Ray Parer & J C McIntosh; The Flying Wreck. In 1919 six teams entered an Air Race from England to Australia, but only two teams finished. The winning team finished in 28 days, while the second team didn't even get started until the race was already over, but they didn't let that stop them. Ray Parer and John McIntosh in their de Havilland DH9 airplane deviated considerably from their intended course, suffered many mechanical problems, had 7 crash landings, and took 237 days to finish. But they sure did have an adventure.
posted on Jul 30, 2008 - View this thread

Not only will SAFEE ensure 9/11 never happens again, but it will also catch unruly passengers.
posted on May 30, 2008 - View this thread

Cat + Airplane + Parachute [video]
posted on Mar 15, 2008 - View this thread

Imagine you're a pilot trying to control a jet when your skull has been smashed with a hammer and your co-workers are trying to subdue a madman with a speargun.
posted on Nov 22, 2007 - View this thread

Remember when air travel was viewed as glamorous and exciting? Of course you don't. So check out this collection of vintage flight attendant photos: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
posted on Nov 13, 2007 - View this thread

He's well liked...and now a legend. Dropping the football also may have violated FAA rules.
posted on Nov 7, 2007 - View this thread

7 Means of Movement: Flying From "Come Fly With Me" to "Waitress In The Sky," Locust St. impresses us with all things aeronautical.
posted on Oct 4, 2007 - View this thread

I now know what to do in case I ever got stuck on an airplane that's not going anywhere- organize and stage a revolt, like the passengers of Continental flight 1669.
posted on Aug 16, 2007 - View this thread

The Online Paper Airplane Museum. Hundreds and hundreds of designs. Also check out The Paperang, which bills itself as "The Best Paper Airplane System In The World."
posted on Apr 12, 2007 - View this thread

This simple hack actually only crashes the in-flight entertainment system (perhaps this one?), but that's already enough to cause concern with the kind of people who comment anonymously on a blog for "security executives."

I'm certain that this vulnerability (like this vulnerability) will be taken seriously.
posted on Feb 11, 2007 - View this thread

Track aircraft visually or listen to live air traffic control.
posted on Feb 11, 2007 - View this thread

Ever wonder what all those instruments and controls on the Boeing 777's flight deck do? How about all the stuff on the rest of the plane? Photographer and former United Airlines employee Jerome Meriweather brings you flight deck simulations, aircraft cutaways, and random technical information for a handful of civilian and military planes.
posted on Feb 1, 2007 - View this thread

Letchik Leha photography. Letchik Leha is a russian photographer and pilot ("letchik" means "the pilot" in russian, apparently). Two tastes that go great together.
posted on Jan 29, 2007 - View this thread

AirTran Airways Removes Family with Unruly Toddler From Plane : AirTran is defending their decision to remove a family of three from a plane after their three-year old daughter refused to take her seat during boarding. The plane, carrying 112 people, was already delayed 15 minutes and the airline felt that the further delay caused by the toddler's behavior was unacceptable.
posted on Jan 24, 2007 - View this thread

Flight simulator. As a hobby, this guy built his own Boeing 747 flight simulator. No, not just a PC simulation, but a full cabin with hydraulics motion simulation a correct control panel and the full works, just like the real thing. (via Neatorama)
posted on Sep 4, 2006 - View this thread

Japanese leftists seize plane with samurai swords. AWOL Marine sets record by hijacking plane from Fresno to Rome. Female Palestinian hijacker becomes radical chic pin-up. D.B. Cooper parachutes from 727 with $200,000 in unmarked bills. Have airplane bombings made us nostalgic for old-school skyjackers who just wanted money or a trip to Cuba? Academic papers analyze skyjacking in the 60s & 70s according to contagion and rational choice models. Check out a prescient pre-9/11 documentary on the subject with great archival clips.
posted on Aug 18, 2006 - View this thread

Due to recent fires, Dell is recalling over four million laptop batteries manufactured by Sony and sold worldwide in the past two years. Pictures of computers on fire (as well as their charred remains) circulated widely online, not allowing the company to easily dismiss the problem as an isolated incident. Other companies claim their products aren't affected by the same issues, but the nightmare might not be limited to Dell. The future of laptops on airplanes is not looking so good.
posted on Aug 15, 2006 - View this thread

