ANA Flight 60

On the 4th of February 1966 an All-Nippon Airways flight, was traveling from Sapporo Chitose Airport (CTS/RJCC) to Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND/RJTT) when tragedy struck just minutes before landing. All 133 people aboard NH 60 lost their lives after the plane mysteriously crashed into Tokyo Bay, about 10.4 km from Haneda, despite clear weather during its night approach.

On a clear day, ANA Flight 60 was just minutes from Haneda Airport when the pilot radioed that he planned to land visually, without using instruments. Moments later, the plane disappeared from radar.

Around 7 p.m., villagers along the shore and the pilot of another plane reported seeing flames in the sky, close to the time the aircraft was expected to land. Fishermen and Japanese Defense Force boats began recovering bodies from the bay’s murky waters, retrieving about 20 before an airline spokesman announced the fuselage had been found, containing dozens more. This led to the belief that all 133 people on board had died. 

The aircraft’s tail section, along with at least two of its three engines, the vertical stabilizer, and the horizontal stabilizer, was found mostly intact. The rest of the plane had broken apart on impact. With 133 lives lost, it became the deadliest single-aircraft crash in the world at the time.  

The cause of the crash was never determined, as flight NH 60 didn’t have flight recorders.

It was the worst single-aircraft accident in Japan at the time and remained so until Flight 58 crashed five years later, claiming 133 lives, (126 passengers and 7 crew).

Aircraft Information:

Airline: All Nippon Airways

Code: NH/ANA

Aircraft: Boeing 727-81

Registration: JA8302

Serial Number: 18822/126

Engines: P&W JT8D-7

First Flew: 1965

We’re keeping the families and friends in our thoughts as they honor and remember their loved ones today.

Why Canadian airports start with a Y

Have you ever looked at the Canadian airport codes and thought why do they start with a Y and why don't they match the city like most other airports around the world do?

We know that the Canadian airport ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) code is "C" to identify the country in international aviation, with 'C' standing for Canada. 

For example, Toronto is CYYZ, Vancouver is CYVR, and Montreal is CYUL.

But have you ever wondered why the Canadian airport codes IATA (International Air Transport Association) codes start with "Y"?

Well, this is because in the 1930s and 40s, it indicated that a weather station or radio station was located on-site, with the "Y" standing for "Yes".

When three-letter codes were standardized, Canada added this "Y" to their existing two-letter radio or railway codes to identify that the airport was Canadian.

While rare, some Canadian airports still start with W, X, or Z, for example ZBF for Bathurst

 
Key details regarding the "Y" prefix:

Weather/Radio Station Indicator: The Y was used to show that an airport had a co-located weather station. If it did not have a station, a "W" (without) was used, though most adopted the Y.

Legacy from Rail/Telegraph: The two letters following the "Y" were often based on existing railway/telegraph station codes (e.g., YYC for Calgary, where "YC" was the original code)
.
Examples: YUL (Montréal), YVR (Vancouver), and YYZ (Toronto) follow this structure.

Here's how major Canadian airport codes
came to be:

• YYZ - Toronto -from old Malton railway telegraph code YZ
• YUL - Montréal-from the Kirkland radio / beacon code UL
• YOW- Ottawa-from early telegraph / aviation code OW
• YVR- Vancouver -Y + local Vancouver radio identifier
• YYC - Calgary - Y + local regional identifier derived from Calgary
• YEG - Edmonton-Y + Edmonton government / airfield identifier EG
• YWG - Winnipeg-Y + WG (Winnipeg government/ radio code)
• YHZ - Halifax -from local station / beacon letters HZ
• YQT - Thunder Bay - from old telegraph / field code QT
• YYJ - Victoria (Inner Harbour)-based on older station code YJ (James Bay area)
• YXE - Saskatoon - from historic radio / telegraph letters XE
• YQR - Regina - from earlier radio code QR
• YQB- Québec City - from local beacon telegraph QB
• YAM - Sault Ste. Marie - from old station code AM
• YZF - Yellowknife-from local field code ZF
• YXS - Prince George -- from older station code XS

But, just to confuse you a little more, here in Australia, all Australian airports are assigned an ICAO code beginning with "Y", because "Y" is the designated prefix for Australia.

