Content Tagged “aerospace”
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While the Propellers Knotted like Pretzels
In 1937, Time magazine had this to say about Amelia Earhart crashing her plane on the second leg of her world-circling flight. The press really hit different back then.
For Earhart and Putnam, the crash in Hawaii was a public relations disaster. The March 29 issue of Time magazine drew on the title of a popular Eugene O’Neill play for a piece titled “Mourning Becomes Electra.” After pointing out that several people had flown around the world on commercial airlines, the article said, “Last week Aviatrix Amelia Earhart Putnam took off from Oakland ‘to establish the feasibility of circling the globe by commercial air travel.’ … With her as navigators she took three men, but not her publicity-wise husband, who stayed at Oakland to sell her autographs at $6 each.” Time’s description of the accident was no less sarcastic: “Down the long concrete runway of Luke Field the ship shot at 60 m.p.h. Suddenly the left tire blew out. Lurching, the plane crumpled its landing gear, careened 1,000 feet on its bottom in a spray of sparks while the propellers knotted like pretzels. With sirens screaming, ambulances dashed to the wreck just as Flyer Amelia stepped out white-faced. Said she, ‘Something must have gone wrong.’
— From the book One More Good Flight: The Amelia Earhart Tragedy by Ric Gillespie, U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2024
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The Taraia Object Is Not Amelia Earhart’s Plane
The leaders of Purdue University’s expedition to determine if the so-called Taraia Object on Nikumaroro is in fact Amelia Earhart’s long-lost plane have concluded, after about two days of radio silence to the outside world, that the object is not Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10-E.
Evidence gathered at the Taraia Peninsula on Nikumaroro confirmed that the visual anomaly first seen in satellite imagery in 2020 was likely a collection of large trees deposited along the peninsula’s sandspit. By the time the team arrived at the site, a good portion of the debris had fragmented and washed away, leaving only a single Y-shaped segment — a fraction of the anomaly’s original size observed in imagery when the Taraia Object hypothesis was developed. The fragment’s reflective surface, long associated with the idea that the object was a metallic substance, was due to its carbonate veneer. Other items found by the team were similarly coated with a shiny concretized amalgam of coral sand.
Interestingly, Ric Gillespie, founder of TIGHAR — who long advocated the idea that Earhart and Noonan had landed on Nikumaroro and wrote a book to the effect — called it in a YouTube video in December where he said that the Taraia Object was not the plane. He thinks the plane slid off the Nikumaroro reef and is long gone.
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The Amelia Earhart Expedition Is Underway
Purdue University’s expedition to determine if the so-called Taraia Object on Nikumaroro is in fact Amelia Earhart’s long-lost plane, which was postponed due to bureaucratic hurdles last year, has reached the remote island last Monday. Purdue set out the goals of the expedition as follows:
Expedition members will rendezvous at Tarawa, Kiribati, on Oct. 6 and depart by sea the next day for Nikumaroro in the Phoenix Islands of Kiribati. The team will sail six days to arrive at Nikumaroro and then spend the following days on the small island in the search effort. Work on Nikumaroro will focus on inspecting the Taraia Object, first noticed in satellite imagery in 2020 and later confirmed to be visible on aerial photos taken of the island’s lagoon as far back as 1938. Initial work will include videos and still images of the site prior to any disturbance, followed by remote sensing with magnetometers and sonar. Then the team will employ underwater excavation using a hydraulic dredge to expose the object for identification. Fieldwork will include a walk-over survey of nearby land surfaces to search for debris washed up by waves.
On Wednesday, the expedition crew had started their underwater survey of the object, but then, bad weather prevented further work for three days and the expedition was extended. In a YouTube short posted Saturday night (Sunday morning local time) an expedition crew member explains that the weather has cleared up and that the work can now begin again. So we are awaiting news really any time now as to the actual nature of the Taraia Object. Is it Amelia Earhart’s plane? The suspense is killing me here!
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→ Accident: Flydubai B38M near Tabuk on Sep 30th 2026, fight in the cockpit, first officer under investigation for suspected suicide attempt, The Aviation Herald
This is quite the story. 😐
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Ryanair Flight 1879: Passenger Stuck in Window
Wow, this one is true nightmare fuel: On Friday, 10 July, a window on the right-hand side of a Boeing 737 NG shattered at 15,000 feet (about 4.5 kilometres) up, while the plane was climbing away from Thessaloniki Airport (LGTS) in Greece. The passenger sitting in the seat next to the window was partly sucked out, ending up with his head outside the airplane. His wife, who was sitting next to him, reportedly grabbed him and pulled him back inside the cabin.
