Rescue One, Cleared for Takeoff

Rescue One, Cleared for Takeoff

The F-104 Starfighter has one of the worst reputations in military aviation. Germany bought 916 of them, lost 292, and buried 116 pilots. The Luftwaffe called it the Witwenmacher — the Widowmaker.On one night in January 1982, that aircraft did something no other...
Why Almost Every Airliner Is White

Why Almost Every Airliner Is White

Stand at any airport window and count the aircraft. Almost all of them are white, with a tail and a bit of branding to tell them apart. Airlines spend fortunes on brand identity, and then paint their single most visible asset the same colour as everybody...
Why Runways Change Their Numbers

Why Runways Change Their Numbers

In 2009, Fairbanks International Airport in Alaska closed a runway, sent out crews, and repainted the enormous white numbers at both ends. Runway 1L–19R became runway 2L–20R.Nothing had been built. Nothing had moved. The concrete was in exactly the same...
The Hole in Your Aircraft Window

The Hole in Your Aircraft Window

Next time you get a window seat, look at the bottom of the window. There is a hole in it. A real one, drilled straight through, about the size of a pinhead.Most people who notice it assume one of two things: that it is damage, or that it is there to let air in. Both...
Ten Engines, One of a Kind

Ten Engines, One of a Kind

Count the engines on a Dornier Do 31 and you get to ten. Two of them are Pegasus turbofans, the same vectored-thrust engines that made the Harrier work. The other eight do nothing whatsoever in cruise. They sit in pods on the wingtips, four a side, pointing at the...
Three Minutes to the Hudson

Three Minutes to the Hudson

Ninety seconds before he put an Airbus A320 into a river, Chesley Sullenberger said something entirely ordinary. It was 3:26 in the afternoon on 15 January 2009, the aircraft was climbing away from LaGuardia, and he looked left out of the window. “What a view of...