“Rapid Decompression: What 18 Seconds Looks Like Inside”

By Aeruxo — Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations The ACARS message came in at 14:37 KST. EMER DESCENT INITIATED. CABIN ALT UNCONTROLLED. SQUAWKING 7700. I had been tracking that aircraft — a narrowbody on the Seoul–Osaka sector — for the last hour. Now the altitude readout was dropping fast. … Read more

Airplane Autopilot Explained: What It Does and What Pilots Still Control

By Aeruxo — Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations “So the airplane autopilot basically flies the whole thing, right? The pilots just sit there?” I have heard this question more times than I can count — from friends, family, and passengers who assume that modern automation has made pilots redundant. … Read more

Bird Strike on a Plane: Why 99% of Cases Are Less Dangerous Than You Think

By Aeruxo — Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations The pilot’s voice came over the radio, calm but clipped: “Incheon Tower, we had a bird strike on takeoff roll. Continuing departure. Will advise.” I checked the flight tracking display. The aircraft was climbing normally. Altitude, speed, heading — all exactly … Read more

How Crosswind Landings Work (Explained by a Flight Dispatcher)

By Aeruxo — Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations You have seen the videos. A commercial aircraft approaching a runway sideways, nose pointed 20 degrees off the centerline, wings rocking, the whole thing looking like a controlled disaster. Then — impossibly — the pilot straightens out at the last second, … Read more

Why Do You Feel Different on a Plane? Cabin Pressure Explained

By Aeruxo — Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations Cabin pressure airplane effects begin the moment the doors close. You are cruising at 35,000 feet. Outside your window, the temperature is -56°C. The air pressure is roughly one quarter of what it is at sea level. The oxygen level would … Read more

Night Flights Explained: Why Many Red-Eye Flights Feel Smoother

By Aeruxo — Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations It is 2 AM. The OCC is quiet. Most of the day-shift dispatchers have gone home. But on my screens, dozens of aircraft are crossing the night sky — Seoul to Bangkok, Incheon to Manila, Gimhae to Tokyo. Night flights are … Read more

Volcanic Ash Flights: Why Eruptions Cancel Your Trip Hundreds of Kilometers Away

By Aeruxo_DISP_H  |  FAA Aircraft Dispatcher Certificate (United States)  ·  Korean MOLIT Flight Dispatcher License  ·  15+ years active dispatch at a Northeast Asian LCC, ICN hub  ·  Graduate researcher, Korea Aerospace University   About the Author → June 2025. Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a volcano on the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, erupted with an … Read more

12 Airplane Sounds Explained: Why Those Weird Noises Are Completely Normal

By Aeruxo — Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations A friend once texted me mid-flight: “There’s a loud thunk under the plane. Are we going to die?” I texted back after she landed: “That was the landing gear. You were never in danger. You were hearing the airplane doing exactly … Read more

Engine Failure on an Airplane: What a 15-Year Dispatcher Plans for Every Flight

By Aeruxo — Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations Here is something most passengers do not know: every single commercial flight I have ever planned — every one of the tens of thousands I have dispatched in 15 years — was planned with the assumption that an engine might fail. … Read more

Why Your Plane Suddenly Pulled Up Instead of Landing (Go-Around Explained)

By Aeruxo — Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations You have been descending for twenty minutes. You felt the landing gear drop — that reassuring thunk. Through the window, you can see the runway. Houses, cars, the airport fence. You are almost there. You tighten your seatbelt. Ten more seconds … Read more