Created Monday 13 January 2020

See also: Aviation

See also Manufacturers

727

737

A-340

A-350

A-380

AN-225

Celera 500L

DC-8

DH-106

Learjet

L1011

MD-11

Joby

SkyDrive (Toyota)

Skyleader600 (Tanzania)

Stratolaunch

Zero emissions and a million pounds of lift renew the appeal of these century-old giants.

Jon Kelvey - October 2021

Tom Grundy, the CEO of Hybrid Air Vehicles, started his career working on fighters and drones for BAE Systems, and he was a project engineering manager for Airbus during the development of the A380. But these days his focus is on a type of aircraft that can do things the fixed-wing fliers he has spent his life admiring can’t—even though the basic technology keeping them aloft is substantially older. Welcome to the second age of the airship.

Grundy’s company is promoting its striking, pillow-like AirLander 10, initially designed for military surveillance, as a pleasant, low-emission alternative means of regional air travel. In May the company announced plans to begin service for up to 100 passengers per flight on a handful of short-haul routes (Liverpool to Belfast, Oslo to Stockholm, Seattle to Vancouver, among others) in 2025. A Scandinavian company is in talks about using the AirLander to give tours of the North Pole.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/airships-rise-again-180979343/

A capital-intensive, high-risk way to revolutionize global commerce

Eli Dourado - 30 January 2023

A lot of people think that the Zeppelin era ended merely because the Hindenburg erupted into flames in front of newsreel cameras, killing 35 of the 97 people on board in the inferno.

While the 1937 accident certainly didn’t help, the writing was already on the wall for passenger airship service. In the late 1930s, airplanes were finally getting good. The DC-3, which is still technically in service today, was introduced in 1936. By 1939, you could cross the Atlantic in less than a day on Pan Am’s Boeing 314 Clipper. And after World War II, the Lockheed Constellation, with its pressurized cabin, 5,400-mile range, and 340-mph cruise speed took over the transatlantic market.

Passenger airship demand was headed to zero no matter what. Airplanes won because they were faster.

But there is another market that is not as sensitive to speed: freight. A shipping container doesn’t suffer detrimental health effects from sitting for hours on end. It doesn’t complain about yet another airplane meal. It doesn’t feel gross if it doesn’t get a shower. It doesn’t get bored on a long flight.

https://www.elidourado.com/p/cargo-airships

By Janene Pieters on January 21, 2020 - 08:24

While investigating the Turkish Airlines plane crash near Schiphol in 2009, the Dutch Safety Board was pressured by Americans to downplay the role design errors in the Boeing 737 NG played in the crash, the New York Times reports based on its own research. According to the newspaper, there are many parallels between the 2009 crash and the recent crashes with Boeing 737 MAX planes, the successor of the Boeing 737 NG.

https://nltimes.nl/2020/01/21/us-pressured-dutch-safety-board-downplay-tech-faults-2009-turkish-airlines-crash-report

By Les Abend - Updated 12:30 AM ET, Wed January 22, 2020

(CNN)Shortly after takeoff from LAX at 11:32 AM on Tuesday, Delta Flight 89, a Boeing 777-200 bound for Shanghai experienced an engine abnormality called a compressor stall. According to recorded transcripts of the flight during its departure, one of the pilots reported the event to air traffic controllers, along with a request to return to the airport 20 minutes after it had taken off.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/21/opinions/delta-flight-dump-jet-fuel-children-los-angeles-abend/index.html

Michael Goldstein - Jan 24, 2020, 01:35pm

On January 14, a Delta Airlines Boeing 777 jet was flying from Los Angeles to Shanghai. Soon after take-off of the 13-hour, 6,500-mile flight, the pilots of Flight 89 declared an emergency and shut down one of the jumbo jet’s two engines, reportedly due to a compressor stall.

Minutes later, the plane apparently dumped over 15,000 gallons of aviation fuel (over 100,000 pounds) at an altitude of about 2000 feet over the working-class suburb of Cudahy, CA. The plane then made a successful emergency landing at LAX.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelgoldstein/2020/01/24/did-the-delta-airlines-fuel-dump-possibly-prevent-a-larger-disaster/#5ecc45086b93

The project adapted Loon's balloon internet technology for use in a SoftBank-backed aircraft.

Mariella Moon, 6 February 2020

Alphabet's Loon is known for its internet balloons, but it worked on an entirely balloon-less project as part of its partnership with Softbank's HAPSMobile. The two formed “a long-term strategic relationship” in April 2019, with HAPSMobile investing $125 million in the Alphabet company. Now, the partners have announced that they've successfully designed and developed a communications payload for HAPSMobile's solar-powered stratospheric unmanned aircraft system, the HAWK30.

https://www.engadget.com/2020/02/06/alphabet-loon-softbank-internet-drone-hawk30/

Thomas Pallini - 6 February 2020

When searching for flights in the US today, you'll likely see results from three main airlines: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines, as well as a handful of smaller airlines like JetBlue and Spirit.

The “big three,” as they're now referred to, aren't immediately what comes to mind when the term golden age of aviation is thrown around, but they've survived the test of time to become the most stable carriers in the country.

https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-famous-us-airlines-through-history-2020-2

By Hannah FryStaff Writer Feb. 22, 2020 10:50 AM

The pilot of the helicopter that crashed into a Calabasas hillside last month, killing NBA star Kobe Bryant and eight others, violated federal flight rules in 2015 when he flew into busy airspace near Los Angeles International Airport despite being ordered not to by air traffic control, according to records from the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by The Times.

Ara Zobayan was flying northbound in an AS350 chopper when he was denied clearance to traverse the airspace because weather conditions had reduced visibility below what is known as visual flight rules (VFR), according to the enforcement action records obtained through a freedom of information act request.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-21/kobe-bryants-pilot-was-previously-counseled-by-the-faa-on-reviewing-weather-before-flying

Matt Novak - 22 May 2020 9:18AM

Earlier this year, Airbus unveiled a sleek new concept aircraft with a blended wing that looked incredibly futuristic. And while it looks like it could have been ripped out of a sci-fi movie from the 2010s, the plane concept also has many elements of retro-futurism. Specifically, the plane looks similar to the proposed Northrop Flying Wing of the 1940s.

The new Airbus concept is called MAVERIC (Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls) and was unveiled back in February by the company’s designers in Singapore.

The company has built a scale model that’s about 6.5 feet long and 10.5 feet wide and Airbus even posted a concept video of the aircraft to YouTube.

https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/new-airbus-blended-wing-airplane-concept-looks-very-sim-1841626404

Cold weather missed approaches went left instead of right - and vice versa

Fri 29 May 2020 / 09:23 UTC - Gareth Corfield

A very specific software bug made airliners turn the wrong way if their pilots adjusted a pre-set altitude limit.

The bug, discovered on Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft fitted with Rockwell Collins Aerospace-made flight management systems (FMSes), led to airliners trying to follow certain missed approaches turning right instead of left – or vice versa.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/29/bombardier_missed_approach_bug/

By Sophia Saifi and Nectar Gan, CNN - Updated 10:57 AM ET, Thu June 25, 2020

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN)More than 30% of civilian pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses and are not qualified to fly, the country's aviation minister revealed Wednesday.

Addressing Pakistan's National Assembly, Ghulam Sarwar Khan said 262 pilots in the country “did not take the exam themselves” and had paid someone else to sit it on their behalf.

“They don't have flying experience,” he said.

Pakistan has 860 active pilots serving its domestic airlines – including the country's Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flagship – as well as a number of foreign carriers, Khan said.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/business/pakistan-fake-pilot-intl-hnk/index.html

by Jennifer Chu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - August 11, 2020

At the height of a thunderstorm, the tips of cell towers, telephone poles, and other tall, electrically conductive structures can spontaneously emit a flash of blue light. This electric glow, known as a corona discharge, is produced when the air surrounding a conductive object is briefly ionized by an electrically charged environment.

For centuries, sailors observed corona discharges at the tips of ship masts during storms at sea. They coined the phenomenon St. Elmo's fire, after the patron saint of sailors.

Scientists have found that a corona discharge can strengthen in windy conditions, glowing more brightly as the wind further electrifies the air. This wind-induced intensification has been observed mostly in electrically grounded structures, such as trees and towers. Now aerospace engineers at MIT have found that wind has an opposite effect on ungrounded objects, such as airplanes and some wind turbine blades.

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-airplanes-counteract-st-elmo-thunderstorms.html

by Nicholas Cummins - October 21, 2020

The next time you fly onboard a long-haul international flight across an ocean, your thoughts might shift to the guzzling engines next to you. Thousands of liters burned to fly yourself and tons of cargo around the world for a comparatively low ticket price. How much fuel does a plane need? And what does it cost?

Every plane is different, and therefore requires a different amount of fuel to fly. Apart from the size and efficiency of the plane itself, other factors affecting fuel use include sector length, taxi time, cargo weight, weather, jet stream direction, and more. To further complicate matters, aircraft don’t fill up their tanks to maximum unless they fly near their max range. After all, a plane also needs to burn fuel to transport the remaining fuel in its tanks, so the less surplus, the better.

https://simpleflying.com/commercial-airliner-fuel-cost/

The strip or small clearing is situated just on the other side of a high ridge. It was a perfect playing field for this pilot to show off some enviable flying skills.

By Plane & Pilot Updated January 29, 2021

A word of caution: When at first you press “play,” you’ll see the Cessna single appearing over a steep ridge in the distance. It’s supposed to be a landing video, and at first, it’s not at all clear how the plane will possibly be able to descend in time to land in the foreground, where the video is being shot and people are waiting to load cargo into the plane (and presumably to unload cargo from it first). You’ll be tempted to look to see where the runway is, but you’re looking at it. And you’ll then be tempted to scan left to see where the rest of the runway is—there isn’t any. So your questions are answered in advance. Now you can sit back and just watch an amazing pilot show off some world-class skills.

https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/news/the-latest/2021/01/29/this-pilot-can-fly-watch-this-cessna-land-on-something-kind-of-resembling-a-runway/

Andrew Curran - February 24, 202

Often listening to airline radio chatter, particularly to air traffic control, you’ll hear radio transmissions using the term “heavy.” It has a fairly literal meaning, referring to the aircraft’s maximum takeoff weight. But it also indicates something else – the amount of turbulence a plane might leave in its wake.

https://simpleflying.com/heavy-call-sign/

Aria Alamalhodaei / 8:29 AM PDT•May 5, 2021

Once the design, manufacturing and certification of electric aircraft is complete, urban air mobility companies face a cascade of logistical issues, including building an app that can connect customers to rides and finding dedicated take-off and landing areas.

A new partnership between autonomous air taxi developer Wisk Aero and air mobility ride platform Blade Urban Air Mobility aims to provide a solution.

Under the terms of the agreement, Wisk will own and operate up to 30 aircraft on Blade’s network of dedicated air terminals along short-distance routes. Wisk will be compensated based on flight time, along anticipated minimum flight-hour guarantees, the companies said in a news release Wednesday.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/05/wisk-aero-and-blade-urban-air-mobility-partner-to-bring-electric-air-taxi-services-to-the-skies/

The new aircraft reports being 20% more fuel efficient than today's airplanes.

Loukia Papadopoulos - Sep 05, 2020

This summer, a scale model of TU Delft's Flying V jetliner took flight. The new aircraft carries passengers in its wings and reports being 20% more fuel-efficient.

Project leader Dr. Roelof Vos and his team took the 22.5 kg and 3-meter wide-scale model to an airbase in Germany. There they worked together with a team from Airbus to get the aircraft to take-off, fly a number of test maneuvers until the batteries were nearly empty and landed.

“One of our worries was that the aircraft might have some difficulty lifting-off since previous calculations had shown that ‘rotation’ could be an issue. The team optimized the scaled flight model to prevent the issue, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. You need to fly to know for sure,“ said in a statement Vos.

https://interestingengineering.com/the-energy-efficient-v-shaped-ride-in-the-wings-jetliner-successfully-took-off

Michael Gebicki - Apr 6 2021

Remember them? The McDonnell Douglas DC9, the Boeing 727, the Vickers VC10, the Sud Aviation Caravelle?

When we first started travelling the world aboard jet-powered passenger aircraft back in the 1950s and 60s, you could almost be certain that your plane would have its two engines in the rear.

There were exceptions. The Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC8 entered commercial service in the late 1950s, both with four engines mounted under the wings, but for twin-engine aircraft, rear-mount was the default mode.

https://www.traveller.com.au/rearengine-jets-why-airlines-no-longer-use-rearengine-planes-h1uyli

By Michael Winrow, Technology of Business reporter - 16 August 2021

Thanks to the pandemic and the subsequent collapse in air travel, around a quarter of the world's passenger jets remain idle - parked at airports and storage facilities while their owners decide what to do with them.

