Flight Detective’s Top 10 articles written in 2021

At the end of each year, I like to see which articles I have written have been the most popular. These almost always comprise mainly of what I’ve written in the current year, with one or two from previous years featuring in the list. This time around, there were many from previous years that did well.

As is tradition though, I’ll list out the top 10 of those written this year, then list out some that were also popular. You can go back and see what did well in previous years too. Here’s 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, which is a top 14. You can click the article title to read it, by the way.

1. Check Out This Cockpit Video of a Boeing 747 Landing in Tokyo in Gusty Conditions

Everyone likes a video and this was one of the more interesting ones I saw this year. A pilots eye view of a gusty landing in a Boeing 747-400 is something you don’t see every day.

Plenty of control inputs from the pilot flying – and his facial expression – show just how much concentration is needed to land a large jet aircraft in unusual weather conditions. Worth a look!

2. Visit the abandoned British Airways Cranebank Training Centre in this video

Some urban explorer types decided to enter the old British Airways Cranebank Training Centre. It turns out that quite a lot of the old equipment was still there.

Watching the video shows just how much a building can deteriorate over not too many years of being ignored. Certainly an interesting and different thing to see.

3. No, the overhead locker above your seat on a flight isn’t yours!

There have been stories of passengers getting uppity when someone puts overhead luggage in their space. Fact is, the space is not reserved and you can put a bag anywhere.

Well, anywhere as long as it is in your travel class. There’s always someone trying to put their bag in the first or business class section before traipsing off to row 42.

4. American Airlines have cancelled so many flights my booking is almost unrecognisable!

Booking in advance is fraught with danger these days, as airlines are changing their flight schedules quite frequently. Of course, this is down to the ever changing pandemic, but still.

What it meant for me was numerous calls to get my booking sorted out. I don’t particularly mind, but I imagine others would find it very stressful.

5. Does anyone remember the elegant Lockheed L-1649 Starliner?

My series of articles on aircraft continues to be popular. This was the one that resonated this year, about the Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, one of the most elegant designs ever.

This particular one has a cool video produced by Lufthansa from the period, which is well worth watching. I found it fascinating and of course it’s in colour and everyone always like that!

6. An Airbus A340 has landed in Antarctica – and here’s the video!

Once again something you don’t see every day, and that’s a large passenger aircraft landing in Antarctica. It’s not like they have commercial airports down there, so it’s pretty unique.

Happily the airline make sure there was video of the whole thing for all of us to vicariously enjoy. Now that’s something I’d like to do one day, flying in to Antarctica. Don’t fancy my chances though!

7. Which airline had a Boeing 747 upper deck lounge the longest?

Most airlines removed their upper deck lounges on the Boeing 747 (or the dining room, in the case of Pan Am) in the 1970s to earn more revenue from the space. Not too surprising after the oil shocks early in that decade.

Sabena continued to have their lounge right through to the retirement of the aircraft in the early 1990s. Why? Who knows… but they were state owned so perhaps income was not as important.

8. I almost bought seats on a Ryanair flight, but realised that is silly and here’s why

I decided to take the Irish domestic Ryanair flight from Kerry to Dublin and choosing a seat was a total waste of money. First of all, it’s a short flight and it also wasn’t going to be full.

Naturally I was assigned a middle seat as I refused to pay, but my gamble paid off as there was no-one sat beside me. I got my window seat anyway, so all worked out well.

9. Did you know why this Korean Air Lines Boeing 707 landed on a frozen lake?

When someone tries to shoot down your aircraft and you need to land, you take anywhere that looks safe. In this instance, a frozen lake became the landing spot for this one.

Luckily almost everyone survived, apart from two passengers who suffered shrapnel wounds from the missile. A story that is worth remembering!

10. What are Qatar Airways’ business class Qsuites like flying Sydney to Doha?

During 2021, I only managed to do 11 flights in total, which is perhaps not too surprising. Therefore, flight reviews were few and far between. Happily, this review of Qsuites on Qatar Airways from Sydney to Doha did well.

It’s a great business class product they have there at QR and I have always enjoyed flying with them. Next year will be different airlines though.

Other Popular Articles

Pulling a top 10 of popular articles took longer this year as so many others were still doing well from previous years. In actual fact, the real number two would have been What does it cost to access Qatar Airways’ Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge? which I wrote in 2020. Right behind it is Did you know there is one Lockheed L-1011 Still Flying? from 2019.

The next three, Which airlines offer premium economy lounge access? from 2019 (the actual number four), What is the mandatory hotel quarantine food like in Australia? from 2020 (number six) and Which cities and museums have a Concorde you can visit? from 2019 (number eight) were also more popular than a lot of the ones I wrote this year. Not complaining though!

Overall Thoughts

Another year has passed and things are looking up. There should be many more flight and travel reviews in 2022 as I have plenty booked. Here’s hoping I make it away.

The other milestone worth mentioning is that this is my 1,500th article on Travel Update. Let’s see how long it takes me to reach the big 2,000 🙂

I hope you have a safe and enjoyable 2022. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Pascal Meier on Unsplash.