Landing Blind: How Autoland Works

Landing Blind: How Autoland Works

Share this story Heathrow, a December morning. The fog is so dense that from the cockpit of a taxiing 777 the crew cannot see their own wingtip. Officially, the runway visual range is 125 metres — about the length of the aircraft plus a bus. And yet, every couple of...
The A380 That Refused to Die

The A380 That Refused to Die

Share this story Four minutes after lifting off from Singapore Changi Airport on 4 November 2010, Qantas Flight 32 was climbing through 7,400 feet when the passengers heard it: a bang, then a second, heavier one that shuddered through the cabin. On the flight deck,...
The Nights the World Almost Ended

The Nights the World Almost Ended

Share this story It is the evening of 27 October 1962, and inside Soviet submarine B-59, somewhere north of Cuba, the temperature has passed 45 degrees Celsius and the air is running out. The batteries are almost dead. Men are fainting at their stations. For hours,...
Air New Zealand’s Engine Nightmare Is Over

Air New Zealand’s Engine Nightmare Is Over

Share this story In the red dirt of Alice Springs, in the middle of the Australian outback, a Boeing 787-9 sat parked for the better part of a year — not broken, not retired, just waiting for engines. On June 28 it finally flew home to Auckland, and with it, Air New...
GOL Goes Long-Haul: Rio to New York

GOL Goes Long-Haul: Rio to New York

Share this story For a quarter of a century, GOL has been Brazil’s definitive short-haul airline: a vast orange-tailed fleet of Boeing 737s hopping between São Paulo, Rio and every corner of South America. On July 8, that identity changes. A GOL flight number will...
The Navy Is Sinking Its Own Cruiser

The Navy Is Sinking Its Own Cruiser

Share this story Somewhere in the Pacific in the coming weeks, a US Navy cruiser that fired Tomahawks in two wars will be hit by torpedoes, missiles and bombs until she slips under — and the people shooting will be her friends. The decommissioned USS Mobile Bay is...
flydubai Opens Bangkok’s Other Airport to Dubai

flydubai Opens Bangkok’s Other Airport to Dubai

Share this story Bangkok has two airports, and for years the glamorous international arrivals went to just one of them. On July 1, 2026, flydubai bet on the other. Dubai’s low-cost carrier launched a daily service to Don Mueang — Bangkok’s original airport and now the...
The Boeing 777X Slips Into 2027 — Again

The Boeing 777X Slips Into 2027 — Again

Share this story Somewhere on the ramp at Paine Field in Washington State sit rows of enormous, finished airliners with nowhere to go. They are Boeing 777Xs — the biggest twinjets ever built — and most of them have never carried a paying passenger. In 2026 they are...