The impressive Gimli Glider. Yes, seriously: it can be a glider. An amazing story of a commercial pilot with mad emergency landing skillz.
posted on Feb 21, 2006 - View this thread

Traveling soon? Check out your airport's food for health or taste. A move away from single concessionaires has brought star chefs and big money to some locations and frustrated locals (Sea-Tac, halfway through article) in others. But the overall airport-food picture is still weak enough to inspire six pages of Rooneyesque diatribe. [more inside]
posted on Dec 19, 2005 - View this thread

Yesterday morning in Florida, the landing gear on a student-piloted Cessna failed to lock into place. After the plane circled for an hour, the airport president drove a Jeep underneath the plane at 80 mph while his passenger took a stick and knocked the wheels into place. And that, as they say in the business, was caught on tape.
posted on Sep 17, 2005 - View this thread

I saw this on my local news this evening. Can consumer lasers really bring down planes?
posted on Dec 29, 2004 - View this thread

A metaphor for the next four years? Apologies in advance, as this post might be better kept afloat at Fark, but one can't help think this it is a more represenative sign. After a mishap like this can you blame the dems?
posted on Dec 7, 2004 - View this thread

Roger Scramjet, he’s our man!! Mach 10, 7000mph New York to Tokyo in 2 hours! The future of global air travel? Or something else? What does Russia think of our new precision time-critical strike weapons with significant stand off capability as well as prompt global reach? Oh, nothing really...
posted on Nov 19, 2004 - View this thread

Brain in a Dish Flies Plane. Hallowe'en-esque research conducted at the University of Florida.
posted on Oct 29, 2004 - View this thread

Last operational flight of the F-14s

Speaking of gravity-defying cats... Remember the F-14, Tom Cruise's favorite ride? It's the end of an era for the venerable warbird. The variable-geometry Tomcat was the last carrier aircraft built specifically for fleet defense and long-range interception -- in fact, it grew up with a dedicated weapon system just for the job. Like any cat with nine lives, it showed up doingnew and different things. In its later years it found a new role as a precision-strike aircraft (the "BombCat") and nearly lived to be the bridge to the new F-35 multirole Joint Strike Fighter. Excuse the warmongering. What can I say...I was bored with the lousy NFL early games on TV this afternoon..
posted on Oct 24, 2004 - View this thread

IF jetplane + wall == dust THEN wow(windowsmedia)
Hunt the Boeing my arse.
posted on Sep 27, 2004 - View this thread

Air Marshals Say Passenger Overreacted. "The source said the air marshals on the flight were partially concerned (Annie) Jacobsen’s actions could have been an effort by terrorists or attackers to create a disturbance on the plane to force the agents to identify themselves." (Second story down, via atrios)
posted on Jul 23, 2004 - View this thread

Holding Pattern is a screensaver for Mac OS X that generates photo-realistic simulations of the view from a flying airplane window.
posted on Apr 25, 2004 - View this thread

An airplane hall of fame. Talk about rekindling childhood passions. I got a real kick out of reading this.
posted on Dec 6, 2003 - View this thread

Trains vs. Airplanes. Amtrak has reported record ridership levels for the Thanksgiving season. But the success of the rails is indebted to post 9/11 air-travel anxiety. Maybe, it would be better for travelers to stop fearing hijackings and resume flying planes instead of riding intercity trains out of fear. On the other hand, it could be a good thing that rail travel is getting a second look after years of decline.
posted on Dec 3, 2003 - View this thread

Thank God for Airport Security. Can you believe this?
posted on Sep 10, 2003 - View this thread

A Boeing 727 went missing from Angola on May 25. Some people made immediate, predictable noises about "terrorists", despite the fact that things are a lot less settled in Africa (from a paperwork and regulatory point of view). It was spotted with a new paint job on June 28 in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. But, now it's gone again and nobody knows where it is.
posted on Aug 6, 2003 - View this thread

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields
posted on Mar 8, 2003 - View this thread

Buy a Flight Manual, Get a Grand Jury Subpoena? A guy qualified to fly and instruct on the Boeing 737 buys a CD on Ebay that contains the ground course for the same plane. Then the FBI gets involved, and, courtesy of section 501 (d) of the "USA Patriot Act", he can no longer even discuss the issue. [more inside]
posted on Dec 23, 2002 - View this thread

