July 16, 2019
Going Direct: Why Apollo 11 Is The Most Important Story In All Of Human History
The mission to land a human being on the Moon didn’t change everything. But then again, it really did.
Isabel Goyer
Isabel Goyer’s Blog Posts
July 2, 2019
Going Direct: NY Pols Work To Ban Helicopter Flights. Fight With FAA Looms.
Several influential state and federal-level lawmakers are pushing to ban “non-essential” flights over the city. Can they do that?
June 20, 2019
Going Direct: Sully Flies the 737 Max Sim and Why Boeing’s 737 Max Charm Offensive Is Smoke And Mirrors
Even news parody site The Onion is talking 737 Max, so you know it’s bad
June 18, 2019
Going Direct: Malaysia 370 Disappearance: Case Closed?
A story in the Atlantic lays out the way it likely happened.
May 29, 2019
Going Direct: Are UFOs For Real? And Why Is The DoD Talking About Them Now?
The news over the weekend of the military’s interest in talking about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) has captivated the world, which is preferable to being captivated by aliens, I suppose. It’s not news that a program existed, but we’re now learning that it continues to exist, and pilots have come forward with stories of additional more »
May 16, 2019
Going Direct: NY Times Alaska Midair Coverage Is Scary
The paper’s take on the accident is frighteningly similar to average non-pilots’ view of aviation.
May 14, 2019
Going Direct: Back To The Moon? Really?
The newly announced goal of once again sending astronauts to the Moon makes no sense. Which doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.
May 6, 2019
Going Direct: Boeing Did What? Test Pilots Share 737 Max Details
New revelations about MCAS and who knew what and when might be all you need to know.
May 3, 2019
Going Direct: Boeing CEO’s Comments Shock The Aviation Community
At a shareholders meeting and in written commentary Dennis Muilenburg discussed the ongoing 737 Max crisis. He made things worse.
April 26, 2019
Going Direct: Just Say No To The FAA’s Plan To Test Pilots For Drugs
The proposed program, presented as a way to study the danger of pilot drug use in aircraft accidents, is bad oversight, bad science, and bad news.
April 16, 2019
Going Direct: Innovation Here We Come
It’s good to know people who went through aviation history and who saw big changes. I’m talking transformative technology introductions, like all-metal monocoque construction, the opposed air-cooled engine, the turbine engine, GPS and computers in the cockpit. Advances like these have reshaped aviation again and again since even before Kitty Hawk. Still, every time a more »
April 11, 2019
Going Direct: 737 Max Catastrophe: A Strong Theory Emerges
The crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 at Addis Ababa has never been a complete mystery. The accident, which claimed the life of all 157 onboard, seemed from the beginning likely to be related to the MCAS system that Boeing installed on the 737 Max to help it pass its flying qualities tests with the more »
April 5, 2019
Going Direct: The Most Tragic Detail From The Ethiopian 737 Max Crash Yet
A preliminary report from investigators on the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, as you doubtless have heard, looks to be another case of a new flight control augmentation system responding to bad data from an angle of attack sensor and putting the aircraft out of control. That system, as you surely know by now, more »
April 3, 2019
Going Direct: The Disruption Begins
Piper, Garmin and Continental’s teaming on a new trainer is the beginning of a movement that has been long in coming.
March 19, 2019
Going Direct: 737 Max Crisis And Its Collateral Casualty, Our Trust
The response from Boeing and the FAA to the twin tragedies just five months apart has already done much damage. Why that is so and what they need to do to fix it.
March 11, 2019
Going Direct: Why The Ethiopian Airlines Disaster Is A Wakeup Call
The Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max loss of control was eerily similar to that of the Lion 737 Max, which crashed outside Jakarta in October. You should find that frightening.
March 8, 2019
Going Direct: ForeFlight Gets Bought By Boeing, What It Means To Subscribers
As you’ve doubtless heard by now, Boeing has bought app developer ForeFlight. Boeing also owns Jeppesen, a company that has the best aviation navigation data in the world, and has for many, many decades. Jeppesen’s aeronautical charts, “Jepps” for short, are the gold standard because they’re accurate, boast a world-class user experience, and they span more »
February 21, 2019
Going Direct: Is Airbus A380 Demise A Lesson For Young Socialists?
The Wall Street Journal again fails to understand aviation in spinning a tale about the mega-jumbo’s modest production life.