Some of those aircraft will never fly again.

“Owners don't want to be paying parking fees and storage fees for aircraft,” says James Cobbold, director at Willis Lease, a global engine leasing company.

“They need them operating, or off their books, which may mean selling to a parts-trader for disassembly.”

Rob Morris, global head of consultancy at Ascend by Cirium, an aviation and data analytics company, says there were 5,467 commercial passenger jets in storage in July, equivalent to a quarter of the global inventory.

This stored ratio is down from 35% of the global inventory at the end of February 2021, and significantly down on the 64% at the beginning of the pandemic at the end of April 2020.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57983174

By Dahlia Lithwick - Aug 17, 20215:50 AM

On a recent episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick spoke with law professor Michael Heller about Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives, which he co-wrote with James Salzman. Mine! seeks to do for ownership what Freakonomics did for incentives and what Nudge did for our cognitive biases. It opens up a new, counterintuitive, and fascinating way to think about the world that we all take for granted. Their conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Dahlia Lithwick: You both open and close the book with toddler rules, which I love. Mine is actually the very first word that many toddlers say. And we feel like we have an intuitive cognitive cultural understanding of what mine means, but the whole point of the book is that almost all of that is wrong. Is there some overarching theme of how toddlers think about the world and why they’re wrong that you could distill for us?

Michael Heller: Toddlers actually get it pretty right. So, when you see two kids fighting in a playground and one kid’s shouting, “Mine!,” and the other’s shouting, “Mine!,” as well, what they’re fighting over is a toy shovel that they both are holding onto. I’ve had this experience many times with my kids. But what they’re actually doing is one kid is saying, “It’s mine because I’m holding onto it.” And the other is saying, “No, mine, I had it first,” and what they’re engaged with there in that battle of first-in-time versus possession is nine-tenths of the law—they’re actually arguing through some of the very basic stories about how ownership really works.

So that piece of it, little kids are getting right. They’re actually relying on the very few stories that we all use to claim everything in the world. Where it gets complicated is in the grown-up world, where businesses and governments have figured out ways to turn each of those simple stories—mine, possession—upside down, so they can get you to do what they want without you even realizing it.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/08/reclining-airline-seats-fights-ownership-rules-disney-fastpass.html

Updated 10th July 2019 - Written by Jacopo Prisco, CNN

Read more unknown and curious design origin stories here.

When the Soviet rival to Concorde made its first foreign appearance at the Paris Air Show in 1971, everyone was impressed. In the heated race to develop a supersonic passenger jet, it was the USSR who got off to a head start.

French President Georges Pompidou, foregoing nationalism, called it “a beautiful plane.” The makers of Concorde itself conceded that it was “quieter and cleaner.”

The Tupolev Tu-144 looked very similar to its Anglo-French competitor – which inevitably earned it the nickname “Concordski” – but it was somewhat more exotic and mysterious. And the Soviets' track record in aerospace demanded respect: that same year, they had achieved the first probe-landing on Mars and launched the first space station. They seemed perfectly positioned to beat the West on supersonic passenger travel.

Instead, through a mix of shortcomings and bad luck, the Concordski would soon turn into one of civil aviation's biggest failures.

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/tupolev-tu-144-concordski/index.html

By Jack Loughran - Published Monday, October 11, 2021

Airbus has completed test flights for its solar-powered Zephyr aircraft which is designed to stay airborne for weeks at a time in order to provide internet to users on the ground.

Zephyr has flown six times so far, with four low-level test flights and two stratospheric flights. The stratospheric flights flew for around 18 days each, totalling more than 36 days of continuous flight from only two take-offs.

Airbus ultimately believes that the aircraft could remain airborne for “months at a time” and could provide internet to both commercial and military customers.

Zephyr could also help with disaster management scenarios, including monitoring the spread of wildfires or oil spills, due to its ability to provide persistent, long-term surveillance.

https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2021/10/solar-powered-aircraft-flown-for-nearly-three-weeks-without-landing/

The FAA has approved hundreds of additional piston aircraft engine models to burn the 100-octane unleaded avgas developed by General Aviation Modifications Inc. (GAMI) in a move that an AOPA consultant said signals the agency’s “bullish” approach to the eventual elimination of leaded aviation fuel.

October 28, 2021 By Dan Namowitz

The approximately 611 engines included in an approved model list issued October 28, plus the more limited number of approvals GAMI announced in July, account for about 70 percent of the GA aircraft fleet’s powerplants, said AOPA consultant and aviation fuels expert Paul Millner.

Airframes approved for pairing with the engines will be identified separately on a list expected soon from the FAA.

“This is a very bullish sign that the FAA is continuing to honor their commitment to move unleaded avgas forward as fast as possible,” Millner said.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2021/october/28/faa-approves-hundreds-more-engines-to-use-unleaded-avgas

We take a look at why there is a global practice of keeping cockpit doors open during boarding of a flight.

SF Staff - 17 April 2022

One of the most enticing sights for an aviation geek is getting the chance to peek through the cockpit while boarding the aircraft. It does not take a lot to notice that the flight deck’s door is wide open while the aircraft is being prepared for departure, but what is the exact reasoning behind the globally followed procedure?

A pilot’s job extends to more than merely flying the plane

Overall, cockpit doors need to be kept open due to the number of people that need to enter and exit the flight deck prior to departure. For instance, the First Officer is required to leave to conduct an external walk-around preflight before returning. Along with this, keeping the door open allows the Captain to monitor the boarding procedure. Additionally, many ground staff members are also meant to keep in continuous contact with the pilot. These include technicians, fueling staff, and those responsible for cleaning and catering the aircraft.

https://simpleflying.com/cockpit-doors-open-during-boarding/

For most people, planes are a necessary hassle, but for aviation enthusiasts they’re so much more.

Justin Franz- April 12, 2022

Nick Benson, Dave Honan, and Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren all grew up under flight paths. For some, living under a frequent parade of planes is a noisy, house-shaking, sleep-depriving nuisance. But for these three, it’s always been an endless source of fascination.

Benson, a web developer from the Twin Cities, says that as a kid he stood in his backyard and watched the planes, leaning back for a longer glimpse—and sometimes just falling over. Honan lives in western Washington today but grew up near the airport in Albany, New York. Dwyer-Lindgren lived under the approach to Worcester Regional Airport in central Massachusetts. Most of the planes that visited his local airport were smaller regional flights, so he sometimes tried to convince family members or neighbors to drive him an hour or so east to Boston’s Logan International Airport, where he could see massive Boeing 747s from all over the world.

“The idea that you could get on a plane and end up in a different place anywhere on Earth just fascinated me. It still does,” says Dwyer-Lindgren, now a photographer in Seattle. “You can get on a plane and end up anywhere, in Tulsa or Tokyo. To me, airports are places of possibility.”

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/planespotting-with-avgeeks-aviation

After Pearl Harbor, the crew of Pan Am flight 18602 was forced to do the impossible

Apr 2, 2018 - John Bull

https://medium.com/s/story/the-long-way-round-the-plane-that-accidentally-circumnavigated-the-world-c04ca734c6bb

Christopher Elliott, Chief Advocacy Officer - July 6, 2022

What does your airline owe you if you voluntarily give up your seat on a flight — or have to give up your seat? What if you’re denied boarding on your next flight?

Passengers like John Keohen want to know. He recently flew from Minneapolis to Naples, Italy, via Chicago. During his stopover, a Lufthansa representative offered him $800 to give up his seat and take a later flight — what’s called a “voluntary” denied boarding.

Why? Lufthansa had overbooked his flight.

“We took him up on that offer,” Keohen says. Lufthansa told him to contact the airline when he got home to get his money, a violation of federal law.

But his troubles were just starting.

https://www.elliott.org/ultimate-consumer-guides-smart-travelers/what-does-an-airline-owe-me-if-it-denies-me-boarding/

Engineers are exploring radical new designs for commercial planes that would use less energy and lower emissions. But will passengers be willing to board them?

Doug Cameron - Updated Nov. 2, 2022 12:55 pm ET

Modern airliner designs date from the 1950s: a metal tube and swept-back wings with jet engines slung underneath. They get you where you’re going and back. But after decades of research, something very different could be flying you on vacation by the late 2030s.

Unconventional designs such as “blended-wing” shapes now used for some military jets, which combine the cabin and wings in one piece, have been floated for years as possibilities for passenger aircraft. Now the rise of climate-change concerns and emergence of new manufacturing materials have brought a rethink a step closer to reality, scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration say.

Just about every fuel-saving aerodynamic efficiency has been wrung out of existing aircraft. The next generation will need bolder designs to meet new environmental standards and airline economics, and that’s forcing plane makers back to the drawing board.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-weird-looking-fuel-efficient-planes-you-could-be-flying-in-one-day-11667397440

“How much does the world change if you can get anywhere in an hour?”

Eric Berger - 4/3/2023, 5:23 AM

HOUSTON SPACEPORT—On a cloudy day in late March, Andrew Duggleby guided me a safe distance away from a rocket engine. We did not have to go far, maybe 50 meters, because the prototype engine designed and built by his small engineering team is not that large.

We waited for a few minutes before steam began to hiss out of the engine. And then, for a few seconds, the engine emitted a distinctive whistling sound. “There it is!” Duggleby exclaimed. By it, he meant the sound of a rotating detonation engine firing after its ignition. The sound indicated that a reaction was successfully rotating at 20,000 times a second around the engine.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/a-passenger-aircraft-that-flies-around-the-world-at-mach-9-sure-why-not/

Yet again, a designer proposes cramming way more people into airliners.

Abigail Bassett - 6/7/2023, 8:44 AM

Regular travelers know all too well just how uncomfortable airplanes have gotten over the last few years. Seats are narrower and offer less legroom than they have in years past, and as prices rise, thanks to the perfect storm of inflation and corporate greed, flying economy feels more like some form of modern torture to be endured than a luxurious experience. Add in the terrifying double-decker and standing-room-only seat configurations that airliners and designers are attempting to sell to the paying public, and the picture of the future of airline travel only gets bleaker.

Take the most recent hubbub around designer Alejandro Núñez Vincente’s so-called Chaise Longue setup, which has made its second, updated appearance at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, this week. We may have just reached peak uncomfortable airline seating.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/06/why-youll-never-fly-in-an-airplane-with-those-double-decker-seats/

Diving into the benefits of this engine placement.

Sumit Singh - 28 July 2023

When spotting private jets, you may have noticed a consistent feature among most of them at airfields across the globe. They primarily have their engines placed at the rear. We thought we’d take a look at why this is a common factor for private aircraft.

https://simpleflying.com/why-private-jets-generally-have-rear-mounted-engines/

Brett Holman - 20 February 2024

While looking for something else, I came across this rather incredible photo in the Imperial War Museum collection. That's a seaplane stuck 300 feet up a 350ft tall radio mast! If that's not amazing enough, the pilot was rescued by three men who climbed up to retrieve him. And he survived.

https://airminded.org/2024/02/20/a-bad-day-at-the-office/

Apr 6, 2024 - maurycy

A common misconception about wings is that they need to have the classic airfoil shape to work. In reality, just about any surface can create lift and function as a wing. You can see this your by swinging a square of cardboard, foam sheet or any other light, large and flat object through the air. If the surface is angled upwards a few degrees relative to the incoming air, it pushes the air down, and itself up.

Now, try increasing the angle of attack, the angle the wing makes with the airsteam. You will notice that past a certain angle, the lift starts to decrease, and is replaced by a lot of drag, a force trying to slow down the wing. This is called a stall, and it limits how much lift a wing can create at any given speed. A proper airfoil geometry can generate more lift before stalling, and creates less drag for a given amount of lift, which is why most airplanes use them.

If you now toss the cardboard like a plane, it will immediately pitch up, stalling and then tumbling down to the ground. To understand why this happenings, it helps to simply the complexity of the forces involved.

https://10maurycy10.github.io/misc/the_physics_of_flight/

Erin Snodgrass - Dec 22, 2023, 6:11 PM PST

A common cargo plane flew a standard 50-mile route last month with no humans on board, marking a major milestone in a new era of automated aviation.

Reliable Robotics, an automation systems company based in California, touted the successful flight earlier this month after a Cessna 208B Caravan safely took off, flew, and landed with no pilot inside the plane.

The 12-minute flight departed from Hollister Airport in Northern California as a human pilot remotely operated the aircraft from a control center 50 miles away, according to a Reliable Robotics press release.

