iPhones, laptops, the Chevy Volt, and airplanes all have something in common - fires caused by lithium batteries. [more inside]
posted by backseatpilot on Dec 1, 2011 - 39 comments

Pilot ejects an instant before fighterjet crashes [video] (via mr)
posted by kliuless on Oct 18, 2010 - 54 comments

"Reading 'Our tribute to a brave little boy,' you will also find 65 cents in nickels and dimes melded to the plaque." Some mismatched bricks on an unremarkable building in Park Slope and a plaque in a hospital are the clues to an astonishing story of two airplanes, a mid-air crash, and a little boy traveling alone. [more inside]
posted by Astro Zombie on Jun 10, 2010 - 28 comments

The sky is a really big place, right? So how did a Boeing 737 and a Legacy 600 private jet manage to collide head-on at 37,000 feet over the Amazon jungle in Brazil? William Langewiesche's detailed analysis of the 2006 crash--which killed all 154 aboard the 737--provides some answers. [more inside]
posted by flug on Mar 27, 2009 - 22 comments

Known as Black Box in the UK, Survival in the Sky was a four-episode 1996 series about commercial aviation accidents and the investigation of their causes. (Two additional episodes were filmed in 1998.) Not currently available on DVD, five of the six episodes are available in their entirety on YouTube (links within). [more inside]
posted by maxwelton on Jan 17, 2009 - 12 comments

The impressive Gimli Glider. Yes, seriously: it can be a glider. An amazing story of a commercial pilot with mad emergency landing skillz.
posted by five fresh fish on Feb 21, 2006 - 42 comments

I saw this on my local news this evening. Can consumer lasers really bring down planes?
posted by Recockulous on Dec 29, 2004 - 62 comments

On September 11th 1994, a man crashed his plane into the White House. (Via Time)
posted by HoldenCaulfield on Sep 16, 2001 - 12 comments

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 by arf on Sep 6, 2000 - 3 comments