Mayday vs SOS: Why Aviation Needed a Word, Not a Rhythm
Share this story Twice an hour, for three minutes, the North Atlantic fell silent. At a quarter past and a quarter to, every wireless operator on every ship within reach of 500 kilohertz stopped transmitting, pressed his headphones a little harder against his ears,...
Alcock and Brown: The First Non-Stop Flight Across the Atlantic, 1919
Share this story At 8:40 on the morning of 15 June 1919, a big biplane came out of the low cloud over County Galway. The pilot saw a flat green field near the Marconi wireless station at Clifden and put the aircraft down. The field was a bog. The wheels sank, the nose...
CAM Ships and the Hurricat: One-Way Fighters of the Atlantic Convoys
Share this story Picture the job description. You sit strapped into a fighter perched on a rail over the bow of a cargo ship, somewhere in the North Atlantic. When an enemy bomber appears, rockets fire you off the front of the ship. You fight. And then, because there...
The First V2 on London Was Launched From a Dutch Suburb
Share this story On Thursday 7 September 1944, Duncan Sandys, the British minister in charge of countering Germany’s secret weapons, told the press that the flying-bomb threat to London was essentially finished. “Except possibly for a few last shots, the...
Why Australia Gave Up on the Tiger Attack Helicopter
Share this story This month the Australian Army is saying goodbye to its Tiger attack helicopters. The 1st Aviation Regiment has flown its last operational Tiger flight in Darwin, and the fleet of 22 Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters, which ABC News says cost A$1.1...
Swissair 111: The Fire Above the Cockpit That Changed Aviation
Share this story Fifty-two minutes after leaving New York, the pilots of Swissair Flight 111 noticed an unusual smell in the cockpit. It was the evening of 2 September 1998, the MD-11 was cruising at 33,000 feet over the Atlantic south of Nova Scotia, and nothing else...
Milan Malpensa Officially Named After Silvio Berlusconi
Share this story Milan’s Malpensa Airport now officially carries the name of Silvio Berlusconi. At a ceremony in the arrivals area of Terminal 1 on Friday 25 September, the former prime minister’s family and senior government figures unveiled the new name,...
A350F First Flight Set for 29 September: Airbus’ Freighter Is Ready
Share this story Airbus has a date. On Tuesday 29 September at 10:20 local time, weather and systems permitting, the first A350F freighter will take off from Toulouse for the first time. Airbus will stream the flight live on X. The aircraft, MSN700, registered F-WXLD,...
Etna Ash Shuts Catania Airport Until Sunday: Red Alert Over Sicily
Share this story Sicily’s busiest airport has shut again. On Saturday 26 September, ash from Mount Etna’s North-East Crater forced Catania-Fontanarossa Airport to stop all flights, first until the afternoon and then until noon on Sunday 27 September. A...
Canada Signs GlobalEye Term Sheet With Saab for Six Radar Jets
Share this story Ottawa put out a press release on Thursday morning with the word capability in the headline and four ministers queued up to welcome it. Read past the quotes and the document Canada actually signed is a term sheet — a written agreement about what...
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