It looks like time for a little bit of lightness as a break from deadly crashes. Fortunately, I’ve simply the factor: some reader contributions together with a private story.
Neil of AirC Pictures mailed me with this wonderful {photograph} and video of his father. That is Neil’s dad Cornell as a younger boy together with his siblings (Betty, Virginia and Tom).
Cornell was drafted into the US Military Air Corps (Ferry Squadron) in 1941 and flew Bomber Transports as as a Flight Engineer till 1945.
In 2015, when Cornell turned 95, Neil organized for a birthday flight for Cornell and made this implausible three-minute video of the event.
After I wrote in regards to the B-52 a couple of weeks in the past, Andy mailed me a implausible {photograph} of him in a B-52 stationed at Higher Heyford in 1981.
It really is a HUGE plane. The fuselage is so huge that it’s truly rippled/undulating.
The man exhibiting me round stated that if the tail gunner couldn’t be bothered to make use of the right crawl area to get to the cockpit to seize some meals (there was a grill between the pilot/co-pilot seats), effectively then, the pilot would radio again and make sure that the bomb doorways had been closed and locked so he might simply RUN throughout the bomb bay.
I keep in mind after Thatcher getting in, in 1979…the sheer quantity of US navy plane that had been being dumped into the UK. As an 11-year-old, it was fairly an superior sight to look at this stuff going overhead. Even a Starfighter made an look! Lord is aware of why or simply how precisely it obtained there, not famous for his or her vary!)
Lastly, on my private e-newsletter, Accidents and Incidents, I wrote about my odd expertise collaborating in a documentary in regards to the Bermuda Triangle. They invited me to speak about Flight 19 however by some means I ended up within the left seat of an Airbus A320 simulator!
They Let Me Fly the Aircraft tells the entire story.
It’s occurred so quick, I don’t know what to say, so I comply, pushing the thrust levers ahead and veering backwards and forwards on the runway whereas the director fires questions at me. We elevate off however I don’t know how a lot strain to make use of on the side-stick; I’m pitching the airliner up and down like a dolphin as I attempt to reply his questions. The digicam man seems to be barely inexperienced however valiantly retains filming, asking me to look in direction of him as a result of my hair is protecting my face. The supervisor factors out that I nonetheless have to retract the gears; we’re flying with our wheels down and flaps nonetheless set for take off.
“Have a look at me,” says the director. “Speak about how simple it’s to fly.”
(Warning: accommodates sturdy language)
I didn’t write in regards to the documentary right here on the time (I wished to see how the documentary turned out! It wasn’t dangerous truly) however I did write Airbus A320 vs Grumman Avenger.
I’ve been travelling a lot, I haven’t had the time to jot down one thing new. What I did write, for causes which can be troublesome to elucidate, was a comparability of the Grumman TBF Avenger and the Airbus A320.
As normal, the most effective bit is within the feedback.
There’s been loads of attention-grabbing crashes to debate and particularly, loads of media curiosity, which supplies the notion that air journey has been unusually harmful in 2025. As of proper now, the US deadly accident rely is trending solely barely larger than 2024. Globally, there doesn’t (to this point!) to be a spike within the variety of severe accidents. We’ll get again at taking a look at these subsequent week.
