Fear of Landing
The Art of Not Hitting the Ground Too Hard
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At All Costs
On the 11th of December 2024, the passenger in the right seat of a 1973 Grumman AA-5 was recording a video as they approached Pearland Regional Airport in Texas. The passenger shared later how things started to go wrong. “First the headsets went out, then the radio, then the avionics,” they wrote. “We knew we… -
Air India flight 132 Fuel Switch Problem Doesn’t Solve the Mystery of Flight 171
On the 2nd of February 2026, Air India flight 132 departed London Heathrow for a scheduled passenger flight to Kempegowda International Airport. The 9 hour 45 minute flight in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was uneventful and landed safely at Bengaluru (Bangalore) at 11:54 local time the following day. The eventful part happened before the flight, documented… -
Trump Threatens to Ground Canadian Aircraft Over Gulfstream Certification
The US President, Donald Trump, posted the following to Truth Social last night. Based on the fact that Canada has wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly refused to certify the Gulfstream 500, 600, 700, and 800 Jets, one of the greatest, most technologically advanced airplanes ever made, we are hereby decertifying their Bombardier Global Expresses, and all… -
Four Point Two Stars Where You Only Stop If You Have To
I always look up airports when I’m writing about them, partly out of habit and partly because I’m afraid I’ll miss an important detail. When I was writing Any Landing You Can Float Away From I looked at the Google Maps entry for Goose Bay, just scouting around for information. What I didn’t expect to… -
Any Landing You Can Float Away From: Successful Ditching in the Arctic
On the 29th of July 2024, a light aircraft encountered engine trouble off the coast of Greenland and was forced to ditch in the North Atlantic. The aircraft was a Piper Malibu (PA-46-310P), registered in Germany as D-EOSE, one of the earliest pressurised aircraft available to the general aviation market. Two pilots were on board,…