Pilot parachutes plane to safety. Never before had a certified aircraft used a parachute to land. But that all changed Thursday afternoon when a pilot in distress used Cirrus' parachute system to successfully bring his disabled airplane to earth. Plane malfunctioning? Release the rip cord! More inside.
posted on Oct 5, 2002 - View this thread

Bored at the office? Put some of that paper to good use: make some paper airplanes. Those two links should keep you busy for a few days (be sure to try out Nick's Plane. Possibly the best paper plane there is. Thank you Nick, who ever you are..), but if you're looking for something a little flash, you could try folding one of these.
posted on Aug 23, 2002 - View this thread

you worry me This American Airlines pilot hits the nail on the head for me! Thus far the Muslim voices I hear in America--and they are precious few--always seem to get half way through condemniong this or that and then insert a "BUT" or "HOWEVER." This guy asks for a simple, straight-forward response.
posted on Jul 3, 2002 - View this thread

Ever wonder if the airplane food sucks everywhere? Find out at Airplane Meals, or add to this vastly underrepresented body of knowledge by sending him a pic of your next mile-high snack.
posted on May 20, 2002 - View this thread

"Heck with the tiger. What about the plane in the driveway." Maybe this plane was piloted by an invisible network of terrorists aiming to disrupt LA traffic.
posted on Apr 11, 2002 - View this thread

Air Canada bans Salman Rushdie because "the extra security required for him to fly could mean long delays for other passengers." Extra security? You mean it isn't at maximum already?
posted on Mar 18, 2002 - View this thread

Photos Show Plane Hitting Pentagon A sequence of five government photos shows the moment the hijacked American Airlines plane slammed into the Pentagon last Sept. 11.
Enough proof for you?
posted on Mar 7, 2002 - View this thread

Arab-Americans kicked off NWA flight. Three Arab-Americans from Utah have been kicked off a flight from Minneapolis because the other passengers refused to fly with them.
posted on Sep 21, 2001 - View this thread

Now is probably a poor time to start making bomb jokes at the airport.
posted on Sep 20, 2001 - View this thread

On September 11th 1994, a man crashed his plane into the White House. (Via Time)
posted on Sep 16, 2001 - View this thread

Safe Mode for airplanes? Here is an interesting idea on one way to prevent Tuesday's disaster...it will not stop hijacking but could avert another WTC. "Install 'safe mode' panic buttons that put the plane on forced autopilot that cannot be overridden, except in special circumstances," Steve says. He'd have them mounted in the cockpit, one for each side, with additional optional buttons in crew areas on each side of the plane in both the forward and aft cabins. Once a plane is in safe mode, suggests Steve, it would randomly select one of the 10 nearest airports capable of accommodating that plane type, and automatically land the aircraft there. "
posted on Sep 14, 2001 - View this thread

"My body has learned that it can fly." Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller fame) describes his experience in zero G, riding the "vomit comet" - a bare-bones 747 that goes up really fast and then comes down really fast, leaving you weightless for about 30 seconds. His letter is at time hilarious, at times pretty gross (they don't call it the vomit comet for nothing), but most of all, I found it kind of... well, inspiring. Now, more than ever, I want to go into space and experience zero G. (via memepool)
posted on Jun 22, 2001 - View this thread

New York to LA in under 20 minutes?
With a cruising speed of 11,500 Km/h , NASA unveils a new plane designed to be world's fastest... Fasten your, um, seatbelts please.
posted on Apr 19, 2001 - View this thread

I want one of these. There's an airplane which comes around here every once in a while and circles overhead for perhaps half an hour, then leaves. I think it's a realtor. (There's been a lot of building in this area recently, with housing developments going in and stuff like that.) It's damned annoying and I get tired of listening to it. Sometimes it's a helicoptor instead.

If I can't have one, then I want one of these instead.
posted on Sep 20, 2000 - View this thread

For people with a sick sense of homour: The makers of Conarde 2000 present a new game called Elevator Action. The rules are simple. Just try to stop the free fall of an elevator in a burning TV tower. What's next? A submarine game?
posted on Sep 6, 2000 - View this thread