent a message to Thames Water asking if that might be possible.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when they said yes.

Not at all aviation related but I hoped you might enjoy joining me on my sewer tour and I’m glad to find I was right.

Number Four: The Amazing Story of the B-17 Flying Fortress

“Part of the nose peeled back and obstructed my vision and that of my co-pilot, 1st Lt. Phillip H. Stahlman of Shippenville, Pennsylvania. What little there was left in front of me looked like a scrap heap. The wind was rushing through. Our feet were exposed to the open air at nearly 30,000 feet above the ground. The temperature was unbearable.”

The 398th Bomb Group Web Site is an amazing resource and I was thrilled when they gave me permission to share one of their stories on my website.

Number Three: Southbridge Tornado

On the 1st of June, a tornado touched down in Southbridge in the late afternoon. It left a 39-mile path of damage behind it, the second longest track in Massachusetts’ history.

This is a collection of visuals from the aftermath: two videos and photographs from Dan Collins who had his plane hangared at Southbridge Municipal.

Number Two: FAA Approved?

So, the story goes that the Alaskan pilot had 2 new tires, three cases of speed tape and several rolls of cellophane delivered to the site and promptly repaired his plane so that he could fly it home.

This collection of photographs was the most accessed page in 2010 and almost again in 2011. Since my post, the event has had world-wide media coverage and even inspired a television episode: MythBusters: Duct Tape Plane. Also, you can read the whole story on Alaska Dispatch, who spoke to the pilot’s father: An appetite for revenge.

Number One: A Close Encounter with an Emu

I touched down 80 metres from the threshold and was just letting it roll out (save the brakes and undercarriage on the rough strip) and the speed had just dipped below about 90kts. Approach on the PA-601 is about 100. As you can hear, we were discussing the state of strip, which used to be very wide, but the grass is narrowing it further each year. An emu was sitting on the side unseen in the bushes and we obviously startled it, and it bolted from cover in front. One of my passengers yelled out, and I jumped on the brakes, hard, and washed off about 40 knots in about 3 seconds! The emu went in front of us and lost his footing on the loose dust, just as the wing passed harmlessly over him! Cue much celebration!

I have to admit, this was probably my favourite post as well. I’d found the video a few weeks earlier and was thrilled when the pilot agreed to tell me all about it.

So, that’s it: the top ten viewed posts from 2011. There’s definitely a bias towards high-action and adventure there!

I hope you enjoyed these and I’m looking forward to sharing many more interesting posts with you in 2012.

Happy New Year!

Anyway, it really isn’t difficult to find good gifts for pilots.

It’s all the other muppets who are the problem.

So this year, I thought I would focus on presents for people who are not pilots. And most importantly, presents for people who are not pilots which you can actually manage to organise when you’ve left your Christmas shopping until the very last day.

Not that I would ever end up in such a situation.

Here are my top choices:

Number Three

DIY Star Wars Snowflakes at Matters of Grey

These are so easy to make and great fun! And if the gift is for someone crafty and you aren’t, you could even make a snowflake-making-kit! Just put together a package with paper and a print-out the designs with a pretty ribbon to tie it all together.

Number Two

Doughnut-Hole Croquembouche Recipe at Epicurious.com

Buy two dozen doughnut holes, some plastic holly leaves and a box of toothpicks and make a Christmas tree. As long as it is vaguely in a pyramid shape, it’ll be good enough. It’s deep-fried dough covered in sugar. How could anyone resist?

Number One

You Fly Like a Woman at Amazon

If you know anyone who is getting a Kindle this year, you can purchase this best-selling* e-book on Amazon and introduce them to the craziness excitement of flying. You can choose “give as a gift” on Amazon.com and the recipient will get notified on the 25th that this awesome e-book now belongs to them. What a perfect present, right?

* Well, it’s the best-selling e-book featured on this blog, anyway!

I’d like you wish you all a very merry Christmas and as my gift, here is my favourite Christmas song of the season:

See you next week!

The pilot steps through the situation as he experienced it, with honest appraisals of the decisions he made and why. It’s just under ten minutes and should be recommended viewing for all pilots.

Most importantly, it has a happy ending: both the pilot and plane came out of an engine failure unscathed. That’s what really makes me like it.

One thing I find odd is that he declared an emergency but never called Mayday. Has this fallen out of fashion in the U.S. ?

Short version:

I have released a Fear of Landing ebook! It costs less than a cheap cup of coffee and it’s fun and funny and even my teenage son likes it.

So what are you waiting for? Pick up your own copy of You Fly Like a Woman today:

• Amazon.co.uk £0.86
• Amazon.com $0.99
• Amazon.de Amazon.es Amazon.fr €0.99 – English only

Long version:

I have released a Fear of Landing ebook about my experiences learning to fly:

Getting a pilot’s license was the furthest thing from her mind – until an ex-RAF instructor suggested that she wasn’t competent to do so. The thing is, he could be right. Sylvia has just a few weeks to prove that she can fly as well as any man.

