Sierra Hotel Blog
On June 24, 1982, British Airways Flight 009 — Speedbird 9 — lost all four engines after flying through an invisible ash plume from Mount Galunggung over the Indian Ocean. The Boeing 747 became a 300-ton glider in the dark, descending toward the sea. Through extraordinary airmanship, Captain Eric Moody and his crew restarted the engines and landed safely in Jakarta. All 262 people on board walked away without a scratch.
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During Concorde flight testing, British test pilot Brian Walpole and French test pilot Jean Franchi performed a complete barrel roll in the world’s most iconic supersonic airliner — one of the most extraordinary feats in aviation history.
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When Space Shuttle Columbia touched down at Edwards AFB on April 14, 1981 after her STS-1 maiden flight, nobody knew how close disaster had come. An overpressure wave from the solid rocket booster had damaged the heat shield and forced the body flap 5° beyond safe limits — a hydraulic rupture would have made controlled descent impossible. Commander John Young later admitted they would have ejected had they known.
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In WW2, RAF Spitfire pilots discovered their Mk IX wing bomb pylons could be modified to carry beer kegs for Allied troops in Normandy. High-altitude cruise kept the load perfectly chilled. Officially code-named Modification XXX, later variants used long-range fuel tanks repurposed to carry beer instead of fuel. Because nothing says Allied ingenuity like cold beer delivered by Spitfire.
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In 2001, 13-year-old Boy Scout Cody Clawson became separated from his troop in Yellowstone National Park and spent a cold night alone in a cave. At daybreak he used his belt buckle as a signal mirror to flag down a low-flying helicopter. The pilot who spotted him and flew the rescue was Harrison Ford — Jackson Hole resident, licensed fixed-wing and rotary-wing pilot, and veteran SAR volunteer.
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