Features

It is not uncommon for people to recognise the Concorde, that divisive but ground-breaking piece of aviation engineering; yet few can name its supersonic rival. Breaking both records the Concorde seemingly claims, the Soviet Tupolev 144 was the first supersonic commercial design aircraft to break the sound barrier and the [read more]

The collective ingenuity of the Anglo-French aircraft manufacturing collaboration set in motion a wave of unlimited potential. Instigated in the context of the necessary development of aviation in post-war Europe, the harnessing of supersonic power in flight began. World War II unsurprisingly limited commercial flights around the globe but despite [read more]

When it comes to inspirational women in aviation, few can argue against the inclusion of Sheila Scott (OBE) onto the list. Born in 1922 as Sheila Christine Hopkins, Sheila Scott broke over 100 aviation records during her 66 years including a 34,000-mile “world and a half” flight in 1971. It [read more]

There has only ever been two fatal accidents involving Supersonic Transport (SST) aircraft and in a bizarre twist of fate, despite happening 27 years apart, they happened less than 4 km apart. Two supersonic airlines have been built and flown, The anglo-french designed Concorde and the Soviet Tupolev TU-144, dubbed [read more]

At 19:52 on the evening of 8th January 1989 British Midland flight 92 took off from London Heathrow bound for Belfast International Airport. 42 minutes later 47 people on board would be dead due in part to confusion. The Boeing 737-400 (G-OBME) took off from Heathrow as normal and the [read more]

The number of off-world projects currently in development is staggering.Earlier this month China’s Chang-E 5 landed on the moon to collect up to 2kg of regolith samples and return them to Earth. This is a short mission – Get up, Get rocks, Get home – but even this takes years [read more]

So you’ve done it. Well done. You’ve gone ahead, raised your £300k and somehow convinced an airline to sell you one of their retired 747s. Now what. Where do you put it? It’s not exactly small enough to fit in your backyard like that Harrier you bought on eBay or [read more]

Our solar neighbour is a popular subject of science-fiction. Martians have been the topic of countless stories over the last century. The prospect of humanity exploring and prospering beyond the thinly veiled blue planet is our ultimate goal. After all, we only stepped outside the caves to see what was [read more]