The flight system allows the Cessna plane to be remote control operated by a pilot from the ground. The model is meant to prevent loss of control mid-flight, as well as improve safety in relation to take-off and landing measures, the company said.

https://www.businessinsider.com/semi-automated-aviation-system-combat-pilot-shortage-cargo-plane-2023

Posted by msmash on Friday September 20, 2024 03:01PM

New submitter LazarusQLong shares a report:

In late 1965, at what's now London Heathrow airport, a commercial flight coming from Paris made history by being the first to land automatically. The plane – A Trident 1C operated by BEA, which would later become British Airways – was equipped with a newly developed extension of the autopilot (a system to help guide the plane's path without manual control) known as “autoland.” Today, automatic landing systems are installed on most commercial aircraft and improve the safety of landings in difficult weather or poor visibility.

Now, nearly 60 years later, the world's third largest aircraft manufacturer, Brazil's Embraer, is introducing a similar technology, but for takeoffs. Called “E2 Enhanced Take Off System,” after the family of aircraft it's designed for, the technology would not only improve safety by reducing pilot workload, but it would also improve range and takeoff weight, allowing the planes that use it to travel farther, according to Embraer. “The system is better than the pilots,” says Patrice London, principal performance engineer at Embraer, who has worked on the project for over a decade. “That's because it performs in the same way all the time. If you do 1,000 takeoffs, you will get 1,000 of exactly the same takeoff.”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/20/1739235/automatic-takeoffs-are-coming-for-passenger-jets

The idea of capturing data from inside an aircraft dates back to the inception of air travel—but the developments haven’t kept pace with technology.

Barbara Peterson - March 14, 2023

At 1:49 a.m. Universal Time on June 1, 2009, the pilots of Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris radioed to Brazilian air traffic controllers as they were leaving their airspace. They had entered a communications dead zone over the South Atlantic Ocean; it would be another two hours before the jet could contact a human on the ground. For the seasoned captain flying the Airbus A330, this was a routine handoff, and although the plane was heading into a thunderstorm, there was nothing to suggest anything was amiss. “Air France four-four-seven, contact Atlantic center,” the captain repeated back to the control center. And then, he left the cockpit for a scheduled rest break—another normal practice on this 11-hour run. A relief pilot joined the copilot at the controls.

Those were the last words anyone heard from the cockpit or from the 228 souls aboard, who never made it to their destination. That is, until two years later, when, from depths of 13,000 feet at the bottom of the ocean, the same team behind the discovery of the Titanic dredged up a pair of metal boxes from the wreckage of the plane, each about the size of a shoe box. If the recordings they housed had survived the punishing conditions at the bottom of the sea, they could solve the mystery of what happened to Flight 447.

The search to date had been one of the biggest and costliest in the history of airline crashes, costing the industry more than $30 million. This latest mission, using autonomous submersibles that combed the ocean floor, was to be the final attempt before authorities would pull the plug on more expensive undersea investigations.

https://www.afar.com/magazine/how-black-boxes-changed-air-travel

Aaron Spray - 5 July 2025

Today, aircraft typically only require two flight crew: the pilot and the co-pilot. But this was not always the case. Before the development of more sophisticated microprocessors and computers, various larger commercial aircraft needed a flight engineer to help monitor the aircraft and ensure it was functioning properly.

The march towards autonomous systems continues. The prospect of pilotless commercial aircraft is becoming increasingly feasible with advancements in technology. With military aircraft, the new B-21 Raider strategic bomber is known to be optionally manned, while the Tempest/GCAP sixth-generation fighter jet is also being developed to be optionally manned. But while pilotless commercial aircraft may still be a long way off, the role of flight engineer has long been eliminated. Here is what to know about the last US-built aircraft to have a flight engineer.

https://simpleflying.com/last-plane-america-flight-engineer/

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday December 30, 2023 04:45PM

“Since the 1960s engineers around the world have been fiddling with a novel type of jet called a rotating detonation engine (RDE), but it has never got beyond the experimental stage,” reports the Economist.

“That could be about to change.”

GE Aerospace, one of the world's biggest producers of jet engines, recently announced it was developing a working version. Earlier this year America's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded a $29m contract to Raytheon, part of RTX, another big aerospace group, to develop an RDE called Gambit.

Both engines would be used to propel missiles, overcoming the range and speed limitations of current propulsion systems, including rockets and existing types of jet engines. However, if the companies are successful in getting them to work, RDEs might have a much broader role in aviation — including the possibility of helping revive supersonic air travel.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/12/30/2351223/a-new-type-of-jet-engine-could-revive-supersonic-air-travel

GAMI STCs cover all spark-ignition engine, airframe combinations

The FAA signed on September 1 supplemental type certificates that allow General Aviation Modifications Inc.’s 100-octane unleaded fuel (G100UL) to be used in every general aviation spark-ignition engine and every airframe powered by those engines. The move was hailed by the industry as a major step in the transition to an unleaded GA future.

September 1, 2022 - Jill W. Tallman

The FAA’s approval of the use of G100UL fuel in all piston aircraft satisfies a longstanding goal of finding a solution that can be used for the entire GA piston fleet.

“I’m proud of GAMI, the industry team, and the FAA for persevering over the long term and getting a fuel that the FAA has recognized as a viable alternative to low lead,” AOPA President Mark Baker said. “It’s vital that we find solutions to what has been plaguing general aviation since the seventies. It’s certainly the biggest issue I have dealt with in my time at AOPA.”

“This is a big deal,” Baker added, “but there is a lot of work yet to be done.”

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2022/september/01/closer-to-an-unleaded-future

Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday May 22, 2024 08:30PM

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian:

Hopes that replacement fuels for airplanes will slash carbon pollution are misguided and support for these alternatives could even worsen the climate crisis, a new report has warned. There is currently “no realistic or scalable alternative” to standard kerosene-based jet fuels, and touted “sustainable aviation fuels” are well off track to replace them in a timeframe needed to avert dangerous climate change, despite public subsidies, the report by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive thinktank, found. “While there are kernels of possibility, we should bring a high level of skepticism to the claims that alternative fuels will be a timely substitute for kerosene-based jet fuels,” the report said. […]

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/05/22/236242/hopes-for-sustainable-jet-fuel-not-realistic-report-finds

Dharna Noor - 12 March 2020 11:30AM

The coronavirus pandemic has put many of the worst things about the global economy into sharp relief. The Trump administration is considering prioritizing oil companies over healthcare, New York is paying people in prison less than a dollar an hour to make state-branded hand sanitizer, and internationally, airlines are flying empty “ghost” flights across Europe, wasting thousands of gallons of greenhouse gas-emitting fuel in the process.

https://earther.gizmodo.com/countries-move-to-stop-empty-ghost-flights-1842290716

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday February 06, 2022 04:34AM

“A pre-pandemic policy on airport usage is pressuring airlines to keep 'ghost flights' in the air,” Wired reported this week — adding “The climate impact is massive.”

Lufthansa, Germany's national airline, which is based in Frankfurt, has admitted to running 21,000 empty flights this winter, using its own planes and those of its Belgian subsidiary, Brussels Airlines, in an attempt to keep hold of airport slots. Although anti-air travel campaigners believe ghost flights are a widespread issue that airlines don't publicly disclose, Lufthansa is so far the only airline to go public about its own figures…. Lufthansa's own chief executive, Carsten Spohr [said] the journeys were “empty, unnecessary flights just to secure our landing and takeoff rights.” But the company argues that it can't change its approach: Those ghost flights are happening because airlines are required to conduct a certain proportion of their planned flights in order to keep slots at high-trafficked airports.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/22/02/06/023249/thousands-of-planes-are-flying-empty-and-no-one-can-stop-them

I was perplexed (and admittedly annoyed) yesterday when the United Airlines website was selling seats on a flight that every agent claimed they could not book and some could not even find. One called it a “fake” flight. Was it a mysterious re-positioning flight that should never have been offered for sale in the first place?

Matthew Klint - June 28, 2022

With the exception of its increased point-to-point Florida operations during the pandemic, United Airlines primarily offers flights that to/from one of its U.S. hubs (or former hub in Cleveland) to destinations around the country and world.

Yesterday, like every day this summer, was a total mess at Newark. A friend got stranded after arriving from Vienna and trying to transfer to Pittsburgh. His flight was cancelled and the next flight was cancelled, leaving him on a deep standby list for the one remaining flight of the day that was still operating.

Looking at united.com, I noticed another option–a strange one. He could fly from Newark to Pittsburgh via…Providence, Rhode Island?

https://liveandletsfly.com/fake-united-airlines-flight/

While the Wright brothers are widely recognized as the fathers of flight, Brazilians believe the true inventor of the airplane was one of their own.

March 21, 2025 - Terrence McCoy

PETRÓPOLIS, Brazil — Who invented the airplane?

Questions don’t get much simpler. But in Brazil and the United States, the answer you’ll get isn’t likely to be the same.

In 1903, U.S. schoolchildren are taught, the Wright brothers piloted their Wright Flyer into the air in Kitty Hawk, N.C., and soared into the history books.

Brazilians hear a different story: that the true inventor of the airplane was Alberto Santos Dumont — commonly described here as “the father of aviation.”

For more than a century, ever since he steered his 14-Bis into the Paris sky in 1906, the country has been trying indefatigably to give their man his due, regardless of the academic consensus. Santos Dumont’s mustachioed visage has graced Brazilian currency. One of Rio de Janeiro’s airports is named after him. A replica of his airplane, piloted by a Santos Dumont look-alike, swooped through the Opening Ceremonies of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Now Santos Dumont truthers have found a new and powerful champion: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In his third presidential term, amid a slew of foreign and domestic crises, Lula has repeatedly found time to trumpet Santos Dumont, and even take a few swipes at the Wright brothers.

“I can’t even pronounce their name,” he scoffed in July.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/03/21/brazil-airplane-wright-brothers-santos-dumont/

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/index.html

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-687-private-pilot-ground-school-january-iap-2019/

The standard way to land a plane is to flare. This entails pulling back on the yoke (the controls) until the nose starts to rise. This arrests the descent, and if all goes as planned the main landing gear will kiss the runway softly. This is a universal strategy, used in aircraft ranging from hang gliders to the Space Shuttle.

But for the Gulfstream 280 there's a little-known technique that will enable the pilot to land smoothly with frightening consistency. The technique: moments before touchdown, the pilot pushes the control yoke forward, essentially flying the plane into the ground. To be clear, it is less of a “push” and more of a tiny application of forward pressure on the controls.

https://www.ericbutton.co/blog/the-unofficial-way-to-land-a-gulfstream-g280

When the pilots of Air Astana Flight 1388 lost control of their Embraer 190, they spent a scary two hours in the air over Portugal before making it down safely.

Alex Davies - 11.12.2018 07:18 PM

The trouble started almost immediately. A few minutes after taking off from Lisbon on Sunday, the pilots of an Air Astana Embraer 190 jet called Mayday. “We have flight control problems,” he told air traffic control, asking for a path to the sea for an emergency landing.

“We have six people on board,” one pilot said a few minutes later, according to an audio recording available via LiveATC.net. “Airplane is completely uncontrollable.”

Those six included three pilots and three engineers, according to FlightGlobal, who were taking the aircraft from Portugal, where it had been undergoing maintenance, to Kazakhstan, where Air Astana is based. In the first portion of the flight, the Embraer traced the sort of flight path you’d draw if you took your Spirograph on a roller coaster. Eventually, the pilots regained control and, escorted by a pair of fighter jets, flew south to an airport with good weather and landed safely.

https://www.wired.com/story/air-astana-flight-1388-portugal-loss-control/

U.S. pilots hit with blinding lasers averaged 44 incidents per day in February.

Matt Novak - 22 March 2024

The number of laser strikes against planes hit another record last month, according to new data obtained by Gizmodo. And the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would like Americans to get the message that it’s not just dangerous for people on the ground to shine lasers into the cockpits of passing aircraft, it’s illegal and can land people in prison with stiff sentences.

The FAA received 1,297 reports of laser strikes in the U.S. in February alone, an average of 44.7 per day. That’s significantly higher than January, which saw an average of 36.4 per day. Pilots in 2023 were hit with 13,304 laser strikes in the U.S., the worst year ever recorded.

