Remove Pilot Remove Stability Remove Tail
article thumbnail

Alaska Airlines Flight 261: Investigating what caused the tragedy

Aerotime

What should have been a routine flight turned into a tragedy after a part of the tail assembly failed. 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.

article thumbnail

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.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Helicopter that crashed in Hudson River not equipped with flight recorders: NTSB

Aerotime

RELATED Hudson River helicopter crash: what we know so far and who were the victims The agency said that the main fuselage, including the cockpit and cabin, along with the forward portion of the tail boom, the horizontal stabilizer finlets and the vertical fin, have been recovered. Investigators also examined two exemplar helicopters.

article thumbnail

Today in Aviation History: First Flight of a Commercially Certified Helicopter

Vintage Aviation News

The historic flight took place near Niagara Falls, New York, with company test pilots Edward F. Early helicopters required pilots to manually synchronize engine RPM with both main rotor and tail rotor collective pitchesa complex and demanding task. test pilot Floyd W. Hensley and Gerald Arthur Jay Demming at the controls.

Payload 98
article thumbnail

Bargain Buys on AircraftForSale: 1960 Cessna 172A Skyhawk

Plane and Pilot

The initial version had a “fastback” fuselage that lacked a rear window and a large, unswept vertical stabilizer. The most modern versions incorporate a rear window and swept tail. This example, built in 1960, combines the fastback of earlier models with the swept tail of later ones.

Tail 96
article thumbnail

Delta Connection flight received sink rate alert before Toronto Pearson crash

Aerotime

The pilot flyingpulled back the thrust levers, and as a result, over the following 5seconds, N1 decreased from 64% to approximately 43%, where it remained until touchdown. A large portion of the tail, including most of the vertical stabilizer and the entire horizontal stabilizer, also broke away from the aircraft.

article thumbnail

Game On!

Plane and Pilot

I dont exactly fit the standard pilot profile of Game Aerospaces GB1 GameBird But theres always been something about the GameBird that has piqued my interest. Its first-class team, led by Ian Waghorn, ensures that pilots leave the training program feeling confident, competent, and safe in their new or new-to-them GameBird.

Knot 111