The Harrier Pilot Who Landed on a Container Ship
Quick Facts Pilot Sub-Lieutenant Ian “Soapy” Watson, Royal Navy Aircraft British Aerospace Sea Harrier FRS.1 (serial ZA176) Date June 1, 1983 Ship MV Alraigo — a Spanish container vessel Location Atlantic Ocean, approximately 50 miles south of the Canary...
Operation Black Buck: The Vulcan’s 8,000-Mile Bomb Run
Quick Facts Operation Black Buck 1 (first of seven missions, April 30 – May 1, 1982) Aircraft Avro Vulcan B.2 (XM607, 101 Squadron RAF) Crew Captain Flight Lieutenant Martin Withers Distance ~8,000 miles round trip (Ascension Island to Port Stanley and back) Flight...
The MiG-29’s Wild Ride Across 60 Nations
Quick Facts Aircraft Mikoyan MiG-29 (NATO: Fulcrum) First Flight October 6, 1977 Operators 30+ nations across four continents — one of the most widely exported fighters in history Role Air superiority fighter with secondary ground attack capability Top Speed Mach 2.25...
Wrong Pattern Entry, Near Miss at an Untowered Field
Quick Facts What Happened An incorrect traffic pattern entry at a non-towered airport led to a near mid-air collision Where Non-towered (uncontrolled) airport — the most common type of airport in the United States Standard Pattern Left-hand traffic unless otherwise...
The Circling Approach: Aviation’s Most Misunderstood Killer
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 opposite direction,...
Electric Air Taxi Nails Its Hardest Test Yet
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, 2026 Production...
FAA Kills SFO’s Iconic Side-by-Side Landings Forever
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 Arrival rate cut from...
RQ-180 Caught on Camera Again Over Greece
Related: Mystery in the Sky: RQ-180 Stealth Drone Photographed Over Greece Quick Facts Aircraft Northrop Grumman RQ-180 (classified stealth reconnaissance UAV) Nickname “Lady of Larissa” (informal, from spotting community) Sighting Date April 6, 2026 —...
France and Britain Race to Replace Europe’s Best Missile
Quick Facts Agreement Memorandum of Understanding signed April 1, 2026 Partners United Kingdom and France Purpose 12-month joint study into a successor to the MBDA Meteor BVRAAM Current Missile MBDA Meteor — ramjet-powered, 100+ km range, in service on Typhoon,...
THAAD Seeker Found Intact in Syrian Desert
Quick Facts What Was Found Infrared seeker head from a THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) interceptor kill vehicle Location Near Suwayda, southwestern Syria Condition Largely intact — seeker and kill vehicle shroud recovered close together System Lockheed...
English
Recent Comments