Share this story Open the American aircraft certification rules and search them for the word the whole replacement-parts industry argues about. Type OEM into 14 CFR Part 21, the part that governs how every aircraft, engine and component in the United States is...
Share this story On the morning of 1 May 1960, Francis Gary Powers was nearly four hours into a flight across the Soviet Union, cruising far above the reach of Soviet fighters, when he heard a dull thump. The aircraft lurched forward, there was a bright orange flash,...
Share this story In the autumn of 1935, some of the greatest aerodynamicists alive gathered in Rome for the Volta Congress, an international meeting on “High Velocities in Aviation”. Ludwig Prandtl was there, and Theodore von Kármán, and G....
Share this story At 06:45 on the morning of 26 October 1942, an American scout pilot north of the Santa Cruz Islands found what every carrier admiral in the Pacific was looking for: the flight decks of Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo’s main body. Thirteen minutes...
Share this story On 19 October 2026 the Federal Aviation Administration published an airworthiness directive ordering operators of 459 American-registered Boeing 737NGs to replace the video monitors mounted in their overhead passenger service units. It is a dull piece...
Share this story For half a century, fighter designers sold air forces a simple promise: kill the enemy before he can see you. Build a big radar, hang radar-guided missiles under the wings, and the dogfight becomes a relic. The Navy started developing the AIM-7...
Share this story On 26 October 1958, with military bands playing on the ramp at New York’s Idlewild Airport, 111 passengers climbed the airstairs of a gleaming Pan American Boeing 707-121. On her nose, in neat script, was her name: Clipper America. Her...
Share this story At 11.22am on Sunday 25 October 2026, a Jetstar Airbus A320 lifted off from Western Sydney International Airport and turned north for the Gold Coast. Flight JQ362 was the first commercial passenger flight from Sydney’s second major airport, and...
Share this story About 200 people gathered at 17 Wing Winnipeg on Saturday, 24 October 2026, to say goodbye to an old friend. Backdropped by a grey CC-130H Hercules, the Royal Canadian Air Force held a retirement ceremony for the last of its H-model Hercules, the...
Share this story Shortly before midnight on 14 May 1982, Royal Navy Sea Kings clattered in low over the dark, wind-scoured grass of a small island north of West Falkland. Out of them climbed about 45 men of D Squadron, 22 Special Air Service, each loaded with mortar...
Share this story Somewhere over Bedfordshire on an October afternoon, an easyJet Airbus and a Jet2 Boeing slide past each other at 35,000 feet, their contrails crossing in a giant X. Their safety does not depend on spotting each other. It depends on a number both...
Share this story It is the middle of the night over stormy country, and the windscreen of a KC-135 Stratotanker suddenly fills with light. Violet and blue tendrils branch across the glass like living lightning, crawling and flickering, while the instruments glow...
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