The Circling Approach: Aviation’s Most Misunderstood Killer
Share this story Quick Facts What It Is An instrument approach followed by a visual manoeuvre to land on a different runway than the one aligned with the approach Why It Exists Many airports have instrument approaches to only one runway — when wind favours the...
Electric Air Taxi Nails Its Hardest Test Yet
Share this story Quick Facts Company Vertical Aerospace (Bristol, UK) Aircraft Full-scale VX4 demonstrator (piloted) Milestone First piloted thrustborne-to-wingborne transition flight Test Pilot Paul Stone Location Cotswold Airport, southwest England Date April 2,...
FAA Kills SFO’s Iconic Side-by-Side Landings Forever
Share this story Quick Facts Airport San Francisco International Airport (SFO) What Changed FAA permanently banned simultaneous side-by-side landings on parallel runways 28L and 28R Runway Separation 750 feet — closer than any other major U.S. hub Capacity Impact...
The Yorkshire Baronet Who Invented the Aeroplane — Then Died Before Flying It
Share this story In 1799, a 26-year-old Yorkshire baronet engraved a small silver disc with two drawings — one on each side. On one face: a diagram of the forces acting on a wing in flight, showing lift, drag, and thrust as separate vectors. On the other: a sketch of...
A321XLR: The Small Plane Rewriting the Transatlantic Map
Share this story Quick FactsAircraftAirbus A321XLR (Xtra Long Range)Range4,700 nautical miles (8,700 km) — the longest-range single-aisle airliner everPassengers180–220 (depending on configuration)First Delivery2024 (Iberia received the first aircraft)Key...
Mach 2 to Mach 0.85: Why Airliners Slowed Down
Share this story Quick FactsConcorde’s SpeedMach 2.04 (2,180 km/h) — London to New York in 3.5 hoursConcorde Service1976–2003 (27 years, British Airways and Air France)Modern Cruise SpeedMach 0.78–0.85 — slower than the Boeing 707 cruised in 1958Why We Slowed...
Aloha 243: The Plane That Lost Its Roof at 24,000 Feet
Share this story Quick FactsFlightAloha Airlines Flight 243, Hilo to HonoluluDateApril 28, 1988AircraftBoeing 737-297 (N73711), 19 years old, 89,680 flight cyclesWhat Happened18-foot section of upper fuselage ripped away at 24,000 feetCrewCaptain Robert...
Lost Comm: When Your Radio Goes Silent at 8,000 Feet
Share this story Quick FactsWhat It MeansComplete loss of two-way radio communication between pilot and air traffic controlFAA Regulation14 CFR 91.185 — IFR operations: two-way radio communications failureTransponder CodeSquawk 7600 — the universal “lost...
The Impossible Turn: Aviation’s Deadliest Snap Decision
Share this story Quick FactsWhat It IsTurning back to the runway after engine failure on takeoff — also called the “turnback manoeuvre”Why It KillsAt low altitude and low airspeed, the turn bleeds energy and often leads to a stall-spin with no altitude to...
A Sheep, a Duck, and a King: The Day Humanity First Left the Ground
Share this story On the morning of September 19, 1783, at the Palace of Versailles, King Louis XVI of France watched a balloon rise into the sky carrying three passengers: a sheep named Montauciel, a duck, and a rooster. They flew for eight minutes and landed two...
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