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Alaska Airlines Flight 261: Investigating what caused the tragedy

Aerotime

Twenty-five years on from this terrible accident, we look back at what led up to the crash, what was learned from it, and why the pilots Ted Thompson and Bill Tansky are now hailed as heroes for their actions during the incident. Wikimedia Flying the aircraft were two highly experienced former military pilots.

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Examining over 100 years of flight automation and the history of the autopilot

Aerotime

The automatic pilot (autopilot) has to be one of aviations finest technological inventions. Largely gone are the days when pilots had to manually control their aircraft from engine start-up to shut down by keeping their hands rigidly fixed on the controls at all times.

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Mid-Atlantic Air Museum’s P-61 Black Widow Spring 2025 Update

Vintage Aviation News

One of the largest remaining components, the aircrafts horizontal stabilizer, is currently undergoing a meticulous finishing process in the museums paint shop. Fabric-covered and treated with layers of Butyrate aircraft dope, the stabilizer will receive a protective silver dope coat followed by its final black paint.

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AirCorps Aviation’s Piper L-4H Grasshopper – Winter 2025 Update

Vintage Aviation News

(image via AirCorps Aviation) The larger, freshly painted parts shown here include the brake cylinders (lower left center), brake pedals above them, the vertical stabilizer fairing on the near right center, and the horizontal stabilizers center tube on the far right. The landing gear components were test-fitted before painting.

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NTSB Releases Preliminary Report on Holland Accident

Flying Magazine

The preliminary report on the accident that killed aerobatic pilot Rob Holland has been released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Pilot Rob Holland (pictured here in 2015) made history by winning for the seventh consecutive year at the U.S. The rudder was intact, although the bottom of the control was crushed.

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10 Must-Read Books for Aviation History Fans

Plane and Pilot

Aviation has influenced global events, transformed travel, and captured the imaginations of pilots and enthusiasts around the world. You wont, of course, encounter many lessons on aviation history during flight training, but it nonetheless provides a context within which we can better understand ourselves as students, pilots, or enthusiasts.

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Tailless Aircraft: How Airplanes Fly Without a Tail

Pilot Institute

A tailless aircraft is a fixed-wing airplane without a horizontal stabilizing surface. With this type of aircraft, the functions of longitudinal stability and control are incorporated into the main wing. A tailless aircraft may still have a fuselage and a vertical tail (fin and rudder). How does the tail do this? Lets find out.

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