This was Ryanair flight FR1879, from Thessaloniki to Memmingen in Germany, performed on behalf of Ryanair by a Malta Air plane (9H-QEU). Since the crew reported issues with the right-hand (No. 2) engine and pictures have been circulated that show this engine with a fan blade missing and a hole in the engine cowling, it seems likely that this plane suffered a blade-out event (FBO). That is: The fan blade ripped loose, exited the engine enclosure and hit the plane’s window. The aircraft diverted back to Thessaloniki and landed safely.
So far, there are no clues why the engine blade decided to quit the engine. The plane was in climb-out, where the engines are under a lot less strain than the preceeding max take-off thrust. Maybe a bird strike?
I guess that passenger was lucky he wasn’t decapitated by that fan blade. Exiting out the engine, that thing must have had quite a lot of kinetic energy. And here’s another good reason to always strap in aboard on airplane at all times, BTW.
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Attention All Aircraft: England Have Won 2-1
When England won the World Cup quarter-finals against Norway on Saturday, British Airways Operations allegedly sent the following ACARS message to its fleet:
FROM ADDRESS: LHRWWBA AC CTROLLER 320 ATTENTION ALL AIRCRAFT ENGLAND HAVE WON 2-1 ITS COMING HOME BA OPS CONTROL SENT 2358Z/11ACARS, the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, is a means to sent short text messages to and from aircraft in flight via radio or satellite using a Telex format. It is used as an alternative to voice radio for communication between airline operational staff and pilots on the flight deck. It is usually used to inform flight crew of weather or airport conditions, connecting flight changes or similar operational matters that aren’t immediately safety-critical.
Photo of the ACARS message from the flight deck of a Boeing Triple Seven (Photo: @a_swift_half on Twitter)
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Don’t Touch the Space Balls!
The Queensland Fire Department in Australia is warning beachgoers not to touch mysterious metal balls that have washed up at Forrest Beach. Forrest Beach is about 200 km south of Cairns, facing the Palm Islands in North Queensland.
Specialist QFR Scientific teams have safely secured a number of the items throughout the weekend and remain on scene continuing their work. A 50-metre exclusion zone is still in place. The nature and origin of the debris are still being investigated.
A “space ball” on Forrest Beach near Cairns (Photo: Queensland Fire Department)It looks like these objects are hydrazine monopropellant tanks from the upper stage of a rocket or from a de-orbited satellite. On social media, they have been dubbed “space balls” in reference to the 1987 Mel Brooks film Spaceballs that actually has an upcoming sequel set for next year.
Apparently, the “space balls” have appeared before, at least once, in 2011 in a remote area of Namibia.
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Kerbal Boom
As it turns out, the Artemis II mission has caused a major influx of players to Kerbal Space Program. It’s hit its all-time highest number of players in April of this year. Mind you, this is a game that came out almost exactly 15 years ago! The April peak made KSP almost exceed the Day One player count of Kerbal Space Program 2, which completely underdelivered and has now been completely abandoned by its developers and players alike (even though it is somehow still being sold on Steam).
Data from SteamDBWith the Artemis hype, KSP has finally recovered the players it has lost to its own pretend-sequel and seems to have gained a new life with folks going back to it. There are 6000 people playing it as I write this! I feel like it’s time for me to go back to my own space program.
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Trump Unveils New Air Force One with New Colour Scheme
President Donald Trump on Friday showed off the new Air Force One, a formerly Qatari-owned jumbo jet that has been converted into the official U.S. presidential aircraft. The new aircraft eschews the Kennedy-era robin’s egg blue exterior of the old plane for a bolder look, with the underbelly of the plane painted navy blue with a red stripe above it. The plane’s left side, where the president boards, features the presidential seal, while the tail of the aircraft has a massive American flag on it.
“This plane was transformed into a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said from inside the massive Joint Base Andrews hangar, as a couple hundred assembled Air Force personnel looked on.
