Flying, Crashes and Crunches

Well, today saw the publishing of a story here about a "near miss". From what I've read here, the pilot was showing off the plane to his kid, performed some turns. He then has to climb to avoid a mid-air collision.

That sound feasible, until you understand they claim he was too close to the plane in front and turns slow down an aircraft. In fact, it's one of the technique the space shuttle uses for landing. I've got a feeling the two parts are unrelated but that's probably just me.

Now, demonstrating aircraft to kids has gone wrong in the past. I remember reading about a Russian airliner that entered a spin after the kid accidentally disengaged the autopilot. It was a tragic ending to this flight.

I treat flying as safe and enjoyable. In fact, it was the reason I joined the Air Training Corps. Though, based on the accident reports I read during bad weather on my gliding scholarship, things can and do go wrong.