Scott Bateman MBE

Holey hell. A French Rafale landing on a carrier at night. I watched the radar altimeter (top right) count down and I still couldn’t see the carrier until touchdown. NOT A CHANCE I’d do this. Ever. #WePilots #aviation

Up early today as I’m on a course this week. I love learning new stuff but the older I get…the longer it sometimes takes to stick. As such I’ll be a little more quiet this week as I contemplate the knowledge that’s being dropped on me. Have a great week everyone xx

Something new coming soon… Jumping on the bandwagon… It’ll retail at £3.99 not £399 😂😝

@SisssBooomBaaah @didaante @Turbinetraveler Posted it the other day.

@didaante @Turbinetraveler @scottiebateman Seen this? Looks like mechanical failure, pilot response seems well executed.

WATCH: A passenger onboard Croatia Airlines A220-300 captured the moment the aircraft veered off the runway during its takeoff roll at Split Airport. 📹: Neven Brnjas

@jumpjim This’ll be an interesting read.

The #AirIndia171 final crash report is due out within the next month (By the 12th June 2026).

@CraigAHarman @jasonkillens The old team reuniting a few rungs up the management ladder. Good luck with the new appointment Craig.

@jasonkillens Thanks boss!

Welcome to our brilliant capital city team @CraigAHarman #TeamLAS

@Bullpup2 Yes. I think so.

@scottiebateman Don't they give them caterpillars anymore?

Never thought I’d see two Growlers entangled like this. Thankfully it looks like four good chutes. This is reportedly at an airshow at Mountain Home, USA. Hopefully all are ok and will get their Martin Baker ties.

@dcms1000 Really ? 🤔 😜

@scottiebateman There was possibly a better way to phrase that first part 😂

@Voyager03 Yup. MB Mk17 I think in the F-18

@scottiebateman Do the US still use British made ejection seats?

@BlickyIan @BeaverWestminst It wouldn’t have made it home. Lossie runway was visible out the window and compelling. But had they lowered the gear the right wing integrity would’ve been lost. Endex. Al (the skipper) often chatted about his thought process that day.

One of the most amazing pieces of airmanship in the last 50 years - the Capt had to make a life or death decision and he made the right one - I wager 50% of pilots would have tried to get the aircraft home and crashed

@DaveWCurrie @OnDisasters No. He did a stint as the flight safety manager at Cranwell.

@scottiebateman @OnDisasters I would say “what are the chances” but given the proximity to Lossie, probably pretty high. Did he go on to fly Hercs?

OTD in 1995: A RAF Nimrod [XW666] ditches in Moray Firth (Scotland), all 6 aboard survive. The aircraft was on a routine post-servicing test flight when an engine fire forced the crew to ditch. Inquiry concluded “that a sequence of technical difficulties led to the uncontained fire”. The aircraft´s pilot, Sqn Ldr Art Stacey, received the Air Force Cross for his handling of the emergency. As a note, the jet´s nose section was recovered from the water and is currently on display at the South Yorkshire Air Museum

@dks38671 No vectors really. All very serene and organised.

@scottiebateman How is ATC there? A lot of vectoring or controlled chaos? We fly thru there and I always add some extra fuel “FOR ATC”

Before dawn over Armenia, the sky starts to look almost alive. This timelapse was captured westbound as we crossed one of the busiest, and most geopolitically sensitive pieces of airspace on Earth. To the south lies Iran. To the north, Russia. Between them, a narrow corridor through the Caucasus carrying hundreds of aircraft linking Europe, the Gulf, and Asia. Every light you see here is another aircraft, another crew, another story moving through the night. What makes it remarkable is the precision. At closing speeds approaching 1,000 mph, aircraft pass each other separated not by miles, but by carefully managed vertical layers of airspace. Invisible highways in the sky, built on GPS accuracy, disciplined procedures, satellite surveillance, and trust. And yet these routes are never static. Politics shapes them. Conflict bends them. Closed airspace redraws them almost overnight. What was once a straightforward great-circle route can quickly become a carefully threaded path between terrain, and diplomacy. From the cockpit, though, there’s a strange beauty to it all. Tiny lights crossing ancient landscapes. Modern aircraft moving through corridors shaped by geography and history alike. Controlled. Precise. Fleeting. A reminder that aviation is never just about the aircraft. It’s about learning how to move safely through an increasingly complicated world.

@Studio_IAS By design.

Croatia A220 at Split. That big initial swing is indicative of an engine failure on the left at high speed. Despite briefly going on the grass this appears to be a well handled aborted take off. Outcome… a few dents and zero injuries. Good job everyone.

This is a very cool story. Now if only @BatemanSharon had a big enough office. 😂🫢😬

@degsy380 That’s ’cause you’re a sky god. 😜

@scottiebateman “Briefly going on the grass” And “Good outcome” Seen to me to be mutually exclusive comments

@phil_wj @Studio_IAS Great word.

@Studio_IAS @scottiebateman This is the reason why we all end up learning the excellent word ‘frangible’. A lot of road side signs on high speed roads are too.

@phil_wj @Christoulakis Yes. It becomes second nature but a fraction of a second can see you go a little on the grass.

@Christoulakis @scottiebateman Is it not the idea that training it to a very high standard in the sim is to account for the fact that a dynamic real world situation with startle effect will end up with an overall successful result like this?

@rawlimark Sometimes we just need a day of Forza. My Forza is X-Plane.