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Towards the onset of World War 2, few would have predicted the magnitude of the battles to come. However, many would agree that the Italian Royal Air Force (or the Regia Aeronautica Italiana) and their bomber planes was poised to play a significant, if not pivotal, role in the war to come. From 1923, the

In January 2009 the photo of a floating US Airways A320 was splashed on the front cover of every newspaper after it made an emergency landing in the Hudson River. But is this an exception to the rule? Or do all airplanes float on water? An emergency landing on water is something that every pilot

The Second World War is remembered through the airplanes that survive from it. There were land-based campaigns and naval battles, but the war was fought and won in the air. Aviation was advanced enough that it became the defining aspect of the generation – fleets of thousands of bombers and fighters zooming across the skies

Pilots spend a lot of their time talking over two-way radios, which are fickle beasts on the best of days. They’re subject to interference and equipment issues. To make matters worse, pilots are often shouting over wind and engine noise. There are standard words and phrases used over the radio to make communication more straightforward.

Bleed air is a term that is tossed around frequently when it comes to aircraft systems. But what is bleed air exactly and what does it do? ‘Suck, squeeze, bang, blow’: this is the phrase that most people use to describe how an engine works. Known as the Otto cycle, this summarizes the stages of

It may surprise an aviation outsider to learn this, but airports are among the most challenging places for pilots to navigate. Planes are built to fly, and operating them on the ground isn’t always easy. They don’t have great visibility, they don’t turn around fast, and they can’t back up. Furthermore, those long wings have

PAPI lights are things most people have seen at airports but not realized just how cool they are. They’re mounted next to nearly every runway in the world, but they look like red lights to most people. From the pilot’s perspective, however, they’re an incredibly valuable tool to help them land. What Are PAPI Lights?

Like car, truck, or computer manufacturers, airplane makers struggle to come up with a recognizable brand for their products. Boeing has been incredibly successful at doing this since they carved out a niche in the passenger jet market in the 1960s. Today, Boeing planes are recognizable the world over just by the mention of their

In the hundred-plus years that designers have been perfecting airplanes, they’ve come up with quite a few creative ways to squeeze more lift out of a wing. While that’s helpful to get the plane off the ground, it’s critical to make a plane easy to control during flight phases. High-speed planes like airliners and fighter

Of all of the colored lights that twinkle at an airport, VASI lights are some of the most interesting. These lights change color depending on where the viewer is, and they help pilots find their way to the runway. Day or night, they are present at nearly every airport in the world. The VASI light