There were 9,457 laser strikes reported in 2022, 9,723 in 2021, and 6,852 in 2020. To put all of that in historical perspective, the FAA recorded just 1,489 laser strikes in 2009, but that number almost doubled in 2010 to 2,836.

https://gizmodo.com/laser-strikes-against-planes-hit-another-record-high-1851359333

A database of paper airplanes with easy to follow folding instructions, video tutorials and printable folding plans. Find the best paper airplanes that fly the furthest and stay aloft the longest.

https://www.foldnfly.com/#/1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2

The paint's recipe has been changed so that it's now thinner and lighter without losing reflectivity.

Andrew Liszewski - 4 October 2022 10:35AM

As peak temperatures around the world continue to soar, simply turning up the air conditioning isn’t going to be a long-term solution. We’re going to need other ways to beat the heat, like developing ultra-white paints that can efficiently reflect sunlight for natural cooling, which a team from Purdue University has finally optimized for use on vehicles.

Last year we reported on the research being done at Purdue to develop a white paint with extreme reflectivity, which has actually been many years in the making. In the Fall of 2020, the team successfully developed a white paint that was able to reflect 95.5% of light, and just a few months later, in early 2021, they bested that with a new paint formulation that could reflect up to 98.1% of light. The whitest paints that are currently commercially available only reflect about 80% to 90% of light, which means they’re absorbing 10% to 20% of it, and we all know from regrettable Summer wardrobe choices that reducing light and heat absorption is a big part of keeping cool when it’s hot out.

https://gizmodo.com/worlds-whitest-paint-can-now-be-used-to-cool-cars-and-p-1849613597

Posted by msmash on Friday September 08, 2023 08:20AM

Siddharth Vikram Philip, Sabah Meddings, and Supriya Singh, reporting for Bloomberg News:

As chief commercial officer of aircraft-parts supplier AOG Technics, Ray Kwong can look back on a well-rounded career at A-list companies including All Nippon Airways, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nissan Motor. That, at least, is Kwong's two-decade corporate journey on what appears to be his LinkedIn profile, from which the self-proclaimed executive beams with a broad smile and striped tie in blue hues. Trouble is that – much like the company for which Kwong now claims to work – not all is as it seems. Kwong, if he even exists, was never employed at Nissan, or at ANA for that matter. Neither company has records of him as a former worker, they said in response to queries by Bloomberg News. His employment history could also not be verified at Mitsubishi. What is used as his profile picture turns out to be a stock photo that's also washed up elsewhere on the Internet, from promotional material for a German textile startup to a clinic in Northbrook, Illinois.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/08/151246/bogus-supplier-of-jet-engine-parts-may-have-faked-employees-too

Micah Toll - Jun 12 2025 7:06 am PT

There was a time when having your own plane was a pretty clear indicator that you were part of that upper crust of society. If it was a pricey and rare electric plane, then all the more. But those days are numbered as the influx of compact and powerful electric powertrain components collides with good old American entrepreneurism to create a number of interesting new electric flying machines that now make it cheaper to fly yourself than drive.

To manage expectations, let’s start by saying we’re talking here about a category of aviation known as “ultralights.” These are tiny, single-occupant aircraft that don’t require airworthiness certificates or pilot’s licenses to operate.

There are still a few rules, namely a total weight under 254 lb (115 kg) and a maximum speed of 55 knots (63 mph or 102 km/h). They also can only be operated in daylight or twilight, and are prohibited from flying over any “congested area of a city.” But other than those and a few other smaller rules, they’re largely a wild-west of minimally-regulated flying machines that allow just about anyone with a credit card and working appendages to achieve their dream of powered flight.

For a long time, the motor of choice for ultralights was either a two-stroke or four-stroke gasoline engine. They were readily available and had the power-to-weight ratio necessary to make an ultralight aircraft work (and fit under the 254-lb limit). But as electric motors have become more power dense and lithium-ion batteries have become more energy dense, electric powertrains are becoming increasingly popular for ultralights.

https://electrek.co/2025/06/12/personal-electric-flying-machines-are-becoming-dangerously-affordable/

Israel Salas-Rodriguez - 15:52 ET, May 20 2022 / Updated: 9:32 ET, May 23 2022

THE teen who tracks Elon Musk's $70million private jet has revealed his secret that led to the discovery of his latest “jackpot” in Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's aircraft.

Tech-savvy teen Jack Sweeney claims he has bypassed Meta's reported $26.8million security expenses on their CEO, revealing to The US Sun how he pinned Zuckerberg's private jet.

In February, Sweeney, 19, began tracking and sharing updates on what he said was Zuckerberg's private jet and created the Twitter profile ZuccJet.

Sweeney told The US Sun that for some time, he was tracking a plane that he believed belonged to Zuckerberg; however, he later learned that the jet was no longer his.

https://www.the-sun.com/news/5386144/teen-elon-musks-jet-pins-mark-zuckerberg-plane/

Louison Dumont - Sep 3, 2023

My son is 18 months old, and he loves spotting planes in the sky. Every time he hears a plane engine sound, he starts looking up. The moment he spots it, he usually points his finger at it, and says something like “Hmm!” or “Pane!”

So since he likes them so much, and I know that plane positions are publicly available data, I figured it’d be a fun Sunday hack to make a script that gives us an alert every time a plane is overhead, so we can run out and find it.

It’s Sunday afternoon, I changed his diaper, handed him to his mother for a nap, and opened my laptop at 12:10 pm. I fired up ChatGPT, and asked “I want to build a tool that sends me a notification when a flight is visible above my house. Help me build this in NodeJS.”

https://louison.substack.com/p/i-built-a-plane-spotter-for-my-son

Legislation just signed into law has made it exceedingly to difficult to track private jet activity.

Lucas Ropek - 22 May 2024

Celebrities and billionaires have long complained that it’s just way too easy for random people on the internet to monitor how much fuel exhaust they waste as they flit through the skies via their private jets. Well, it appears that our government’s legislators have heard these complaints and, unlike when the rest of us whine about stuff, actually done something.

An amendment in the Federal Aviation Administration re-authorization bill that was passed last week will allow private aircraft owners to anonymize their registration information. President Joe Biden signed the FAA bill into law on May 16th, after it passed in the Senate 88-4 and the House 387 to 26.

Jet tracking has been made possible up until this point because private plane owners were forced to register aircraft ownership information with the FAA civil registry. That registry has been public until now, allowing for those data points to be combined with open radar mapping to understand where and when certain planes were traveling. It’s through this public information that online enthusiasts have been able to track the jet activity of America’s 1 percent.

https://gizmodo.com/congress-just-made-it-way-harder-to-track-taylor-swift-1851492383

While the recent death aboard a Singapore Airlines flight is probably an outlier, we're in for a bumpy future.

Collin Woodard, Jalopnik - 30 May 2024

Singapore Airlines made international news earlier this month when severe turbulence left one person dead and more than 30 injured. Then, just a few days later, a flight attendant broke her back during severe turbulence on a Turkish Airlines flight.

Several other incidents of severe turbulence in the news this weeks suggests that maybe turbulence really has gotten worse. Then again, we’re also living at a time where the airline industry is under a lot more scrutiny, so it’s also possible we’re just hearing about it more because people are already paying attention. A review of recent research, though, shows that’s not the case.

For example, there’s a 2023 paper by University of Reading researcher Mark C. Prosser studied trends in clear-air turbulence, a type of turbulence that occurs without clouds or thunderstorms present, and the results don’t paint a pretty picture. While light-or-greater CAT only increased 17 percent over the North Atlantic between 1979 and 2020, moderate-or-greater CAT increased by 37 percent, and severe-or-greater CAT jumped a whopping 55 percent. So it’s not just that turbulence is happening more frequently. We’re also seeing more severe turbulence.

https://gizmodo.com/why-turbulence-is-getting-worse-1851509344

Posted by EditorDavid on Monday December 30, 2024 04:34AM

America's aerospace industry is overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration (or FAA) — which also handles safety warnings from the industry's whistleblowers. But the Seattle Times says an analysis of reports to Congress found “an overwhelmed system delivering underwhelming results for whistleblowers… More than 90% of safety complaints from 2020 through 2023 ended with no violation found by the FAA, while whistleblowers reported them at great personal and professional risk.”

Aside from the FAA's in-house program, employees of Boeing, Spirit and the FAA can report safety hazards to the Office of Special Counsel, which has no FAA ties, or through internal employer complaint programs, such as Boeing's Speak Up and Spirit's Quality 360, to trigger company reviews… In the aftermath of the door-plug blowout over Portland, Boeing specifically asked its employees to use the Speak Up program or the FAA's internal process to report any concerns, according to Boeing spokesperson Jessica Kowal. Both have done a poor job protecting whistleblowers from retaliation, according to a congressionally appointed expert panel… While both were designed to guard against retaliation, critics say they have instead become enablers of it…

A panel of aviation safety experts in February rebuked Boeing's Speak Up program in a report to Congress. Whistleblower advocates criticized Speak Up for commonly outing whistleblowers to the supervisors they're complaining about, exposing them to retaliation. Managers sometimes investigated complaints against themselves. Employees mistrusted the program's promise of anonymity. Collectively, the befuddling maze of whistleblower options sowed “confusion about reporting systems that may discourage employees from submitting safety concerns,” according to the expert panel's report….

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/12/30/0152249/most-safety-complaints-from-plane-industry-whistleblowers-go-nowhere-risk-retaliation

Officials beg to differ, claiming the author misinterpreted Congressional reports

Brandon Vigliarolo - Tue 31 Dec 2024 13:45 UTC

Concerned about the state of aviation safety? You might be onto something, as the Federal Aviation Administration allegedly dismisses or closes most whistleblower reports without finding violations.

Curious over a series of high-profile failures at Boeing followed by a glut of whistleblower reports, the Seattle Times dug into Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports to Congress from 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Times found that of the 728 safety complaints received, only 8.5 percent (62 cases) resulted in findings of violations, while nearly 40 percent of complaints were dismissed before reaching the fact-finding phase.

“Since 2020, the FAA found violations and took action on complaints related to inspections at Boeing plants,” Seattle Times reporter Patrick Malone wrote in the story. “At the same time, it closed investigations into issues similar to those believed to have contributed to a blowout over Portland in January, such as unqualified workers performing safety-critical work and missing documentation.”

In short, while it's “impossible to know,” in Malone's words, how many dismissed reports merited investigation, there's a very good chance there are others.

Part of the reason for such a high percentage of reports “going unchecked” may have to do with how the FAA classifies a legitimate whistleblower complaint. According to FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor, who spoke with the Seattle Times, the FAA discards complaints if it judges them to lack sufficient information, or which don't meet the threshold of being a whistleblower complaint because the FAA doesn't believe there's a risk to the whistleblower's employment.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/31/faa_whistleblower_complaints/

Published: 2023-09-08

Comments on reddit and Hacker News

On 28 August 2023 NATS, the UK's air traffic control operator, suffered a major technical incident. The BBC reports that more than 2000 flights were cancelled and the cost has been estimated at over £100 million GBP. The incident probably affected hundreds of thousands of people.

The press initially reported the cause was a faulty flight plan: UK air traffic control: inquiry into whether French error caused failure (The Times) and in typical Mail Online reporting style: “Did blunder by French airline spark air traffic control issues? Officials probe if a single badly filed travel plan caused UK's entire flight-control system to collapse in worst outage for a decade - with 1,000 flights cancelled and chaos set to last DAYS”.

https://jameshaydon.github.io/nats-fail/

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday October 14, 2023 03:34PM

Due to an air traffic control mistake in February, a FedEx cargo plane flew within 100 feet of a Southwest Airlines flight in February. The New York Times reports that the flight's 128 passengers “were unaware that they had nearly died.”

In a year filled with close calls involving US airlines, this was the one that most unnerved federal aviation officials: A disaster had barely been averted, and multiple layers of the vaunted US air-safety system had failed… But the errors by the controller — who has continued to direct some plane traffic in Austin, Texas — were far from the whole story, according to 10 current and former controllers there, as well as internal Federal Aviation Administration documents reviewed by the Times. Austin-Bergstrom, like the vast majority of US airports, lacks technology that allows controllers to track planes on the ground and that warns of imminent collisions. The result is that on foggy days, controllers can't always see what is happening on runways and taxiways. Some have even resorted to using a public flight-tracking website in lieu of radar.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/10/14/180250/how-a-series-of-air-traffic-control-lapses-nearly-killed-131-people

J. B. Crawford - 11 May 2025

Air traffic control has been in the news lately, on account of my country's declining ability to do it. Well, that's a long-term trend, resulting from decades of under-investment, severe capture by our increasingly incompetent defense-industrial complex, no small degree of management incompetence in the FAA, and long-lasting effects of Reagan crushing the PATCO strike. But that's just my opinion, you know, maybe airplanes got too woke. In any case, it's an interesting time to consider how weird parts of air traffic control are. The technical, administrative, and social aspects of ATC all seem two notches more complicated than you would expect. ATC is heavily influenced by its peculiar and often accidental development, a product of necessity that perpetually trails behind the need, and a beneficiary of hand-me-down military practices and technology.

https://computer.rip/2025-05-11-air-traffic-control.html

“I don’t want to be responsible for killing 400 people,” air traffic controller Jonathan Stewart said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal

Natalia Senanayake - Published on May 17, 2025 06:00AM EDT

A veteran air traffic controller is speaking out about the high-pressure working conditions he and his colleagues are facing amid tech blackouts and staffing shortages.

