During Desert Storm, well over 100 Iraqi Air Force jets fled to Iran, their enemy of eight years. Iran kept most of them as reparations.
Flight Levels and Transition Altitude: Why Pilots Set 29.92
Why pilots switch their altimeters to 1013.25 hPa or 29.92 inHg, why the US transition altitude is 18,000 ft while Europe’s varies, and how RVSM added six flight levels.
Project Genetrix: The 1956 Spy Balloons That Drifted Over the USSR
In January 1956, the US launched more than 500 camera balloons from Europe and Turkey to drift over the USSR. Project Genetrix lasted 27 days.
St Elmo’s Fire on Aircraft: The Blue Glow Pilots See in Storms
Why aircraft windscreens and wingtips glow blue near thunderstorms: St Elmo’s fire, corona discharge and the static wicks on every airliner.
Project Homerun: The RB-47 Spy Flights Over the Soviet Arctic
In spring 1956, SAC RB-47s flew 156 sorties from Thule, Greenland, across the Soviet Arctic in Project Homerun, without losing a single aircraft.
Airborne Weather Radar: How Pilots See Storms Through the Nose
Airborne weather radar sees rain, not clouds or turbulence. How the X-band radar in an airliner nose works, what the colours mean, and how pilots use tilt to dodge storms.
Operation Carpetbagger: The Black B-24s That Armed the Resistance
From RAF Harrington, black-painted USAAF B-24 Liberators flew alone at night in 1944–45 to drop agents and supplies to Europe’s resistance movements.
Aircraft De-Icing and Anti-Icing: How Jets Beat the Ice
Orange fluid, green fluid and a ticking holdover clock: how aircraft de-icing and anti-icing keep wings clean on the ground and in flight.
Katherine Stinson: The Flying Schoolgirl Who Looped and Flew Mail
Katherine Stinson was the fourth US woman to earn a pilot licence, a loop and night-skywriting pioneer, the first woman to fly in Japan and China, and an airmail pilot.
Sui-ho Dam Strikes 1952: The Raid That Blacked Out North Korea
On 23 June 1952, US Navy, Air Force and Marine aircraft hit the Sui-ho Dam power plant and 12 others, blacking out North Korea for two weeks.
Dihedral and Anhedral: Why Some Wings Tilt Up and Others Droop
Why airliner wings form a V while the Harrier, C-5, An-124 and F-104 droop theirs: dihedral, anhedral and roll stability explained.
Elinor Smith: The Flying Flapper Who Flew Under Four Bridges
At 17, Elinor Smith flew under all four East River bridges in New York. Then the Flying Flapper of Freeport set endurance, altitude and speed records.
Thanh Hoa Bridge: The Dragon’s Jaw That Took Seven Years to Fall
From April 1965 the Thanh Hoa Bridge, the Dragon’s Jaw, survived years of US strikes. Laser-guided bombs from F-4 Phantoms finally dropped it in 1972.
Alaska Airlines 261: How a Lubrication Interval Grew Sevenfold
A single screw and nut set the pitch trim of the MD-83, with no second load path. Nobody ever decided to check them less often. The intervals simply rode along inside maintenance packages that kept getting longer.
Airworthiness Directives: The Four Types That Do Not Exist
The FAA has just ordered 459 Boeing 737s to have their cabin monitors replaced. What an airworthiness directive actually is, who it binds, and why the four types everybody learns are not in Part 39 at all.
Musashi Sinking 1944: How Carrier Planes Killed a Super-Battleship
On 24 October 1944, US carrier aircraft hit the Japanese battleship Musashi with an estimated 19 torpedoes and 17 bombs in the Sibuyan Sea.
Trent 900 Blade-Off Test: How Rolls-Royce Proved the A380 Engine Could Contain a Fan Blade
To certify the A380’s Trent 900, Rolls-Royce fired an explosive charge at the root of a fan blade with the engine at full speed and watched the case hold. Here is what a blade-off test is, what the rules demand, and why the famous QF32 failure was a different problem.