metal fatigue

ATIS Oct 26, 2026

The de Havilland Comet, the Square Windows That Failed at Forty Thousand Feet, and the Water Tank Investigation That Wrote Modern Aircraft Certification

How the 1954 de Havilland Comet disasters and a water-tank test at Farnborough permanently rewrote aircraft certification standards worldwide.

Tower

The Hangar Oct 22, 2026

The de Havilland Comet, the Square Windows, and the Metal Fatigue Investigation That Changed How Every Pressurized Airplane Is Built

How the de Havilland Comet's fatal 1954 crashes revealed that square window corners cause fatigue cracks - and permanently shaped how every pressurized aircraft is built.

Taildragger

The Hangar Sep 10, 2026

The de Havilland Comet, the Square Windows That Grounded the World's First Jet Airliner, and the Metal Fatigue Discovery That Changed Every Pressurized Aircraft That Came After

The 1954 Comet disasters near Elba revealed the hidden mechanics of metal fatigue and permanently transformed how every pressurized airliner is designed and certified.

Taildragger

The Hangar Sep 4, 2026

The de Havilland Comet, the Square Windows Near Elba, and the Water Tank Investigation That Changed Every Airliner Built After It

The 1954 de Havilland Comet disasters revealed how square window corners caused fatal metal fatigue, permanently transforming pressurized aircraft design worldwide.

Taildragger

ATIS Aug 24, 2026

Aloha Airlines Flight Two Forty-Three, the Convertible Seven Thirty-Seven, and the Metal Fatigue That Peeled the Roof Off at Twenty-Four Thousand Feet

How metal fatigue tore the roof off Aloha Flight 243 at 24,000 feet in 1988 - and what it means for every pilot today.

Tower

The Hangar Jul 28, 2026

The de Havilland Comet's First Flight on July Twenty-Seventh, Nineteen Forty-Nine, and the Square Windows That Taught the World How Metal Really Breaks

The de Havilland Comet launched the jet age on July 27, 1949, then its square windows revealed the deadly lesson of metal fatigue.

Taildragger