Photo credit: BobMil42 An Airbus Fuel Dumping in progress Have you ever wondered why pilots sometimes take longer to land even when there’s a technical problem? Recently, an unhappy passenger on an Airbus A320 flight from Guangzhou to Kuala Lumpur was left frustrated when the captain decided to fly for about three hours before …
Miracle on Qantas A380 Flight 32 Photo: Ramani What are some common parts that may fall off a plane and cause it to crash? Aircraft parts such as fasteners, hatch covers, cargo doors or engines falling off planes are very rare. On July 25, 2000, a metal strip did fall off from a Continental DC-10 …
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Mayday call of Qantas flight after an engine failure Photo: 123RF Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! What does this actually mean? ‘Mayday!’ when repeated 3 times with details and broadcasted over the radio is a cry for help in a life-threatening situation. In days gone by, radio communications could be bad and any distress call must …
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Bombardier Q400 operated by Colgan Air Photo Credit: Hawaiian717. How often do airline pilots fly the plane manually, rather than relying on autopilot and computers? This question seems to express concerns that some airline pilots are relying too much on automation such that a few have forgotten how to fly. Indeed, this has resulted in …
The last three British Airways Concordes in 2003. Credit: BAA Why did the Concorde stop flying, and is there any chance that it might return one day? There were many reasons that killed the Concorde. This plane was the most powerful commercial pure jet flying from 1976 to 2003. It flew faster than …
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My last London flight, completing 25,500 hours without experiencing an engine failure If an engine fails on take-off, will the pilot abort the take-off or continue? When an engine fails on take-off, a pilot’s decision to go or not, would depend on the speed it has attained. From day one, a pilot is reminded that, …
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Plane came within seconds of disaster when a pilot mistake sent it plunging towards the ocean. Photo: 123RF On 10 January 2023, a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 flight from Doha to Copenhagen nosedived and narrowly avoided striking the Arabian Gulf shortly after take-off from the Hamad International Airport. According to Flightradar24, a Swedish internet-based service …
Yeti Airlines ATR 72-500 Source: TMLN 123 What is the cause of an airplane stall during landing and how can it be prevented? A stall in a plane is unlike a car – the engine does not stop. It is a condition when the airspeed becomes too low and the plane just drops off the …
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A Delta Airline plane loading for departure A major air disaster at JFK Airport avoided by the captain on Friday the 13! There are many emergency-drills a pilot practices in the flight simulator in anticipation of a real one in his flying career one day. Indeed, on Friday the 13, January 2023, the captain of …
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How Some Unruly Passengers Behave in Flight… On a recent flight from New York to Delhi, an unruly male passenger urinated on a woman in the plane. This person appeared to be drunk on the flight. The victim demanded for the immediate arrest of the culprit upon landing but against her wishes, the crew brought …
Photo: Benny Zheng Scoot’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner What if unruly air passengers refuse to buckle up? Recently, it was reported that a group of unruly passengers on a Scoot flight refused to fasten their seat belts as the plane was making a descent to land. Well, the captain is ultimately called upon by the purser …
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Photo: 123RF An Airbus A350 Can an airplane complete a full flight on auto pilot? There is some confusion on what constitutes a full flight. If we define it as from the departure gate, say from Kuala Lumpur to the London Heathrow arrival gate, then we cannot say that the auto pilot is capable of …
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Image Credit: Mentour Pilot Lining up on a Runway under Construction Get-there-itis – a potential pilot killer Pilots often face tremendous pressures. As such, safety at times takes a backseat to getting there on time. Get-there-itis or get-home-itis means the determination of a pilot to reach a destination even when the conditions for flying are …
Photo: 123RF A Boeing 737 Cockpit Is it possible for someone who has never flown before to successfully land an airliner? For that someone who has never flown, the chances of successfully bringing the plane down safely are almost nil. But, if that passenger is a general aviation enthusiast, a computer geek on the Microsoft …
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AmIGoingDown? App What is the probability that a plane will crash? The probability of a fatal plane crash is extremely low. A cursory search shows that the risk of your plane going down is around 1 in 5.4 million and the risk of being killed in a plane crash for the average American is about …
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Image credit: Allec Joshua Ibay An Air India Express Boeing 737-800 Why does the plane suddenly go around? A go-around occurs when the pilot makes a decision not to continue a landing. It is also called a missed approach, wave-off, rejected or aborted landing. Whatever one chooses to call it, the captain is definitely not …
Image: Bull Bosphorus A United Airlines Boeing 777 engine on Fire What is the best way for a pilot to deal with an engine fire? Engine fire is a very rare occurrence in modern planes today. Nevertheless, it did happen on a Boeing 777 in Denver last year. The best way for a pilot to …
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Photo: 123RF A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 What happens if a pilot falls asleep on a long flight? On 15 August 2022, two Ethiopian Airlines pilots flying a Boeing 737 missed landing after reportedly falling asleep. They could not be contacted by the air traffic controller but were awakened by an on-board alarm. They were …
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Photo: 123RF An AirAsia Airbus A320 What are the consequences of a pilot making a mistake? After having retired from flying, I was involved in safety audits, observing how airline pilots operate their flights. Our team identified threats and errors to aviation safety and highlighted them so that all airline pilots in the company could …
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Image: Wikipedia A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 Do planes ever really crash into each other in the air? On 12 November 1996, a Saudia Boeing 747 from Delhi to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and a Kazakhstan Airline Ilyushin Il-76 from Shymkent, Kazakhstan to Delhi collided over Charkhi Dadri around 100 km west of Delhi. It was the world’s deadliest mid-air collision which killed all 349 …
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