A system that replaced older telecommunication codes where "Y" often signified a linked station, with the second letter indicating the Flight Information Region (FIR) like 'S' for Sydney YSSY, 'M' for Melbourne YMML and B for Brisbane YBBN.

Remembering Cebu Pacific Flight 387

CEBU PACIFIC AIRBUS A320-214 RP-C3266 (MSN 4870)

Cebu Pacific Flight 387 was a domestic Cebu Pacific flight from Tacloban-D. Z. Romualdez Airport (TAC/RPVA), Philippines to Cagayan de Oro-Lumbia Airport (CGY/RPML), Philippines. On the 2nd of February 1998, the 31-year-old McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 crashed on the slopes of Mount Sumagaya in Gingoog. The incident resulted in the deaths of all 104 passengers and crew on board. Cebu Pacific Flight 387 departed Manila at 09:16 for a flight to Cagayan de Oro. The flight made an unscheduled stop at Tacloban at 09:53 to deliver some spare tyres for another Cebu Pacific DC-9 stranded at Tacloban. 

The flight left Tacloban again after 9 minutes for a 61-minute flight to Cagayan de Oro. 

• Last radio contact was at 10:48 while flying at FL115 over Claveria.
• Local residents heard an explosion around 11:00 near the 8200 feet high Mount Balatucan. 
• The aircraft was reportedly two miles off course when it hit the mountain.
• There were 5 crew members and 94 Filipino passengers, (including 5 children). 
• Five other passengers were from Australia, Austria, Japan, Switzerland and Canada. 
• Additionally, a surgeon on a medical mission was from the United States, totaling 104 passengers.

Aircraft Information:

Airline: Cebu Pacific

Code: 5J/CEB

Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32

Registration: RP-C1507

Serial Number: 47069/175

Engine: 2 x Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7A

First Flew: 17/08/1967.

Age: 30.4 Yrs. 

The aircraft was first delivered to Air Canada in September 1967 before acquired by Cebu Pacific in March 1997.

We’re keeping the families and friends in our thoughts as they honor and remember their loved ones today.

More from Singapore's Seletar airport

Following on from my post last week about plane spotting from Singapore's Seletar airport, here are more photos take from inside Hangar 66 Cafe and the Wings Over Asia Aviator's Lounge.

VISTAJET BOMBARDIER CHALLENGER 605 9V-VFH (MSN 5979)

LEARJET 60 VH-ULJ (MSN60-069)

BOMBARDIER GLOBAL 7500 VP-CCQ (MSN 70085)

Huge thanks to my wife and daughter for taking time out of their day to snap these incredible photos for me. I’m truly grateful, XXX.

Remembering Alaska Airlines flight 261

ALASKA AIRLINES EMBRAER E175LR N641QX (MSN 17000761)

Alaska Airlines flight 261, traveling from Puerto Vallarta-Gustavo D. Ordaz Airport (PVR/MMPR) to San Francisco International Airport, CA (SFO/KSFO) crashed into the Pacific Ocean on the 31st of January 2000, roughly 2.7 miles (4.3 km) north of Anacapa Island, California, following a catastrophic loss of pitch control, killing all 88 on board: (5 crew and 83 passengers.) 

The flight was a scheduled international passenger flight from Licenciado Gustavo International Airport in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, Washington, with an intermediate stop at San Francisco International Airport.

The subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that inadequate maintenance led to excessive wear and eventual failure of a critical flight control system during flight. The probable cause was stated to be "a loss of airplane pitch control resulting from the in-flight failure of the horizontal stabilizer trim system jackscrew assembly's Acme nut threads." For their efforts to save the plane, both pilots were posthumously awarded the Air Line Pilots Association Gold Medal for Heroism

Aircraft Information:

Airline: Alaska Airlines

Code: AS/ASA

Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-83 (MD-83)

Registration: N963AS

Serial Number: 53077/1995

Engines: 2 x PW JT8D-219

First Flew: 11th April 1992

Age: 32.9 Years

We’re keeping the families and friends in our thoughts as they honor and remember their loved ones today.

