Canada bought the Grumman Tracker because it was short enough to fit HMCS Bonaventure, then built 99 at Downsview. The carrier went in 1970; the aircraft flew on until 1990.
HMS Nabob: The Canadian-Crewed Carrier That Took a Torpedo and Sailed Home
A Royal Navy escort carrier with a Canadian crew, torpedoed off North Cape in August 1944, ordered sunk if she could not steam — and the two Avengers she flew off her sloping deck on the way home.
Findel Shut by Drones Again: Luxembourg’s Second Closure in Days
Fifty minutes of closed airspace, no drone recovered, no culprit named. Luxembourg has now lost its airport twice in a week to something nobody can find.
Vilnius Airport Shut by Balloons: NATO Confirms a Hybrid Uptick
Three hours of closed airspace, caused by objects that cost almost nothing. A senior NATO official had warned of an uptick that same morning.
Airbus Broughton: The A380 Wing Hall Becomes an A321 Factory
The hall built for the biggest wings ever attempted is being rebuilt for the narrowbody that made them unnecessary. £150 million, six jigs, first wing already up.
Yosemite Helicopter Crash: Two Killed on the Dome Fire
A Super Puma on water-bucket drops went down southeast of Ostrander Lake on Sunday. Both crew were killed. Why this is the hardest flying nobody watches.
MALD Wreckage in Iran: America’s Decoys Are Still Flying
A Raytheon CAGE code on a burnt tail fin is the first physical proof that US decoys are being flown into Iranian airspace. The wreckage is not the story.
Iranian Airlines Grounded Worldwide From Wednesday, US Says
Washington is not banning Iranian aircraft. It is telling every fuel supplier, handler and ticket agent on earth that servicing one costs them the dollar.
VH-92A Marine One Opens the White House’s New Granite Helipad
Sixty years of landing on grass ended on Monday. The VH-92A was too powerful for the South Lawn, so Sikorsky bought the White House a granite pad.
FQ-42 Vengeance Flies Formation With an F-35A and an F-15E
General Atomics released the first photo of its FQ-42 Vengeance holding formation with crewed US fighters. It is not being commanded by them. Not yet.
NATS Prestwick Outage: Scotland’s Airspace Throttled Again
Thirteen days after Swanwick took down 2,000 flights, a connectivity fault at Prestwick throttled Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee: Canada’s Only Carrier Jet Fighter
Canada ordered 60 new Banshees, the Cabinet reneged, and the Royal Canadian Navy got 39 used ones instead. The story of the only jet fighter Canada ever flew from a carrier deck.
HMCS Bonaventure: Canada Refitted Its Carrier, Then Scrapped It
In April 1966 the Royal Canadian Navy sent its only aircraft carrier into a shipyard at Lauzon, Quebec, for a mid-life refit. The point of a mid-life refit is the clue: you spend the money because the ship has another life to run. She came out sixteen to eighteen...
Moscow Drone Attack: 400 Flights Hit, 30 Jets Diverted
Not one airliner was touched. Ukraine still took all four Moscow airports off line, delayed 400 flights and sent 30 aircraft to Kazan, Samara and St Petersburg.
OBOGS Explained: Why Fighter Pilots No Longer Breathe Pure Oxygen
Modern fighters make their own oxygen, and military standards forbid them from delivering it pure below 15,000 feet. The reason took a grounded F-22 fleet, a paused Navy trainer fleet and a decade of investigation to establish.
Newark Ground Stop: One Cut Cable, Eight Hours, Five Airports
A primary circuit failed at Philadelphia TRACON. The backup fibre had already been cut by a digger in New Jersey. Newark did not take an arrival for eight hours.
Polar Routes: Why Airliners Cross the Arctic but Not Antarctica
A Boeing 757 sits on the Antarctic ice at Union Glacier. So why is the Arctic threaded with airline routes while the south stays empty? The answer is a compass that stops working, fuel that can freeze, and a runway nobody is entitled to use.