Jonathan Stewart, 45, is a supervisor at Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), which monitors flights traveling to and from Newark Liberty International Airport, as well as regional airports.

In recent weeks, air controllers have been faced with unimaginable challenges, such as the 90-second outage at Newark that made their computer screens go dark while simultaneously leaving them without any direct line of communication to pilots.
During an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Stewart got candid about how the traumatic experience has impacted him and his colleagues. He also detailed a close encounter between two planes flying near Newark, N.J., that called for him to make a split-second call to avoid a horrific accident.

https://people.com/air-traffic-controller-whose-split-second-decision-narrowly-avoided-mid-air-collision-speaks-out-11736859

Ongoing troubles have been flying under the radar.

Lucas Ropek - September 19, 2025

Throughout much of this year, a slew of technical problems at Newark International Airport have spurred concerns about flier safety. On a frightening day in April, the airport lost communication with regional planes for about 90 seconds. Not long afterward, United Airlines announced it was cancelling dozens of flights out of the airport. That same month, the FAA committed to sending new equipment and resources to the site, but not long afterward, Trump’s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, admitted that he’d switched his wife’s flight to avoid having her fly out of Newark. It wasn’t exactly a show of confidence, although Duffy later claimed that it wasn’t what it sounded like.

In August, the government suggested extending an order that had limited the rate of arrivals and departures at the airport, in an effort to maintain “safety while alleviating flight delays due to staffing and equipment challenges.”

This week, a new report from the New York Times claims that the situation at the airport is still…well, not great. Indeed, the site still seems to have some problems. It could have a lot of them, actually. The Times interviewed five people with “knowledge of the air traffic control center,” who said that recent improvements had not abated ongoing concerns.

https://gizmodo.com/air-traffic-controllers-problems-newark-sean-duffy-2000661135

https://www.openscope.io/

David Kaminski-Morrow - 15 March 2024

Investigators probing the serious UK air traffic control system failure in August last year have detailed the flightplan waypoint confusion which triggered the incident.

Over 700,000 passengers were affected by the failure of UK air navigation service NATS’ flightplan processing system. This forced controllers to revert to manual processing, leading to more than 1,500 flight cancellations and delaying hundreds of services which did operate.

According to an independent panel’s review of the occurrence, the UK’s Swanwick area control centre had received a flightplan from French Bee flight BF371 – operating from Los Angeles to Paris Orly – at around 08:32 on 28 August.

The aircraft’s route took it through US, Canadian and North Atlantic oceanic airspace before passing over the UK and entering France.

Its flightplan had initially been forwarded to pan-European air navigation organisation Eurocontrol for processing. This involved converting the flightplan file to a standard European format, and adding supplementary waypoints, before passing it to relevant air traffic control providers including NATS.

NATS uses a subsystem called FPRSA-R for automated flightplan reception, and one of its tasks is to extract the portion of the flightplan covering UK airspace entry and exit.

https://www.flightglobal.com/safety/uk-air-traffic-system-failure-triggered-by-misidentified-french-bee-flightplan-waypoint/157386.article

Too old to fly, they're stripped, scrapped and their working parts reassigned

By Nathan Bevan - 18:48, 18 MAY 2020

The advanced age of a plane is not something many passengers want to ponder when they're soaring high above a canopy of clouds, some 38,000 feet up in the air.

But, while we prefer to think of each aircraft we board as new, shiny and infallible, there's no getting past the fact that, at some point, every Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 starts to show signs of wear and tear and eventually has to be retired.

And, having been waved one last goodbye by its cabin crew, almost one in 10 of the world's over-the-hill long haulers ends up here, in a tucked away funeral parlour for flying machines near the South Wales coast.

Formed in 2011 and based at St Athan, near Barry, eCube Solutions is one of the fastest growing facilities for the recycling of old commercial airliners, with around 60 of these mammoth machines landing on its runway each year.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/st-athan-airplanes-airport-airbus-18270448

by Emily Derrick - July 9, 2020

An aircraft graveyard, also known as an aircraft boneyard, is where planes go to die. After a plane’s final flight, most will be sent to these graveyards where they will be stored indefinitely. Some will be used for parts, scrapped, and a lucky few may even go back into service. As time and technology move on and more planes are retired, these graveyards are growing. We’ve taken a look at some of the largest aircraft graveyards in the US.

https://simpleflying.com/united-states-largest-aircraft-graveyards/

Amadeus’ migration to the public cloud will take 3 years

Ron Miller - 7:08 AM PDT April 7, 2022

Public travel systems provider Amadeus opened for business way back in 1987 when four airlines wanted to offer a centralized booking system. Today, the company facilitates booking and inventory management for 216 airlines, as well as hotels, trains, airports, online travel companies and even corporations. In short, it covers just about every aspect of travel IT imaginable.

As an IT-heavy company scales, its computing, software and systems requirements change as well. For Amadeus, those pressures came to a head in 2015, when the company realized it needed to move beyond the private cloud it had been running. Embracing a public cloud infrastructure would give the organization greater flexibility to react to customer needs much faster than it could with a homegrown tech stack.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/07/what-startups-can-learn-from-amadeus-migration-to-cloud/

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday May 30, 2021 11:04AM

Despite $11.2 billion worth of orders, and partners like Boeing, General Electric and Berkshire Hathaway, Aerion says it still couldn't raise enough money to head into production “in the current financial environment,” according to a Flying magazine shared by schwit1:

The Aerion SST — the most promising effort in years to represent the next step in supersonic travel since the demise of the Anglo-French Concorde — has reached the end of the line after the company said it had run short of cash. The Reno, Nevada-based aircraft builder said Friday it is closing its doors for good according to a story in Florida Today…

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/05/30/1752207/aerion-shuts-down-halts-work-on-proposed-supersonic-business-jet

Jacopo Prisco - Updated 7:15 AM EDT, Fri May 3, 2024

While the A380 superjumbo is enjoying a steady resurgence after having been on the brink of retirement during the pandemic, its older sibling – another four-engined aircraft from Airbus – seems dangerously close to being grounded for good.

The A340 was introduced 30 years ago with Lufthansa and Air France, but only 380 have been produced since, the last in 2012. By comparison, Airbus has already made 565 of its successor, the A350, since its introduction in 2015.

Despite the lackluster commercial response, Airbus had high hopes for the A340, which was meant to replace aging Boeing 747s and DC-10s, and was touted as having an unbeatable range.

Just after entering commercial service, in 1993, an A340 set records by flying from the Paris Air Show to Auckland, in New Zealand, and then back after a five-hour layover, totaling over 42 hours in the air. It was the first-ever nonstop flight between Europe and New Zealand and the longest-ever nonstop flight by an airliner.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/the-a340-vanishing/index.html

Aria Alamalhodaei / 10:09 AM PDT•June 2, 2021

Archer Aviation hit back against allegations that it misappropriated trade secrets and infringed on patents from electric aircraft rival Wisk Aero, telling a court this week that it designed its Maker aircraft with a third-party eVTOL consultant prior to any former Wisk employees joining the company.

Archer said it worked with consultant FlightHouse Engineering at the end of 2019, when the consultancy firm modeled a 12-rotor fixed-wing aircraft, with the front six rotors capable of tilting from a vertical to a horizontal position. This is the design that ultimately became the Maker. By the time the first Wisk employee arrived at Archer, this design had already been modeled, Archer says.

“Despite the breathless innuendo and baseless speculation to which Wisk devotes its entire complaint, Archer’s eVTOL aircraft design is not only the best eVTOL aircraft around, it is entirely Archer’s design,” the answer says.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/02/archer-aviation-pushes-for-dismissal-of-wisk-trade-secret-suit/

Aria Alamalhodaei / 10:28 AM PDT July 23, 2021

Electric aviation startup Wisk Aero’s request for a preliminary injunction against rival Archer Aviation was denied by a federal judge Thursday, the latest in an ongoing legal battle over whether Archer stole trade secrets in developing its flagship Maker aircraft.

A full written opinion has not yet been published. In a tentative ruling filed earlier this week, Judge William Orrick said Wisk’s “evidence of misappropriation is too equivocal to warrant a preliminary injunction.” Wisk filed for the injunction in May; if it had been approved, it would have effectively put an immediate halt to Archer’s operations.

Wisk submitted to the court 52 trade secrets it alleges were stolen and used by Archer, and the injunction would have prevented Archer from using any of them until a final decision was issued in the suit. It’s an extraordinary request and it makes sense that Orrick would need to see more certain evidence of misappropriation.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/23/judge-denies-wisk-aeros-request-for-preliminary-injunction-against-archer-aviation/

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday September 08, 2022 06:25PM

Rolls-Royce has ended its involvement in a project by Boom Supersonic to develop a faster-than-sound passenger airliner, leaving unclear the powerplant options available to Boom. FlightGlobal reports:

“We are appreciative of Rolls-Royce's work over the last few years, but it became clear that Rolls' proposed engine design and legacy business model is not the best option for Overture's future airline operators or passengers,” Boom said on 7 September. “Later this year, we will announce our selected engine partner and our transformational approach for reliable, cost-effective and sustainable supersonic flight.”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/09/08/2216257/rolls-royce-exits-booms-supersonic-airliner-project

Jon Hemmerdinger - 16 September 2022

In the wake of Rolls-Royce’s departure from Boom Supersonic’s Overture programme, three additional propulsion specialists have indicated they have no interest in developing powerplants for supersonic civilian aircraft, leaving fresh questions about who will supply the jet’s engines.

Boom is developing Overture, a four-engined airliner it says will carry 65-80 passengers, fly at Mach 1.7 and have range of 4,250nm (7,871km). First delivery is scheduled for 2029.

However, as yet, there is no engine supplier. That issue was brought into focus last week when Rolls-Royce announced it was exiting the project having completed contracted engineering studies.

Now GE Aviation, Honeywell and Safran Aircraft Engines tell FlightGlobal they also have no interest in developing engines for civil supersonic aircraft.

https://www.flightglobal.com/airframers/engine-makers-sound-downbeat-on-supersonic-leaving-boom-in-a-bind/150215.article

Inaugural flight marks major milestone toward return of supersonic travel. XB-1 provides the foundation for Boom’s supersonic airliner, Overture.

Mar 22, 2024

Today, Boom announced the successful flight of XB-1, the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet, at the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California. Like Overture, Boom’s supersonic airliner, XB-1 leverages state-of-the-art technologies to enable efficient supersonic flight including carbon fiber composites, advanced avionics, digitally-optimized aerodynamics, and an advanced supersonic propulsion system.

https://boomsupersonic.com/flyby/inaugural-first-flight-xb1-supersonic-demonstrator

“This milestone will be invaluable to Boom’s revival of supersonic travel.”

Eric Berger - 3/22/2024, 2:44 PM

A prototype jet independently developed by Boom Supersonic made its first flight on Friday, the company said.

The XB-1 vehicle flew from Mojave Air & Space Port in California, reaching an altitude of 7,120 feet (2.2 km) and a maximum speed of 273 mph (439 kph). In a news release, Boom Supersonic said the initial test flight of the XB-1 aircraft met all of its objectives.

“The experience we have gained in reaching this milestone will be invaluable to Boom’s revival of supersonic travel,” said Bill “Doc” Shoemaker, Chief Test Pilot for Boom Supersonic.

The XB-1 aircraft is a demonstrator intended to test materials and the aerodynamics of a larger commercial supersonic aircraft the company is calling Overture.

Boom is one of a handful of companies attempting to revive supersonic commercial air travel since the Concorde's final flight in 2003. Its planes are intended to carry between 64 and 80 passengers at about twice the speed of conventional commercial jets in service today. Boom says it has received 130 orders and pre-orders from American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines for the Overture vehicle, which it plans to deliver later this decade.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/its-a-few-years-late-but-a-prototype-supersonic-airplane-has-taken-flight/

Tests are planned for later this year in Mojave, Ca's supersonic corridor.