→ Trump shows off new Air Force One, a gift from Qatar, and admits “a normal president wouldn’t do this”, Fortune, 20 June 2026
The new livery (Photo: U.S. Air Force)This aircraft, registration N7478D, is now the third Boeing VC-25 in service — the other two being registered as 28000 and 29000. When the President is on board one of these aircraft, it receives the call sign “Air Force One”.
Here’s the original VC-25, registration 28000, as Air Force One with President Obama aboard, on final approach to Langenhagen Airport (EDDV) on 24 April 2016 (I got up early on Sunday morning and grabbed this shot from my balcony when Obama arrived for his TTIP trade visit to Hannover):
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Boeing 787 Sleepy …
Well, I’ve never seen anything like that before:
A Lufthansa Boeing 787-9, registration D-ABPQ performing flight LH-450 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Los Angeles,CA (USA), was preparing for boarding of passengers at the gate, when all gear doors opened and the nose gear retracted. The aircraft fell onto its nose. A number of crew on board received injuries.
Apparently, this Dreamliner is brand new. The aircraft was delivered to Lufthansa just in January.
D-ABPQ after the accident (photo via The Aviation Herald)
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More from Artemis II
I am continuing to watch the Artemis II stream and being fascinated by it. As a kid, when I was just beginning to read, I grew up with these popular science books here in Germany called Was ist was1. They were aimed at young school kids and had lots of great pictures and diagrams. Most other kids were all about the dinosaur books, and while those fascinated me too, I quickly latched on to a number of books about space, especially one that was about the Apollo moon missions. Ever since, I have waited for people to go back to the moon. I must say that I've been very disappointed to wait over 30 years for this, which I had not expected when reading those books as a kid, but now that we’re going back, I am very excited about the whole thing.
And the amazing pictures we are getting back almost make up for the long wait. Some of these would make excellent desktop wallpaper, I feel.
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Artemis II Photos
So, I’ve been laid out with a major manflu of some kind for a couple of days now. So I’m just vegetating away in front of my computer, playing some Stellaris and I’ve got NASA’s Artemis II stream open on the side. And, holy shit, these photos they are downlinking to Earth are fucking amazing!
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Air India Pilot Reportedly Drunk Before Flight
After the devastating Air India Flight 171 crash last year, Air India is in the news again:
Canada’s transport regulator has asked Air India to investigate an incident of a pilot who was removed from a plane before it was due to take off and found to be under the influence of alcohol, a person familiar with the matter said. Two breathalyser tests conducted by Canadian police at Vancouver International Airport showed the pilot was unfit for duty, the person said on Friday. The incident was labelled as a “serious matter” by Transport Canada in a letter to Air India and authorities are likely to pursue enforcement action, the person added.
In a statement, Air India said the flight from Vancouver to Delhi on December 23 experienced a last-minute delay due to the incident, adding that an alternate pilot was brought in to operate the flight. The airline said Canadian authorities raised concerns about the pilot’s fitness for duty but did not provide details.
→ NDTV: Air India Pilot Detained In Vancouver Over Alcohol Smell, Flight Delayed
According to reports, a staff member at the Vancouver airport’s duty-free store had alerted the Canadian authorities after he either saw the pilot drinking alcohol or noticed the smell while he was purchasing it. The authorities subjected the pilot to a breath analyser test - which he failed, and he was subsequently detained, the reports added.
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Earhart Expedition Postponed
I somehow missed this news, but as it turns out, the expedition to locate Amelia Earhart’s plane has been postponed to the coming year. It seems that bureaucracy on the side of the Kiribati government is to blame. This delay has pushed the departure into the season of cyclones in the South Pacific, which would make it unsafe for the expedition to leave now. Interestingly, cyclone activity is what has uncovered the object in the lagoon, that is of interest to the expedition, in the first place.
In a statement on 27 October, Purdue University, which is organising the expedition, said:
Originally scheduled to launch from Majuro in the Marshall Islands on Nov. 4, the expedition was delayed as the team continues to work through additional stages of the permit approval process with the Kiribati government. A safe departure cannot be later in 2025 with the onset of the South Pacific cyclone season.
The team will continue positive engagement with Kiribati, with plans to go to Nikumaroro as soon as possible and when safe to do so. The plan will remain unchanged: A field team will depart the Marshall Islands and travel by sea for six days to Nikumaroro to confirm whether the visual anomaly seen in satellite and other imagery in the island’s lagoon is what remains of Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10-E.
