Disasters
The Atlantic covers news, politics, culture, technology, health, and more, through its articles, podcasts, videos, and flagship magazine.
-
Who Invented the Parachute That Has Been Saving Small-Plane Pilots?
On Sunday night I showed a picture and linked to Air Traffic Control tapes of the latest “parachute save” involving…
-
Another Small-Plane Parachute Save
Thanks to many people who have written in, over the past 24 hours, about another parachute-save episode involving a Cirrus…
-
How a Controller Sounds When Trying to Save an Airplane
Yesterday the ceilings were low and the weather was bad across the southeastern United States. In these circumstances, a Cirrus…
-
![]()
Associated Press A Former Walmart CEO Comes Down Under a Parachute
How a unique small aircraft (appears to have) saved those aboard
-
A Triage Guide to Thinking About the Russian Airliner Crash Over Egypt
The Atlantic’s Krishnadev Calamur has a wrap-up of the latest news, rumors, statements, and so on about the Russian…
-
An Airline Captain Dies in Flight
Early Monday morning the captain of an American Airlines flight from Phoenix to Boston died while at the controls. Mary…
-
![]()
Yannis Behrakis / Reuters Martin O’Malley Is Right: America Should Be Taking More Syrian Refugees
If little, crowded Germany can make room for those fleeing Syria, so can the United States.
-
![]()
Wikimedia What an F-16 Pilot Sees—and Misses
Two experienced fighter pilots on suspending judgment about the latest aviation disaster, and the operating realities of the Air Force jet that rammed into a little civilian airplane
-
![]()
From Top Gun / YouTube Can the 'Right Stuff' Become the Wrong Stuff?
More on the F-16 and Cessna crash, and whether the collision of a military and a civilian aircraft was also a collision of cultures
-
![]()
Ints Kalnins / Reuters Civilian and Military Aviation Styles: Do They Explain Anything About the F-16 and Cessna Crash?
A veteran Air Force fighter pilot really disagrees with what I said about a tragic recent crash. Very politely, I disagree back.
-
![]()
Federal Aviation Administration A Pilot Treated for Depression, on Why and How He Flies
"For a young pilot who is looking for a career in the industry, the low-cost market is not a viable long-term option. Many of us are burning out because our employers are treating us in the same way that they treat the aeroplanes." A European pilot on ramifications of the Germanwings crash.
-
![]()
Wikimedia Commons Can We Learn Anything From the Germanwings Disaster?
A technologist says the day of airliners flown by remote control is closer than we think. Is that good news or bad? Plus, why it's better to be a co-pilot and other lessons from the latest crash.
-
![]()
Gary Wiepert/Reuters More From Pilots and Doctors on the Germanwings Crash
Cost pressures, alcohol as the only "approved" anti-mental-illness drug, and other ramifications of this murder/suicide
-
![]()
Reuters What Hypoxia Could Do to Pilots
Explaining a hazard of aviation, in the aftermath of the Germanwings crash
-
![]()
FlightAware How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
Since most things about the modern airline experience are so unpleasant for most of the traveling public most of the time, it's worth noticing how smoothly these professionals do their work.
-
![]()
US Coast Guard video The Parachute That Saved a Plane
Who says Pacific cruises aren't interesting?
-
![]()
Reuters The Tragic Airplane Crash in Gaithersburg, Maryland
No answers, some possibilities
-
![]()
Cirrus Aircraft Today's Mid-Air Collision Outside Washington
"This reminds us how vulnerable we all are." Lessons from a tragedy
-
![]()
FAA The FAA's Notice Prohibiting Airline Flights Over Ukraine
The U.S. government did its best to keep civilian airliners away from the region.
-
The Gaza Impasse, in 2 Notes
"I found it very troubling that you sought to create a perception of parity between my experience and perspective and the death of Palestinian innocent civilians." More from the American rabbi in Jerusalem.