Airbus farewells its last BelugaST

Airbus’ last operating BelugaST (“Super Transporter”) took to the skies for its final flight yesterday, (the 29th of January 2026,) marking the end of more than thirty years of service.

This iconic cargo plane, the A300-600, had been specially modified to transport oversized loads like wings and other aircraft parts between Airbus production sites across Europe.

AIRBUS A300-608ST BELUGA F-GSTD (MSN 776)

Its distinctive bulging shape comes from cutting off the top of an A300-600 and merging it with the upper part of another fuselage. Cargo is loaded and unloaded through the aircraft’s upper front section, which swings open upward, right above the cockpit.

Airbus once operated a fleet of five of these aircraft, which in 1994 took over from the Super Guppy, a heavily modified Boeing 377 Stratocruiser. Which, one of those is on display at the Airbus Aeroscopia museum in Toulouse, France. 

Since 2020, the BelugaST has been gradually replaced by the BelugaXL, which keeps the same design concept as its predecessor but is built on the more modern Airbus A330. The BelugaXL offers Airbus 30% more space and range than the ST for similar missions.

AIRBUS A330-743L F0GXLN (MSN 2027)

I believe Airbus attempted to give its aging BelugaST fleet a new lease on life by offering them to third-party cargo operators. Unfortunately, the plan didn’t pan out as hoped. In 2025, Airbus shut down Airbus Beluga Transport (AiBT), the cargo-focused subsidiary created for this very purpose, marking the end of the road for the BelugaST fleet.

The final BelugaST flight was carried out by the fifth aircraft in the series, registered as F-GSTF (MSN 796). Before making its last landing at Hawarden (CEG/EGNR), the airport serving the Airbus Broughton factory, it treated spectators to a low-level fly-by over the airport.

UPS officially retires their MD11 fleet.

UPS McDONNELL DOUGLAS MD-11F N257UP (MSN 48451)

United Parcel Service (UPS) have officially retired its entire McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter fleet, following a tragic crash in November 2025. The announcement was made on the 27th of January 2026 as part of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report.

The MD-11, a three-engine widebody freighter introduced in the late 1980s, has been a long-standing workhorse for UPS on long-haul international cargo routes. At retirement, around 26 MD-11s – roughly 9% of UPS’s fleet – were in service, valued for their heavy-lift capacity and long range.

Rising maintenance costs, fuel inefficiency, and the challenges of operating an ageing trijet design had already made the MD-11 less economical compared with modern twin-engine freighters.

The crash on the 4th of November 2025 of UPS Flight 2976, departing from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF/KSDF), which killed 15 people including three crew, accelerated the decision to retire the aircraft. In the immediate aftermath, UPS grounded its MD-11s on FAA guidance, with FedEx and other operators temporarily halting their MD-11 operations.

UPS plans to replace the MD-11 with more efficient aircraft, including the Boeing 767-300F and 777F. Over the next 15 months, 18 new Boeing 767 freighters will be delivered, 15 of them in 2026. The move is expected to cut fuel and maintenance costs and support long-term operational efficiency.

The end of MD-11 operations marks the close of an era for the distinctive trijet, while signaling a wider industry shift toward modern, fuel-efficient twin-engine freighters optimised for global supply chains

FedEx plans to have its entire fleet of MD-11 cargo planes back in service by the 31st of May, coinciding with the close of its fiscal fourth quarter.

FEDEX McDONNELL DOUGLAS MD-FFF N573FE (MSN 48769)

I couldn’t find any details about when Western Global plans to return their MD-11s to service.

WESTERN GLOBAL McDONNELL DOUGLAS MD-11F N781SN (MSN 48781)