Steve Dent - Fri, May 3, 2024, 5:00 AM PDT

Boom's supersonic XB-1 test jet has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to fly past Mach 1, the company announced. Tests are slated to take place later this year at the Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor in Mojave, CA, and the results could help prove the feasibility of the design in areas like fuel consumption, speeds and flight characteristics.

“Following XB-1’s successful first flight, I’m looking forward to its historic first supersonic flight,” said Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl. “We thank the Federal Aviation Administration for supporting innovation and enabling XB-1 to continue its important role of informing the future of supersonic travel.”

https://www.engadget.com/booms-xb-1-supersonic-jet-has-been-authorized-to-break-the-speed-of-sound-120036963.html

Twitchy roll resolved, landing gear works on one-third size demonstrator

Laura Dobberstein - Tue 27 Aug 2024 15:07 UTC

Aircraft biz Boom Supersonic completed the second test flight of its XB-1 demonstrator vehicle on Monday, during which the landing gear was retracted and extended for the first time and its new roll damper was tested.

The 15-minute test flight took place in the Mojave Desert where the XB-1 reached an altitude of 10,400 feet and a speed of 232 knots (266 mph/429 kph).

In a promotional video documenting the flight, a member of the flight test team can be heard commenting that the aircraft is “so smooth with the gear up.”

“I'm happy with what I see of the damper so far,” stated another.

According to Boom Supersonic, the roll damper was “implemented to improve handling qualities based on learnings from first flight.”

In addition to the landing gear and roll damper, engineers visually evaluated the direction and strength of airflow across its right wing by observing applied tufting, which can also be seen close-up in the video around 43 seconds in.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/27/boom_supersonic_flight_two/

The flight tested the vehicle's landing gear and roll damper for improved handling.

Andrew Jones - August 28, 2024

Colorado company Boom Supersonic's XB-1 supersonic demonstrator aircraft flew for the second time ever on Monday (Aug. 26).

The flight took place from California's Mojave Air and Space Port and lasted about 15 minutes, seeing the XB-1 reach an altitude of 10,400 feet (3,170 meters) and a speed of 277 mph (446 kph).

The flight demonstrated landing gear being retracted and extended for the first time, and a new digital stability augmentation system was tested to improve handling.

https://www.space.com/boom-supersonic-xb-1-second-test-flight-photos

August 23, 2022 - Dave Hartland

There are faster ways to get to Hawaii, but it must have been an incredible adventure in a Cessna.

Imagine, if you will, the following scenario.

You’re on an 18-hour flight.

Your seat doesn’t recline.

There is no in-flight entertainment.

There is no in-flight service.

The cabin is not pressurized.

You can’t go to the bathroom – because there isn’t one.

And you’re the only passenger.

Oh…and you’re the pilot, too.

For Tom Lopes, this scenario played out in a very real way on Saturday. Lopes completed the 2,521-mile journey when he ferried a brand-new Cessna 172 G1000 NXi Skyhawk (reg. N490NW) from Merced Regional Airport (MCE) in Merced, California, to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu (HNL).

https://avgeekery.com/a-cessna-flew-18-hours-to-hawaii/

Lewin Day - October 25, 2021

Often, when we think of long-endurance flights, our first thoughts jump to military operations. Big planes with highly-trained crew will fly for long periods, using air-to-air refuelling to stay aloft for extended periods.

However, many of the longest duration flights have been undertaken as entirely civilian operations. The longest of all happened to be undertaken by that most humble of aircraft, the Cessna 172. From December 1958 to February 1959, Bob Timm and John Cook set out to make history. The duo remained aloft for a full 64 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes, setting a record that stands to this day.

https://hackaday.com/2021/10/25/the-longest-ever-flight-was-over-64-days-in-a-cessna-172/

26 Apr 24 - Fear of Landing (Sylvia)

The Cessna 185 Skywagon is a high wing, single engine aircraft: basically a Cessna 180 with six seats, a strengthened fuselage and a slightly more powerful engine. It’s a popular aircraft in remote areas where access to modern airstrips may be minimal.

The Skywagon can be fitted with floats or skis: this particular one, registered in Finland as OH-CVT, was equipped with floats. It also had a cargo pack and a Robertson STOL (short take-off and landing) kit, which reduces the stall speed.

The aircraft was owned by Polar Lento Ltd. Originally, the aircraft and the pilot were operating under Polar Lento’s certificate. However, on the 30th of April 2003, the Finnish Flight Safety authority cancelled the certificate, as the maintenance manager of the company was not approved. Polar Lento Ltd applied for the aircraft to be added to the certificate of Ivalon Lentopalvelu Ltd. The authority added the aircraft to Ivalon Lentopalvelu’s operations on the 2nd of May 2003. The contract between the two companies stipulated that Polar Lento Ltd would cover all fixed and variable expenses of the aircraft while operated by Ivalon Lentopalvelu.

The pilot held his commercial licence and had 2,176 hours on floatplanes, most of which were on Cessna 180-types.

On the 24th of June, the day before the accident, the pilot flew the Skywagon from Lake Kilpisjärvi to Lake Ounasjärvi, Enontekiö , the Finnish part of Lapland. His fuel load had been close to the maximum when he departed Lake Kilpisjärvi. The floatplane landed at Hetta fishing harbour and docked there overnight.

https://fearoflanding.com/accidents/accident-reports/the-unstallable-plane-that-stalled/

Laura Dobberstein - Sun 28 May 2023 23:56 UTC

Asia in Brief China Eastern Airlines on Sunday conducted the first commercial flight of the COMAC C919 – the first made–in-China commercial jetliner.

The C919 is a single aisle twinjet that boasts between 152 and 174 seats, and can tackle many of the missions Airbus and Boeing suggest for the A320 and 737.

On Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo, China Eastern celebrated the departure of flight MU9191 from Shanghai Hongqiao, en route to Beijing Capital.

Boeing delivered 387 737s in 2022, and Airbus shipped 516 A320s. The two planemakers have literally thousands of orders to fulfil and are increasing their production capabilities to meet demand.

The C919 arrives into a hot market, and a hot niche.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/28/asia_in_brief/

Devin Coldewey / 7:56 AM PDT•July 29, 2021

Air taxis may still be pie in the sky, but there’s more than one way to move the air travel industry forward. Craft Aerospace aims to do so with a totally new vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that it believes could make city-to-city hops simpler, faster, cheaper and greener.

The aircraft — which, to be clear, is still in small-scale prototype form — uses a new VTOL technique that redirects the flow of air from its engines using flaps rather than turning them (like the well-known, infamously unstable Osprey), making for a much more robust and controllable experience.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/29/craft-aerospaces-novel-take-on-vtol-aircraft-could-upend-local-air-travel/

Jason Kottke - Nov 11, 2013

I posted a video earlier today of a Super Cub airplane landing on the side of a mountain. Super Cubs are ideal for that undertaking because of their low stall speed and short take-off and landing distances. But I had no idea you could land and take off in one in the space of 20 feet.

https://kottke.org/13/11/plane-landstakes-off-in-only-20-feet

Aria Alamalhodaei - 10:50 AM PST November 8, 2024

Exosonic, a startup developing supersonic commercial air travel and UAV tech, is winding down after five years of operation.

In an update posted to its website, Exosonic said it was unable to find the traction necessary to continue operations.

“Although the founders and team still believe in the need/desire for quiet supersonic flight and supersonic drones for the US Department of Defense, without further customer support for either concept, the company cannot sustain the cash needs to make further advancements,” the update says.

Exosonic was founded in 2019 by Norris Tie, a propulsion engineer who cut his teeth at primes like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin; at the latter company, he reportedly worked on the low-boom X-59 aircraft for NASA. Exosonic joined Y Combinator’s Winter 2020 cohort and went on to raise over $4.5 million from venture investors, including Soma Capital, Psion Capital, and Stellar Solutions. The startup also bagged several small grants from the U.S. Air Force under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

The company was making progress: It hit a major milestone earlier this year when it flew its first aircraft, a subscale variant of its supersonic UAV called EX-3M Trident, in a test flight in California. It also had two other vehicles under development: a supersonic airliner called Horizon and a larger UAV called Revenant.

https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/08/supersonic-aircraft-startup-exosonic-is-shutting-down/

If approved, the unusual request will come with a long list of safety demands.

Andrew Liszewski - 14 January 2022 12:55PM

With the right military equipment, a single person can target a plane from three miles away using a heat-seeking missile. While such a nightmare is a rare occurrence, FedEx has applied to the FAA seeking approval to install a laser-based, anti-missile defense system on its cargo planes as an added safety measure.

The basics of how heat-seeking missiles work is mostly self-explanatory. They target and track a source of heat—such as the hot air coming out of a jet’s engine—and automatically make in-flight course adjustments so the missile reaches its target without any input from the weapon’s operator. They’ve been popularized in action movies, but the technology is far from infallible.

https://gizmodo.com/fedex-asks-faa-to-let-it-install-anti-missile-lasers-on-1848361044

Posted by BeauHD on Friday January 14, 2022 06:02PM

With the right military equipment, a single person can target a plane from three miles away using a heat-seeking missile. While such a nightmare is a rare occurrence, FedEx has applied to the FAA seeking approval to install a laser-based, anti-missile defense system on its cargo planes as an added safety measure. Gizmodo reports:

FedEx's request to the Federal Aviation Administration, filed on Jan. 4, didn't come completely out of left field, however. In 2008, the company worked with Northrop Grumman to test its anti-missile laser-based defense systems on 12 of the shipping company's cargo planes for over a year. At the time, Northrop Grumman announced that its “system is ready to be deployed on civilian aircraft,” although no commercial orders had been placed at the time, according to a company spokesperson. That may have changed, however.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/01/14/2256243/fedex-asks-faa-to-let-it-install-anti-missile-lasers-on-its-cargo-planes

The largest wooden airplane ever constructed and flown only one time, the H-4 Hercules (nicknamed Spruce Goose) represents one of humanity’s greatest attempts to conquer the skies.

It was born out of a need to move troops and material across the Atlantic Ocean, wherein in 1942, German submarines were sinking hundreds of Allied ships.

Henry Kaiser, the steel magnate, and shipbuilder conceived the idea of a massive flying transport and turned to Howard Hughes to design and build it.

Hughes took on the task, made even more challenging by the government’s restrictions on materials critical to the war effort, such as steel and aluminum. Six times larger than any aircraft of its time, the Spruce Goose, also known as the Hughes Flying Boat, is made entirely of wood.

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/hughes-h-4-hercules-spruce-goose-1945-1947/

Kirsten Korosec - 2:01 PM PDT September 21, 2022

Kitty Hawk, the electric aviation startup founded and led by the ‘godfather of self-driving cars’ Sebastian Thrun and backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, is shutting down.

The company said in a tweet and on a post in LinkedIn that it was winding down operations.

“We have made the decision to wind down Kittyhawk. We’re still working on the details of what’s next,” the posts on social media read.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/21/kitty-hawk-the-electric-aircraft-moonshot-backed-by-larry-page-is-shutting-down/

The startup financed by Google co-founder Larry Page announced it was “winding down” work on all its flying taxi prospects.

Kyle Barr - 21 September 2022

Kittyhawk, the company named for the green hills where the Wright brothers made their first controlled winged flight, has struggled to get off the ground. Now it seems the folks behind the air taxi company are ready to throw in the towel, offering little fanfare while they dive their little bird into the ground on silent wings.

On Wednesday, the company wrote on its LinkedIn page a very brief statement reading “We have made the decision to wind down Kittyhawk. We’re still working on the details of what’s next.”

https://gizmodo.com/kittyhawk-air-taxi-larry-page-1849564831

Posted by msmash on Wednesday September 21, 2022 02:25PM

Sebastian Thrun, the CEO of Kitty Hawk, informed employees on Wednesday the company was laying them off, according to a news report. The company also posted the news on its LinkedIn page. From the report:

Sources inside the company told Insider that Kitty Hawk had recently wound down work on its most recent flying-car project, Heaviside, and reverted to research-and-development mode with Google co-founder Larry Page more closely involved with the work. However, it appears the company couldn't see a way forward. Laid-off staff have been given four months of severance pay, an employee said. Thrun, a self-driving car pioneer and a Google veteran, founded Kitty Hawk in 2010, and Page financially propped it up. Insiders said Page remained the sole bankroller of Kitty Hawk throughout its lifetime. He became increasingly hands-off over the years, though he would involve himself in newer projects as they sprung up, including an internal initiative to make flying cars run more quietly. The company produced several prototype models of its flying cars, including Flyer, which the company shuttered in 2020. Heaviside, its most recent model, was designed to be quieter for flying in densely populated environments. In 2019 the company also spun up Wisk, a joint venture between Kitty Hawk and Boeing, which will continue.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/09/21/2018216/flying-car-startup-kitty-hawk-is-winding-down

The closure won’t affect Wisk Aero.

