#aviation-technology
87 episodes
#5302: Grass, Road, or Water: Where Does a Crippled Jet Land?
An A320 is in trouble with three options left: a grass runway, a road with traffic, or open water. The data on which one crews actually pick.
#5239: What Happens When a Plane Dumps Fuel Over a City
Fifteen fuel dumps a year over US airspace — and nobody tracks where the fuel lands or what it does to the ocean.
#5197: Flags of Convenience: Ships, Planes, and Olive Oil
A Maltese-registered Arkia plane and Tunisian olive oil at Osher Ad turn out to share one mechanism: the legal costume of nationality.
#5193: Rethinking How We Travel Long Distances Without Flying
Sleeper trains, cargo ships, and vehicle relocation — the surprising alternatives to flying that already exist.
#5122: Why a Private Jet Costs $200K (And Who Pays It)
A Tel Aviv to Hartford charter quote explained: positioning, fuel, fees, and the real math behind private aviation.
#5108: How to Identify Anything in the Sky: A Jerusalem Drone Case Study
A reader saw a green strobe hovering over Jerusalem. Here's how to think like an educated guesser.
#5094: How Aviation Turns Crashes into Safety Rules
Inside the NTSB's forensic pipeline: black boxes, runway rubber, and how findings become rules that prevent the next disaster.
#5089: How Runway Overruns Happen and the EMAS Safety Net
A Prime Air 767 overran at Miami. We break down the physics, the safety engineering, and why EMAS beds matter.
#4982: Why Airport Security Feels So Inconsistent
The real reason your belt gets flagged at one airport but not the next—and why millimeter-wave scanners create more problems than they solve.
#4916: Inside an MRO Warehouse: Moving 4,000-Pound Landing Gear
How aviation warehouses move everything from tiny fasteners to 4,000-pound landing gear struts.
#4914: Why Aviation's Fatigue Rules Work
How aviation built a system that treats exhaustion as a design problem — and what other industries can learn from it.
#4913: What ACMI Leasing Reveals About Airline Operations
How airlines secretly swap planes and crews without passengers knowing.
#4911: How Airline SOPs Vary Between Operators
Why the same plane type can fly differently depending on which airline's procedures the crew follows.
#4910: Why Wide-Body Flying Isn't Actually Harder
Why bigger planes don't need more experienced pilots — and how ACMI operators let pilots leapfrog the seniority queue.
#4907: Why Airlines Pick Boeing or Airbus — or Both
The real reasons airlines choose one manufacturer or mix fleets — from missile defenses to negotiating leverage.
#4886: Why Airplane Cabins Are Drier Than the Sahara
Why planes are drier than deserts, how HEPA filters miss pathogens, and whether crew really build immunity.
#4880: Who Really Flies Your Flight? Inside Wet Leases
When an airline's crew doesn't actually work for the airline whose name is on the plane.
#4865: How Test Pilots Hunt Crosswinds in Patagonia
Why aircraft manufacturers send test pilots to Patagonia to chase 40-knot crosswinds for certification.
#4864: A Domestic Airline Goes Long-Haul Under Pressure
How a 50-minute domestic carrier was forced to fly 10-hour transatlantic routes after the war.
#4861: Which Long-Haul Aircraft Earns Its Keep?
Comparing the A330, A340, 777, and 787 on daily utilization, profitability, and real-world performance.
#4860: What It Really Takes for an Airport to Go Transatlantic
Runway length is just the start. Pavement strength, fuel farms, customs, and insurance all decide if an airport can go intercontinental.
#4855: What Turbulence Actually Does to a Plane
How climate change is increasing clear-air turbulence — and why your plane can handle far more than you feel.
#4850: Worn vs Carried: The Carry-On Arms Race
How travelers exploit the gap between worn clothing and baggage rules to carry more without paying bag fees.
#4788: How Weather Prediction Became a Science
From hand calculations to chaos theory to machine learning — the full arc of forecasting.