“Maritime expeditions require thorough preparation and numerous clearances. Our project required many approvals at multiple levels of the Kiribati government, and we benefited from cooperation and assistance from officials in Tarawa,” said expedition member Steve Schultz, Purdue University’s senior vice president and general counsel. “This is a real-time example of Purdue’s well-known ‘persistent pursuit.’ We have gained valuable insights throughout this process and are very confident and resolved to continue this quest with a planned 2026 departure.”
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Air India Flight 171
The accident aircraft, VT-ANB, in 2024 (Photo: RyanZ225 PC / CC-BY-SA 4.0)It seems that whatever happened to Air India Flight 171 to make it crash right after takeoff is still a mystery.
An Air India Boeing 787-8, registration VT-ANB performing flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad (India) to London Gatwick,EN (UK) with 230 passengers and 12 crew, was departing Ahmedabad's runway 23 at 13:38L (08:08Z), when the crew declared Mayday "No Thrust, not taking lift" and the aircraft crashed into the "BJ Medical College" in Meghaninagar surbub about 0.9nm past the runway end, first impact at position N23.056 E72.612 with wreckage spread over 200 meters. Rescue services are at the scene. There have been fatalities and injuries on the ground, local police believed there was no survivor on board of the aircraft, however, later confirmed one survivor. The airline confirmed 241 people on board died in the crash, there was only one survivor. There are 39 fatalities on the ground confirmed in addition to many injuries on the ground. Ground witnesses reported the aircraft impacted hostel buildings within a states run college for doctors, one student was able to jump out of the hotel and survived with injuries. About 50-60 students have been injured.
According to ADS-B the aircraft had entered runway 23 from the apron, which without backtracking would leave a takeoff distance available of 1900 meters/6300 feet. Four minutes later - without further position data being received, so unclear from the ADS-B whether the aircraft backtracked or not, on Jun 15th 2025 it was clarified that the aircraft had backtracked and used the full length of the runway - the aircraft took off. In the last ADS-B position the aircraft had climbed to about 625 feet MSL according to Standard Pressure (compensated for ambient pressure that would be about about 264 feet MSL or 75 feet AGL) at 174 knots over ground.
On Jun 14th 2025 the survivor reported, that moments after becoming airborne the lights in the aircraft began to flicker and the aircraft appeared to be "stuck in the air". The lights began flickering green and white, then the aircraft slammed into a building. He saw an opening in front of him, unbelted himself and used his feet to push through the opening. Doctors treating the survivor stated, that he was disorientated and suffered multiple injuries all over his body, he is out of danger however.
On Jun 17th 2025 an official, a former Air India Captain trained by the Captain of the accident flight, stated, that the CVR has been successfully read out, the voices on the CVR are very clear. It is becoming gradually clear from the newly emerging evidence that there was probably zero negligence in the cockpit, the crew did not give up until the very last moment. The probability of a technical cause is high. A preliminary report by India's AAIB can be expected in a few days.
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A Tidbit about the AARO Logo
Now this is really funny. Apparently, the original director of AARO, Sean M. Kirkpatrick, used Reddit to come up with the organisation's motto “vita nostra est quod cogitationes nostra facere est”.
Can someone translate this quote to latin for me please?
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
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“Kerbal Space Program 2” Stream
I’ve put the whole recording of my first Kerbal Space Program 2 stream on Youtube.
After heavy initial problems getting this game to not kill the performance of my computer and being able to stream it, and hours of problems in game getting into orbit and actually decoupling the satellite, I finally achieved success at the end of the stream. It made me so proud!
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The Boeing 737 MAX Story
Photo by Franz Harvin AceitunaIf you are interested in aviation in general or the story of the Boeing 737 MAX crashes in particular, you might want to check out the second episode of my new podcast Radio Nowhere.
I’ve spent several months researching pretty much every aspect of this story and talk about the technical details of the fatal crashes, explain what MCAS is and dive into the political implications for the FAA and Boeing.I’ve compiled very detailed show notes as well, that are definitely worth a look if you’re into this kind of topic. If you decide to listen to it, please tell me what you think about the episode and maybe the show in general. Contact details are in the show notes. I’m trying some new things with this show and feedback helps me figure out what I could do better and what people like from their political podcast.
The easiest way to subscribe to the show at the moment is by copying the URL of its RSS feed directly into your podcatcher. The podcast is also on Spotify, though, if you prefer that.
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