You Fly Like a Woman tells the story of one woman’s search for confidence as she stumbles into a man’s world.

I’ve wanted to put this together for a while, to take the individual pieces I’d written about learning to fly and put it into a coherent whole. In doing this, I became aware of what a time of growth it was for me. Learning to fly has changed the way I view the world in fundamental ways, like no other adult activity ever has.

I’m excited to share this and I’m also incredibly flattered and excited at the initial reaction. The book went straight into the Amazon Aviation top ten and I had purchases before I had even announced it.

It’s only 48 pages which means it only takes an hour or two to read (to compare, I am currently reading Horns by Joe Hill, which is 370 pages) so the decision to use electronic publishing was an easy one. All of the content has been revisited and added to so even long-time readers of my aviation stories will find plenty of new details to read.

And at this price, what have you got to lose? If you enjoy my essays or even just want to help support my Fear of Landing website, pick up a copy this week:

• Amazon.co.uk £0.86
• Amazon.com $0.99
• Amazon.de Amazon.es Amazon.fr €0.99 – English only

And a special offer for all Fear of Landing readers: if you will pay travel expenses, I am happy to come and sign your e-reader or computer monitor for you! :)

Air/Ground Radio

Airfields with A/G Radio offer an information service with a radio operator who are not licensed and not under close CAA supervision. They identify themselves by saying the airfield name followed by the word radio. It could be trained staff sitting in a tower at an unlicensed airfield. It could just be just some guy on a mobile radio with no other support. They will offer a basic information service and report known traffic to you.

“Enstone, this is November 666 Echo X-ray.”

No response. I frowned and after a few minutes, I called again.

“Enstone Radio, this is November 666 Echo X-ray, requesting radio check.”

This had been a fun trip but a chaotic last day on the island and we were late leaving. And now that finally everyone is bundled up into the plane and ready to go, the youngster on the radio isn’t responding. Technically, I didn’t have to request permission to start my engine but it’s generally the polite thing to do.

The last time we spent the weekend here, the guy on the radio called me just as I was entering the runway to let my know my son had left his bookbag in the cafeteria. Service like that is invaluable, I didn’t like to risk upsetting anyone. Better to wait until he responded. Still, it was frustrating to be sitting here waiting on someone who’d walked away from the mike.

I called a third time, no response. Had he gone for a cup of tea or what? Cliff frowned at me and I shrugged. I decided to try once more. This fourth call elicited a response: a confused voice came back over the radio.

“Um, are you talking to me?”

I winced. Who was playing with the radio, for god’s sake? That’s when Cliff’s mum piped up from the back seat.

“I don’t understand why you are saying Enstone Radio,” she said.

I started to snap back an answer when it sunk in. We were at Bembridge. Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. I’d been flying in and out of Enstone in Oxfordshire the previous week and we’d be landing there later today but right now? We weren’t there. I shouldn’t be trying to talk to them.

I keyed the mike, abashed. “Bembridge, this is November 666 Echo X-ray, requesting, uh … geography check.”

I could hear the relieved laughter as he responded. “November 666 Echo X-ray, confirmed, you are parked just outside of my window.”

“Thanks for that. Request start.”

“Nothing to affect,” he told me and we were finally on our way.

Flight Information Service

Airfields with FIS are an information air traffic support unit staffed by licensed Flight Information Service officers. They identify themselves by saying the airfield name followed by the word Information. Their function is to assist pilots to operate safely by offering a traffic service and helping with information regarding weather and aerodrome details.

The tricky thing about Information stations is how they let you know what you should be doing without ever actually telling you what to do.

“Shobdon, this is November 666 Echo X-ray, inbound to you.”

“November 666 Echo X-ray, this is Shobdon Information, go ahead.”

“November 666 Echo X-ray is a PA32 inbound to you, I’m looking to join the circuit downwind for runway 09, right hand.”

The response was immediate. “November 666 Echo X-ray we have three in the circuit, recommend an overhead join.”

I had already descended to 1,300 feet, too low for the manoeuvre that he was referring to. He wanted me to fly across the middle of the runway and then descend on the “dead side”, out of the way of the other traffic.

I couldn’t see the point, I was perfectly set up to simply turn right and join the circuit in another mile rather than cross over and turn left on the other side. And I certainly couldn’t do it from this height, it would be the equivalent of running across a road full of traffic.

He repeated the call, enunciating his words very clearly. “November 666 Echo X-ray, recommend an overhead join.”

I continued towards the airfield, frustrated and confused. The advice that the Officer was giving me didn’t make sense. But he was in a better position than I was to gauge the situation. I sighed and admitted it wouldn’t make that much difference to me. I might as well do it.

“November 666 Echo X-ray is climbing to 2,300 feet for overhead join.”

As I made the call, it suddenly clicked. I was turned around and in completely the wrong place. I said Runway 09 but I was heading for the join for Runway 27, that is, the same runway going the opposite direction. I couldn’t possibly join downwind for Runway 09 from my present position which is why he wanted me up and out of the way of his traffic.