Igor Bonifacic - September 21, 2022 5:45 PM

After more than a decade of trying to make flying cars a reality, Kitty Hawk is shutting down. “We’re still working on the details of what’s next,” the Larry Page-backed startup posted to LinkedIn on Wednesday afternoon. Before today’s announcement, the last time we heard from Kitty Hawk was in the spring of 2021 when it came out the company had parted ways with engineer Damon Vander Lind following “months” of infighting with Page and CEO Sebastian Thrun. Almost exactly a year earlier, the company canceled its original Flyer project and laid off most of the 70-person team that had worked on the aircraft.

It’s unclear why Kitty Hawk decided to call it quits, but comments Thrun made after the company ended development on Flyer may provide a clue. “No matter how hard we looked, we could not find a path to a viable business,” the chief executive said at the time. After Vander Lind’s departure the following year, it appeared Kitty Hawk was ready to double down on its Heavyside vertical take-off and landing aircraft. It acquired 3D Robotics and brought on the company’s co-founder, former Wired editor Chris Anderson, as chief operating officer.

https://www.engadget.com/kittyhawk-is-shutting-down-214542598.html

More proof, if it were needed, that not everything connected to Google is gold

Richard Currie - Thu 22 Sep 2022 14:30 UTC

“If anyone can do this, we can,” burbles air taxi startup Kittyhawk's homepage, which may now need an update since the company has announced it is to cease operations.

In a terse note on Twitter yesterday, it said: “We have made the decision to wind down Kittyhawk. We're still working on the details of what's next.”

The company is significant to the “flying car” pipe dream in that it was founded in 2010 by computer scientist Sebastian Thrun, who also started the Google X R&D outfit and Google self-driving car project, now known as Waymo. Google co-founder Larry Page directly funded the concept.

Kittyhawk's last publicly released all-electric VTOL aircraft was able to take off, fly, and land completely autonomously “on a small landing pad only slightly larger than its wingspan.”

https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/22/kittyhawk_winds_down/

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday September 28, 2023 08:30PM

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fast Company:

The Lockheed Martin X-59 is probably the strangest airplane ever designed. Its razor-sharp nose takes half of the airplane's length; there's no cockpit in sight; the wings are tiny compared to the entire fuselage; and its oversized tail engine looks like a weird hump about to fall off. Of course, there's a method to this madness. The design is the secret sauce that has produced a true unicorn: a supersonic jet that doesn't boom the hell out of people and buildings on the ground. […] The X-59, developed alongside NASA, is designed as an experimental jet that NASA will use to test just how big of a boom people on the ground are willing to accept from a supersonic aircraft. According to Dave Richardson, the program director for X-59 at Lockheed Martin, with this new design, people shouldn't expect much of a boom at all.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/2244226/how-lockheed-martin-designed-the-worlds-weirdest-quietest-supersonic-jet

Isaac Schultz - 1 March 2021

Looking every bit like a winged tube of toothpaste, NASA’s X-57 Maxwell experimental plane sits in a hanger at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The is NASA’s first crewed experimental plane in 20 years; it runs solely on electric power, an agency first, and it’s about to undergo high-voltage functional testing in advance of its first flight, scheduled for later this year.

“Currently, we have a battery emulator that we’re using to provide power to the aircraft,” said Nick Borer, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, in a video call. “But this is the first time we’ve had the low-voltage and high-voltage systems operating together.”

https://gizmodo.com/nasa-s-experimental-electric-airplane-edges-closer-to-i-1846383952

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday June 29, 2023 02:00AM

schwit1 shares a report from Popular Science:

NASA said in a conference call with reporters that it would not ever be flying its experimental electric aircraft, the X-57, citing safety concerns that are insurmountable with the time and budget they have for the project. The X-57 program will wind down without the aircraft ever going up into the sky. The project had previously seen challenges. For example, transistor modules in the electrical inverters kept failing and “blowing up” in testing, Sean Clark, the project's principal investigator told Popular Science in January. That problem was solved, Clark said.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/06/29/0325217/nasa-kills-its-x-57-electric-plane-before-it-ever-flies

Final flight of Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy will be in 2022

Richard Speed - Fri 29 Apr 2022 17:30 UTC

Even as NASA publishes images demonstrating progress in the commission of the James Webb Space Telescope, preparations are being made to ground the Boeing 747-based Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) for good.

The end of operations was announced on April 28, confirming that there would be no more mission extensions for the modified Boeing 747 SP and its telescope. Operations will cease “no later than Sept 30, 2022” once the current mission extension comes to an end.

SOFIA, a joint project between NASA and partners at the German Space Agency at the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), was on borrowed time. Development began in 1996, first light was seen in 2010 and the platform was declared fully operational in 2014.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/29/sofia_end_of_mission/

NASA and the German space agency ground the telescope on a plane, citing the astronomy community’s concerns over cost and productivity.

Alexandra Witze - 28 April 2022 / Update 29 April 2022

NASA and the German Aerospace Center are permanently shutting down the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a telescope on an aeroplane that has been scrutinized for years for its high cost and low scientific output. Since 2014, the observatory has made hundreds of flights above the water vapour in Earth’s atmosphere to get an unobscured view of celestial objects and to gather data at infrared wavelengths.

SOFIA has measured magnetic fields in galaxies1, spotted water on sunlit portions of the Moon2 and detected the first type of ion that formed in the Universe, helium hydride3. But it costs NASA around US$85 million a year to operate, which is nearly as much as the operational expenses for the Hubble Space Telescope. On 28 April, NASA and the German Aerospace Center, the two partners in SOFIA, announced that they will close down the observatory by 30 September.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01213-0

Posted by msmash on Monday May 02, 2022 10:24AM NASA and the German Aerospace Center are permanently shutting down the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a telescope on an aeroplane that has been scrutinized for years for its high cost and low scientific output. From a report:

Since 2014, the observatory has made hundreds of flights above the water vapour in Earth's atmosphere to get an unobscured view of celestial objects and to gather data at infrared wavelengths. SOFIA has measured magnetic fields in galaxies1, spotted water on sunlit portions of the Moon2 and detected the first type of ion that formed in the Universe, helium hydride3. But it costs NASA around $85 million a year to operate, which is nearly as much as the operational expenses for the Hubble Space Telescope. On 28 April, NASA and the German Aerospace Center, the two partners in SOFIA, announced that they will close down the observatory by 30 September.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/22/05/02/1722253/sofia-a-telescope-on-an-aeroplane-that-has-been-scrutinized-for-years-to-shut-down

Boeing 747-based platform now back in California with almost a month to go before science operations end

Richard Speed - Wed 17 Aug 2022 15:11 UTC

The doomed SOFIA observatory has made an earlier-than-planned return from New Zealand as the Boeing 747-based platform prepares to enter its final month of operations.

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) was supposed to have lingered for longer in the Southern Hemisphere but was damaged by severe weather in Christchurch.

Observers worrying that “severe weather” might mean turbulence in flight need not worry. In this case, the problem was with some stairs outside the aircraft that moved in high winds during July. While nobody was injured, the aircraft was damaged and deemed unable to make any more flights until repaired.

The timing is unfortunate since SOFIA's days are numbered. The trip to New Zealand was supposed to be a final opportunity for scientists to observe the skies in the region, but with engineers estimating that repairs would take three weeks, managers opted to cancel the rest of the science program.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/17/sofia_damage/

Devin Coldewey - 11:52 AM PDT April 24, 2024

Though many eyes are on space as orbit develops into a thriving business ecosystem, Radical is keeping things a little closer to the ground — but not too close. Its high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft aim to succeed where Facebook’s infamous Aquila failed by refining the tech and embracing more markets.

It’s hard to believe that Facebook’s ambitious plan to use solar-powered aircraft to provide internet access in far-flung locations got its start a decade ago. But though those dreams came crashing down when the project was scuttled, the concept remained intact.

Ultra-lightweight aircraft in the stratosphere can, in theory, stay aloft almost indefinitely by powering their propellers via solar panels. Load it up with sensors, telecommunications gear or anything else and you’ve got a versatile, mobile asset that isn’t hindered by orbital mechanics or chaotic weather patterns.

Radical CEO James Thomas suggested that the tech just wasn’t ready before now.

“There’s been interest in these high-alt, high-end aircraft for a long time,” he told TechCrunch in an interview. “It’s not a new idea, but in the past few years a lot of the supporting technologies have really matured — batteries, solar, even advanced compute. Look at where we’re at with battery tech now: we’re almost at 2x [of Aquila’s]. That puts us in a really strong position.”

https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/24/radical-thinks-the-time-has-come-for-solar-powered-high-altitude-autonomous-aircraft/

Khari Johnson - August 20, 2020 9:00 AM

Automated flight startup Xwing today introduced a system for fully autonomous flight. It’s the first system Xwing has shared publicly since the launch of the company. Xwing was created in 2016 with funding from investors like Stripe cofounders John and Patrick Collison and GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.

No fully autonomous, unmanned commercial aircraft currently operate in the United States. Xwing CEO Marc Piette hopes Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulators in charge of unmanned aircraft systems will approve such systems within the next two years. In a statement sent to VentureBeat, an FAA spokesperson said the FAA’s current regulatory framework provides some flexibility to introduce innovative vehicles and technology but declined to comment on an Xwing certification timeline.

https://venturebeat.com/2020/08/20/xwing-unveils-autonomous-flight-system-for-regional-planes/

Xwing is testing a Cessna that's controlled from the ground, not the cockpit.

Gregory Barber, Wired.com - 8/22/2020, 6:30 AM

The conditions are not ideal for our landing. A hard wind is blowing over the low hills east of San Francisco, and at just the wrong angle—straight across the runway where we’re set to touch down. But as we ease into our final approach, our two-winged shadow clipping the suburban homes below, the veteran pilot sitting beside me makes a gentle suggestion. “I like to do it hands up. Like a roller coaster,” he says.

He removes his hands from the wheel of our aircraft, a 27-year-old Cessna Caravan that once shuttled United Nations dignitaries in southern Africa. It’s nothing especially fancy, with aspects that feel more go-kart than airliner. The cockpit is filled with manual toggles and analog dials; pulleys connect the pedal directly to the rudder at the tail. But recently, this plane underwent some modifications. As we descend past 500 feet, the 15-knot gusts hitting our side and the pilot’s hands still hovering, the wheel and pedals begin to jostle, compensating for the wind with inhuman precision. The descent remains smooth—serene, even, as we touch down.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/08/this-plane-flies-itself-we-went-for-a-ride/

The company's software allows existing aircraft to be remotely piloted from the ground.

Saqib Shah - April 15th, 2021

Several companies are building unmanned flying vehicles from scratch, but autonomous aviation startup Xwing is taking a different approach by focusing on software for existing aircraft. Now, the company says it's achieved a major milestone by completing the first fully autonomous gate-to-gate demonstration of a commercial cargo flight. The breakthrough saw a remotely-piloted Cessna Grand Caravan 208B utility plane (equipped with the startup's AutoFlight software stack) leave the gate, taxi, take-off, land and return to the gate by itself. Xwing says that all traffic control interactions were done remotely from the ground.

The startup believes that by retrofitting existing aircraft with its autonomous system it can get to market sooner by overcoming the regulatory and technical hurdles others face. Its AutoFlight software uses a mix of radar, satellite navigation (known as ADSB), optical cameras and lidar to detect and avoid other aircraft and obstacles. In the future, it foresees a single ground controller monitoring multiple flights using a simple point and click mechanism, the company told Forbes last year.

https://www.engadget.com/xwing-first-autonomous-commercial-cargo-flight-160057111.html

Posted by msmash on Friday November 11, 2022 09:20AM Modern airliner designs date from the 1950s: a metal tube and swept-back wings with jet engines slung underneath. They get you where you're going and back. But after decades of research, something very different could be flying you on vacation by the late 2030s. From a report:

Unconventional designs such as “blended-wing” shapes now used for some military jets, which combine the cabin and wings in one piece, have been floated for years as possibilities for passenger aircraft. Now the rise of climate-change concerns and emergence of new manufacturing materials have brought a rethink a step closer to reality, scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration say. Just about every fuel-saving aerodynamic efficiency has been wrung out of existing aircraft. The next generation will need bolder designs to meet new environmental standards and airline economics, and that's forcing plane makers back to the drawing board.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/11/11/0852202/engineers-explore-radical-new-designs-for-commercial-planes-to-cut-energy-consumption-and-emission

We have electric cars and we're moving away from ICEs, so surely air travel will be the next thing to go electric?

