Rocketman Crosses The English Channel (Without Killing Himself)

Remember that crazy Swiss dude that flies his own jet powered flying wing? Well, today he made history by flying that contraption across the English Channel from Calais, France to Dover, England. The picture above shows him after he popped his landing parachute while coming in to land near the White Cliffs of Dover. Yves Rossy actually had to leap from an aircraft at 8,800 feet to get his homemade deathtrap jet-pack airborne. There's just not enough power in the four tiny turbines strapped to his wings to get him off the ground without a flying start. The carbon composite wing weighs 121 pounds with a full load of fuel and the entire deice is controlled by Rossy moving his body. Hundreds of spectators turned out to see the adventurist make the historic flight and it was even covered live by the National Geographic Channel. Nice job, now let's see him do it transatlantic!

AP Photo
[CNN]

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Slow Approach Led To Swiss Butt Scrape At London City

It's been almost a year since that Swiss International Air Lines RJ100 landed hard on its rear end at London City Airport but investigators from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch have finally released their findings. It appears that a wind shift, combined with a below normal approach speed led to a sudden sink rate right before landing. In an attempt to stop the sink the pilot instinctively pitched the nose of the RJ up 9.3° which led to a tail strike before the main gear touched down. The violent tail strike cracked nine frames in the aft fuselage, damaged stringers, and obviously by the picture, extensively damaged the tail skin. "The aircraft was already in a low-energy state," says the AAIB. "Then the thrust was reduced and this reduction, and the loss of headwind component, both made the situation worse." London City is known for having one of the most difficult and steepest approaches due to its location and noise sensitivity issues which demands a "high degree of accuracy" especially when it comes to managing final approach speeds. Just check out this video from another Swiss RJ100 as it goes bouncing down the runway after slamming onto the deck at London City. Swiss has already amended its training program for operations at London City to prevent these types of incidents from reoccurring.



[Flight Global]

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Swiss helicopter crashes after being so close to landing

He was so close! Then, whap! Right on the side. No other information on what caused this AS 350 Ecureuil to crash land at a Swiss airfield yesterday. Video was captured by a local aviation enthusiast.

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Swiss goes bouncy bouncy

I've been busy this last week, so I haven't had a chance to post anything new. When I saw this rough landing by a Swiss ARJ, I had to post it. Got to love those London City approaches!