Canadian pilots out there will know that today marks the 100th anniversary of flight in our country. Back in 1909, Alexander Graham Bell created a team called the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA) with the intentions of designing and flying an airplane. With $45,000 of funding from his wife, Mabel Bell, the team included some legendary names in aviation, including Casey Baldwin (Canadian), Glenn Curtiss (American), Doug McCurdy (Canadian), and Tom Selfridge (American).

On Feb. 23, 1909, Doug McCurdy piloted the Silver Dart and became the first person in the British Empire to fly an airplane. The flight took place on the frozen Bras d’Or Lake in Baddeck, Nova Scotia and lasted 90 seconds. Today in Baddeck, former astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason was scheduled to fly a replica Silver Dart, but the weather is suggesting something else. He test flew the aircraft last night and a few weeks ago in Hamilton as well, but heres hoping the actual centennial flight will get off the ground tomorrow.

Below are some pictures from 1909 and 2009.

(AP/David Duprey)

Thursday night, a Continental (Colgan Air) Dash-8 Q400 on approach to Buffalo Niagara International went down in a NY neighbourhood. Initial reports are saying that there are no survivors and that there is at least one fatality on the ground, but it’s still too early to tell. News sites are saying that emergency crews have not been able to enter the crash area due to the intense heat from the crash, which has destroyed one home, and most likely caused damage to more of the area.

Here is the NTSB animation:

February 9th, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the Boeing 747’s first flight and the introduction of one of the world’s most recognizable jumbo jets. The distinctive hump is a surefire way to tell it apart from any other airliner. The 747 held the passenger capacity record for 37 years and still remains one of the largest passenger aircraft ever produced.

Here are a few interesting facts about the B747:
- 1500 built/produced
- 413 ton max takeoff weight
- Mach 0.92 max speed
- Approx. 500 seats depending on layout

For an excellent article from the BBC, click here.

Below is an interesting comparison between some of the world’s largest aircraft, including Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose, an Airbus A380, an Antonov 225 Mriya, and a Boeing 747-400.

My home town of London, ON is officially being upgraded to class C airspace from our current D status. What does this mean for a student pilot? Well, it means I get get to brag to friends about operating in a class C, but it also means stricter guidelines and a mode C transponder, which I’m almost certain all of the airplanes at my school have. Better check on that. The change takes place 2 days after my birthday, Mar. 12, 2009 at 0901Z.

Here’s the official NavCanada memo:

Now if only we could do something about the language problem…

Ah, there’s nothing like the Hudson River in January. Luckily for the 150 passengers and 5 crew members on board US Airways flight 1549, they didn’t have to wait long when their flight ditched into the Hudson after a dual engine flame out. Shortly after take off from La Guardia, the Airbus A320 hit a flock of birds and both engines flamed out at an altitude of only 3200 feet. The pilot was given vectors to the west in an attempt to land at a nearby New Jersey airport, but decided against it in order to not risk crashing into a populated area. He managed to successfully ditch the aircraft into the Hudson where ferry boats started rescuing people immediately. Amazingly, all 155 people on board survived with only a few serious injuries.

Let me first start out with a very profound wow. As someone who studies aviation accidents on a regular basis, there are a number of things that amaze me about this story.

First and probably foremost, it is amazing that the plane didn’t break apart on impact. If the aircraft in question were a jet with high mounted engines, such as a Bombardier CRJ or maybe an MD88, then I would understand. But aircraft with engines mounted under the wings usually don’t do so well with water landings. I am reminded of Ethiopian Airlines 961 that landed in the India Ocean after running out of fuel. The Boeing 767 in question attempted to ditch, but the left engine dug into the water on impact and ripped the plane apart; 125 of 175 were killed. So the fact that the pilot managed to put the aircraft down softly enough to not rip the wings off is an impressive feat in itself.

I am also amazed that the plane didn’t start sinking right away. Maybe this goes hand in hand with a rough landing, but usually giant hunks of metal start to fill with water very quick and people don’t have enough time to escape. It seems that in this case, the fuselage was in good enough condition to allow everyone to pour out onto the wings and simply wait there until boats showed up to rescue them. If ever I saw such an organized emergency landing, it was this one.

And to be clear, this was not a crash landing. It was an emergency landing. There is a very important difference. Although you may be inclined to say that the pilot crashed into the river, he in fact landed on the river. The difference between a crash landing and an emergency landing is simple: the pilot in command. His quick thinking saved the lives of everyone on board and possibly of people on the ground had he chosen to try and fly over New Jersey to land at an airport.

As someone who wants to fly for a living, it’s pilots like this that really make you reflect on your training and make you ask yourself: “What would I have done?”. I bet that there are only a handful of pilots working for any given carrier that could have pulled this one off. I’m just glad it ended up the way it did.

Here is a powerpoint someone emailed me, so I can’t take credit for it. If you know who created it, let me know and I’ll put their name down. I’ve turned the slides into jpegs so they’re viewable online. Just click the first picture and you can cycle through them from there.