20 April 2012

Near collision of USAF KC135 and NATO E3 AWACS

Shortly after a NATO E3 AWACS connected to a USAF KC135 for refueling, the refueling boom is disconnected and the AWACS comes perilously close to hitting the KC135.


The USAF KC135 was from the combined 537/137 Air Refueling Wing of Tinker AFB near Oklahoma City, OK. It is not clear from the video where the NATO AWACS was based. If anyone has any information about this event, please contact us.

17 April 2012

The Flight of the Phoenix was a 1965 movie starring James Stewart, and featured the story of how after a transport aircraft crashes in the middle of the Sahara desert, the pilot (Stewart) and surviving passengers and crew built an aircraft out of the wreckage and used it to return to civilization.

During the filming of the movie, movie stunt pilot Paul Mantz was killed in a crash on July 8, 1965. The fatal flight was being filmed, and part of the footage that day did end up in the movie.


About the aircraft
The aircraft was custom designed for the movie Tallmantz Aviation. It was a flyable model that was used for some of the scenes for the movie.


Additional Information
Aero Vintage Books - The Last Flight of the Phoenix

05 January 2012

Recreations of the Miracle on the Hudson Ditching

The following is on e of a series of simulations related to the ditching of US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320, in the Hudson River in January 2009. The three dimensional recreations were largely based on publicly available data released by the NTSB during the course of the accident investigation, and includes transcripts of pilot and air traffic controller conversations.


Additional videos from this video's creator include alternative recreations of the accident, as well as a video depicting the bird flock that struck the aircraft.

Additional Resources
Jet airliner ditching events
AirSafe.com page on Flight 1549

03 January 2012

Post evacuation video from 2008 Iran Air crash

2 January 2008; Iran Air Fokker 100; Tehran, Iran: The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic flight from Tehran to Shiraz, Iran. The aircraft skidded off the runway during the takeoff attempt which was attempted in snowy conditions. There was reportedly landing gear damage and a post-crash fire, but all six crew members and 53 passengers were able to escape.
Because this event did not cause a passenger fatality, it is not counted as a fatal event as defined by AirSafe.com.

While the accident didn't result in fatalities, it is remarkable for a passenger video of what happened after the evacuation. Would you hang around a burning airplane as many of these passgeners decided to do? If you look closely, several passengers seemed to have taken their carry on bags as well.