The pride of the Air India fleet, their first Boeing 747 was named after the Emperor Ashoka. The first of the Maharaja-themed aircraft it epitomised luxury and was, “Your palace in the sky.” On this New Year’s day, however, its flight would last only a few seconds.
The Emperor Ashoka Boeing 747
The cockpit
The Engineer’s station.
The interior of a Maharaja-themed Air India aircraft
The famous Jharokha styled windows
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Air India PR, Oliver Cleynen, Snowdog, Mitchel Gilliand, Shahram Sharifi, Dharma and Searchtrail67.
Hong Kong’s old airport, Kai Tak, was always a challenging approach for any pilot, particularly during the Typhoon season but what was it like to actually fly around the Checker Board. Hopefully, this Tale explains all.
One particular Captain’s very last Kai Tak landing.
Aircraft on the approach would just clear the apartment blocks of Kowloon.
How the airport looked in the late ’60s before the IGS was built.
A 747-400 ran off the end of Runway 13 into the harbour. The military blew off its fin because it jutted up into the take off path.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Christian Hanuise, Barbara Spengler and Ywchow.
On the APG show we have been discussing why the percentage of airline pilots in a stable relationship is so much higher than the average population. In this interview we discover what it’s like to be a pilot’s wife.
The photograph I took of Mrs A on the day we met.Taking the kids on their daly ride around the Base to see the kangaroos!The Airline Pilot’s Wife.
We have recently been listening to Adam Spink describe the sight of a Boeing 777 crash on the threshold of runway 27L at Heathrow airport whilst he was the Air Traffic supervisor in the tower. On this tale we look at the technical reasons for why BA38 lost power on its approach.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the NTSB.