I went overhead and joined downwind in a sensible manner, going the right way … much to the relief of Shobdon Information who were trying really hard not to tell me what to do.

Air Traffic Control

Airfields with an ATC service have an active control tower staffed by air traffic controllers and are under close CAA supervision. Only ATC are authorised to issue clearances. They identify themselves by saying the airfield name followed by their function (Ground, Tower, Approach, Director, Radar). They offer a variety of services including control, flight information and traffic.

The flight from Guernsey to Alderney was only notable in its simplicity: it took longer to get everyone into the plane than it did to make the journey. Only as we landed did it get hectic.

“Backtrack and exit at Alpha.”

I always feel a faint Top Gun thrill at phrases like that which sound so complicated but are really straight-forward: permission to turn around and head back up the runway to the taxi-way marked with an A.

“Wilco,” I said with a knowing nod.

Except that having spun the plane around, I couldn’t find Alpha. There was a bit of a turn-in on my right which might be Alpha but there was no sign and it was really just a trail disappearing into the grass. With the wet weather I was worried about taking a wrong turn and getting stuck in the mud. It had happened before. I grabbed for my plate with a map of the airfield to try to work out where Alpha was.

“Turn right,” said an impatient voice on the radio. “And expedite, I’ve got another one coming in.” Two planes at the airfield at once, this must be a veritable traffic jam by Alderney standards. I bit my lip and turned the plane right onto the grass and paused.

“Carry on,” said the voice again. “Straight ahead, between the two markers. I take it you’ve never been here before?”

“Affirmative,” I said in my best professional pilot voice. Followed by “Sorry,” blowing away any semblance of radio competence.

“Just carry on straight. And expedite!”

I trundled forwards and made my way to where I could see other parked aircraft, hoping I was in the right place. The voice interrupted me.

“Pull forward to the blue markers, then face south and then west.”

I frowned as I pulled forward; was he trying to make it difficult?

“Which way is south,” I hissed at Cliff as I fumbled to get the map out again.

“Turn left,” he said. I turned then tried to picture a map in my head. If I am facing south then I’m looking towards Texas. California is west and on my right. Got it! I opened my eyes and looked around. “So west is to the right now, right?”

Cliff sighed at me. “Just use the Directional Indicator?”

I blushed. I used it all the time in the air but on the ground? Hadn’t occurred to me. I turned the plane until the big arrow on the DI pointed west.

“Just park there,” said the voice. The other plane landed and radio silence descended. It would probably be at least an hour before they see any further traffic. I shut the engine down.

Military Air Traffic Zones

It goes without saying that you should be unfailingly polite to any controller who has fighter jets to back him up. In the UK, the pilot should contact the controller either 15 nautical miles or 5 minutes flying time from a military boundary, whichever is sooner, requesting penetration. To enter the central area (Aerodrome Traffic Zone) you must receive permission and comply with the controller’s instructions.

My first run-in with the military was actually in France.

We had landed at an airfield for refuelling but they were having technical difficulties and informed us that they would not be able to offer fuel for the rest of the day. A quick glance at book showed us another airfield on route that listed AVGAS 100L and so we jumped into the plane and went straight there, plotting the route as we went.

“Cognac, this is November 666 Echo X-ray.”

“November 666 Echo X-ray, pass your message.”

I focused on making the perfect call. “November 666 Echo X-ray is a PA32 inbound to you, currently 20 miles to your northwest at 4,000 feet, request airfield information and joining instructions.”

There was a brief pause.

“November 666 Echo X-ray can you state your intentions?”

I was surprised by the question. “November 666 Echo X-ray is a PA 32 inbound to you for refuelling.”

“November 666 Echo X-ray are you aware that this is a military airfield?” Military airfield. Not for civilian use. Oops.

“Oh. Uh, no. Negative. I was not aware.”

“November 666 Echo X-ray I say again, can you state your intentions?”

I bit my lip but silence seemed likely to get a missile aimed in my direction.

“Er, I intend to ask your advice on where we could go for refuelling in the local area?”

The controller chuckled and agreed. He checked that it was not an emergency before recommending that I fly direct to Angoulême and even offered me a heading and a flight information service directly to the airfield. Anything, I guess, to keep me out of his zone.

Using the radio professionally has become an essential requirement in the modern aviation environment. Radio provides the interface between you and others, especially the Air Traffic Service Unit (ATSU) whose frequency you are using. You will make life more comfortable for yourself (and others) if you can use the radio efficiently.

When I first started my PPL, I was told that I had a real knack for using the radio. Getting my radio licence was the easiest part of the entire training. Little did I know that in the meantime, I would manage to mess up speaking to every different type of Air Traffic Service Unit in existence.

This was originally posted in November of 2008. My radio skills have not improved since then.

Read more about my flying experiences in my ebook: You Fly Like a Woman