Menu Close

Articles on Flight

Displaying 1 - 20 of 26 articles

One of the earliest depictions of flying witches is in a 15th-century text entitled “Le champion des dames,” or “The Defender of Ladies.” Martin Le Franc/W. Schild. Die Maleficia der Hexenleut' via Wikimedia Commons

Can witches fly? A historian unpacks the medieval invention − and skepticism − of the witch on a broomstick

The iconic image of a witch on a broomstick has apocryphal origins. But whether they could actually fly didn’t stop Christian society from persecuting them.
Some airlines are already experimenting with sustainable aviation fuel. Michael H/Stone Collection/Getty Images

The future of flight in a net-zero-carbon world: 9 scenarios, lots of sustainable aviation fuel

Airlines are investing in sustainable biofuel startups and starting to uses alternative fuels, including cooking oil, ag waste and corn ethanol. But biofuels alone won’t be enough, research shows.
Philip Myrtorp / Unsplash

What is air turbulence?

When something disrupts the smooth, laminar flow of high-altitude winds, your flight might get a little bumpy.
The hijacking of U.S. aircraft – like the three hijacked in 1970 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – made it impossible for American policymakers to ignore the threat. Bettmann/Getty Images

D.B. Cooper, the changing nature of hijackings and the foundation for today’s airport security

From 1968 to 1974, US airlines experienced 130 hijackings. But it was Cooper’s hijacking-as-extortion plot that captured the public’s imagination – and inspired a copycat crime wave.
Ski jumpers use aerodynamics and physics to overcome gravity – at least for a while. AP Photo/Matthias Schrader

Ski jump: Flying or falling with style?

Ski jumpers do everything they can to counteract the effects of gravity and fly as far as they can down hills.
How do they stick their landings? Alex Turton via Getty Images

We used peanuts and a climbing wall to learn how squirrels judge their leaps so successfully – and how their skills could inspire more nimble robots

How do squirrels leap through trees without falling? It takes strength, flexibility and finely tuned cognitive skills.
Sampling wildfire smoke sometimes means sticking a tube out the window of an airplane. Brett Palm/University of Washington

Wildfire smoke changes dramatically as it ages, and that matters for downwind air quality – here’s what we learned flying through smoke plumes

Thousands of chemical compounds in wildfire smoke are interacting with each other and sunlight as the smoke travels. For people downwind, it can become more toxic over time.
A crowd greets Sen. John F. Kennedy at Logan Airport in Boston on July 17, 1960, after he became the Democratic nominee for president. John M. Hurley/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Presidential campaigns take flight in the age of the coronavirus

Though air travel has boosted presidential campaigns for decades, the 2020 pandemic has underlined the importance of aircraft as the quickest and safest way to campaign.

Top contributors

More