By Katie Rees - 24 October 2021

These days, electric cars are pretty much the norm and are becoming more popular each year. But do electric vehicles end on the road, or can we take them to the air? This is where electric airplanes come into play. But just how feasible are electric airplanes? Are they still decades away, or are engineers already working on it?

https://www.makeuseof.com/are-electric-airplanes-possible/

The future success of electric-powered planes is far from a given. Here’s why.

Jerry Gregoire - Updated October 14, 2021

I’ve decided to design and build an airplane powered entirely by steam. The target market for such an aircraft is, of course, flight schools and any pilots looking to avoid the high cost of avgas by chopping their own firewood. Yeah, sticks of wood are a kind of fossil fuel, but they are unleaded, so my engine is definitely greener than your Lycoming, sort of. And yes, a steam engine can spin a propeller. Now, enough of your pesky questions.

To my point: I’m just a few years from building my conforming prototype, and I’m looking for investors with an insatiable appetite for socially responsible nonsense who are also too polite to wonder out loud how long it takes the boiler to build up a head of steam. C’mon, I know you’re out there. Send me a check already.

If you think my idea is just too dumb for anyone to invest in, then you haven’t been following what’s happening with electric aircraft, which in some instances is an investor-targeted fraud not unlike the Theranos mess from just a few years ago.

https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/news/pilot-talk/2021/10/14/skeptical-about-electrical/

Fred Lambert - Dec. 10th 2021 8:56 am PT

Eviation, the company behind one of the most advanced projects to deliver an all-electric aircraft for commercial services, has unveiled the interior of its electric plane with 440 miles of range.

It includes several configurations for different applications.

After Eviation unveiled the prototype of its Alice aircraft back in 2017, the company attracted a lot of attention and comparison with Tesla because the aircraft was amongst the first all-electric plane that was viable for actual commercial use.

It boasted a range of up to 600 miles (965 km) and a capacity of up to nine passengers, making it viable for some short-haul regional airlines.

Earlier this year, Eviation unveiled the production version of its aircraft and unfortunately, the range was reduced to 440 nautical miles. However, it is still viable for plenty of short routes, especially in the form factor of the aircraft, which is bigger than most battery-electric aircraft projects to date.

https://electrek.co/2021/12/10/eviation-versatile-interior-alice-electric-plane-range/

United Airlines signs agreement to acquire 100 of Heart Aerospace's ES-19 aircraft, a 19-seat electric airliner that has the potential to decarbonize regional air travel

July 13, 2021

CHICAGO, July 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ – United Airlines Ventures (UAV) announced today it, along with Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) and Mesa Airlines, has invested in electric aircraft startup Heart Aerospace. Heart Aerospace is developing the ES-19, a 19-seat electric aircraft that has the potential to fly customers up to 250 miles before the end of this decade. In addition to UAV's investment, United Airlines has conditionally agreed to purchase 100 ES-19 aircraft, once the aircraft meet United's safety, business and operating requirements. Mesa Airlines, United's key strategic partner in bringing electric aircraft into commercial service, has also agreed to add 100 ES-19 aircraft to its fleet, subject to similar requirements.

https://hub.united.com/electric-aircraft-set-to-take-flight-by-2026-under-new-agreements-with-united-airlines-ventures-breakthrough-energy-ventures-mesa-airlines-heart-aerospace-2653765004.html

Internal audit finds cost overruns and delays that mean more sustainable flight is nowhere near a runway

Laura Dobberstein - Thu 18 May 2023 06:31 UTC

NASA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on Wednesday released an audit of the agency's electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP) flight demonstration projects and found all will likely experience schedule delays and cost overruns. The reports casts doubt on the technology's ability to help the aviation industry reach government-mandated net-zero greenhouse gas emission targets by 2050.

NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are working on tech to make aircraft more efficient and sustainable. The duo think they can improve fuel efficiency by up to 30 percent compared to today's airplanes, while also reducing noise and emissions. NASA said the goal is to have single aisle efficient aircraft in the US commercial fleet in the 2030s, and a widebody a decade later.

“Along with investing in sustainable aviation fuel and other technological advances, a key component of reducing carbon emissions from aviation is advancing electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP) systems – that is, electric motors that drive some or all the propulsors on an aircraft,” reported [PDF] the space administration.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/18/nasa_electrified_aircraft_propulsion_audit/

Harbour Air's “eBeaver” completed a 10-minute flight near Vancouver, BC.

Steve Dent - Updated Wed, Dec 11, 2019

An aircraft designed in 1946 might become the first commercial electric plane, following a short but successful test flight. Vancouver-based Harbour Air's took its “eBeaver” on a ten-minute hop on the Fraser River in Richmond, BC, with CEO and pilot Greg McDougall at the controls. “Today, we made history,” he said in a statement. Harbour Air expects the eBeaver to go into commercial service in 2022.

The eBeaver is a highly modified version of de Havilland's legendary DCH-2 Beaver, equipped with a 750 horsepower electric motor from Redmond, Washington-based Magnix. Harbour Air announced its partnership with Magnix earlier this year and said it planned to build the world's first “completely electric commercial seaplane fleet.”

https://www.engadget.com/2019-12-11-commercial-electric-airplane-test-flight-harbour-air.html

Posted by EditorDavid on Monday August 22, 2022 01:34AM

“An aviation company at the cutting edge of electrified air travel has taken a significant step forward, completing a first-of-a-kind test flight using a retrofitted seaplane,” reports New Atlas: Harbour Air's De Havilland Beaver completed a short hop from the Canadian mainland to Vancouver Island using its all-electric drivetrain, demonstrating the viability of its cleaner approach to short-haul flights.

Harbour Air is the largest seaplane airline in North America and claims to transport around half a million passengers across 30,000 commercial flights each year. In 2019, it pledged to become the world's first all-electric airline, a bold vision that involves retrofitting its fleet of existing six-seater seaplanes with electric propulsion systems. These systems come via a partnership with electric motor company MagniX, which is making important advances with its high-power electric motors and has partnered with other ambitious companies in the aviation space.

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/22/08/22/0547222/worlds-first-commercial-electric-seaplane-completes-short-haul-flight

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday September 29, 2022 12:00AM

A prototype all-electric passenger plane took off for the first time yesterday in a test flight that marks a significant milestone for carbon pollution-free aviation. The Verge reports:

The nine-passenger commuter aircraft called Alice took off at 7:10AM yesterday from Washington state's Grant County International Airport. Alice is ahead of much of the pack when it comes to all-electric aircraft under development. It could become the “first all-new, all-electric commercial airplane” if the Federal Aviation Administration certifies it to carry passengers, The Seattle Times reports.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/09/28/2322234/an-all-electric-passenger-plane-completed-its-first-test-flight

Devin Coldewey - 11:31 AM PDT•September 28, 2022

Eviation’s Alice electric aircraft took off for the first time yesterday, teasing a future in which regional flights of hundreds of miles will be done with zero emissions and a lot less noise. It’s still a ways off, but today’s demonstration shows it’s at least just a matter of time and money.

The Alice is a prototype of what will eventually be a passenger plane capable of carrying around 2,500 pounds total, which equates to nine people and their luggage (just don’t pack any bricks). It’s powered by a pair of MagniX engines — that company just scooped up $74 million from NASA to develop more of them — and a hefty battery system from AVL. It has a max air speed of about 260 knots.

For the test flight, it took off from an airport in central Washington, ascended to 3,500 feet, then landed again, for a total flight time of eight minutes. That’s just about enough to show that the aircraft can do what it’s meant to do, but it’s still a long ways to full passenger flights.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/28/eviations-all-electric-alice-aircraft-makes-its-maiden-flight/

We've heard something like this before … Boss suggests earlier design wasn't that useful to industry

Brandon Vigliarolo - Fri 16 Sep 2022 19:18 UTC

Heart Aerospace, which previously planned to have hundreds of 19-seat all-electric planes in the air by 2026, has ditched its previous design in favor of a 30-seat hybrid model with similar capabilities.

The ES-30 will fully replace the ES-19, of which 200 were ordered by United Airlines and regional US airline Mesa Air Group. It is our understanding that these orders were not meaningfully fulfilled, if at all.

Heart said the two airlines, and several others who signed letters of intent to buy ES-19s, have reconfirmed their orders, this time for the 30-seat hybrid electric craft. The biz also said it also secured two new financial backers – Swedish aerospace company Saab and Air Canada – the latter of which placed an order for 30 of the new airframes.

Michael Rousseau, CEO at Air Canada, said while his airline had been working successfully toward reducing its carbon footprint, “we know that meeting our net-zero emissions goals will require new technology such as the ES-30.”

https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/16/electric_commercial_plane_2028/

Eduardo Mourao - Apr 24, 2024

At the flight school people always ask me:

“Can I land a plane? I have X years of flight simulator experience.”

Short answer is: history shows you will probably die. Probably not because it is difficult but because you don't know what you don't know. Flight simulators distort important aspects of landing airplanes: your awesome 200 degrees/3D vision, the muscle mechanics of flying and the notion of distance. In fact, flight simulators are harder than the real thing. Yet, many in the flight school I teach landed without the need for intervention in their first flight. I landed an airplane for the first time when I was 11 years old. With a bit of luck you can do this by yourself. So, in case of an emergency, this is what you could do…

There are many types of airplanes, but when it comes to landing there is pretty much two classes: heavy and light. This is more related to lift/weight ratio (and wing type) than actual the size of the airplane. I will show you how you can land light airplanes in the easiest way possible, as long as first you open any flight simulator right now (xplane for iphone is ok) and understand the basic controls (pitch, roll, yaw) and the relationship between speed and angle of attack. Playing with it for 10 minutes (at low speeds) should suffice. The basic mechanics are good enough. Keep in mind that brains are incredible machines and can learn things automagically, but you need to stay calm. For instance, my wife learned to keep an airplane flying without one single instruction.

https://eduardomourao.substack.com/p/how-to-land-an-airplane-in-an-emergency

FES is efficient and innovative Front Electric Self-launch / Self-sustainer propulsion system for powered sailplanes, developed and produced by LZ design company located in Slovenia in the middle of the Europe.

More than 300 sailplanes of 15 different types, from 8 manufacturers are already equipped with our FES propulsion system.

https://www.front-electric-sustainer.com/

Universal Hydrogen hopes to have a certificate for passenger flights by 2025

Steve Dent - March 6, 2023 1:06 AM

Hydrogen holds promise for zero-emissions aviation, via either fuel-cell electric motors or jet engines that burn H2 directly. Now, Universal Hydrogen has announced that it completed a 15-minute test flight in a 40-seat Dash-8 commuter plane using a fuel-cell hydrogen engine. The company called the flight “historic” and said it is “committed to being North America’s first zero-emission airline.”

With a fuel cell from Plug Power and electric motor built by magniX, the power plant is the largest ever to take to the sky. However, it was only installed on the left side of the aircraft, while a standard Pratt & Whitney turboprop engine was fitted to the right wing for “safety of flight,” the company said. It supplied the engines with emissions-free “green” hydrogen (made via electrolysis from renewable power sources), connected via its own modules that keep the highly volatile gas in liquid form for up to 100 hours.

https://www.engadget.com/a-dash-8-commuter-plane-flew-for-15-minutes-with-a-hydrogen-fuel-cell-engine-060607763.html

Texas-based Venus Aerospace is working with rotating-detonation propulsion technology to turn the “Stargazer” from sci-concept to Mach-9 business jet that flies at 6,900 mph.

Michael Verdon - May 1, 2023

Venus Aerospace is building a hypersonic aircraft that can carry about a dozen passengers, traveling at Mach 9, nine times the speed of sound. The Stargazer, which measures 150 feet long by 100 feet wide, will travel between two cities in the world, says the Houston-based company, by flying 6,905 mph at an altitude of 170,000 feet.

Hypersonic is defined as five times the speed of sound. By comparison, the last commercial supersonic jet, the Concorde, traveled at Mach 2, or about, 1,535 mph. The fastest aircraft ever built, Lockheed’s SR-71 “Blackbird,” traveled at Mach 3.2 (2,455 mph).

Venus co-founder and CTO Andrew Duggleby plans to move Stargazer from science fiction to reality with a rotating-detonation engine that spins at 20,000 rotations per second. “Rotating detonation means the supersonic combustion happens continuously inside the engine and our video shows the detonation wave moving around the engine at supersonic speeds,” noted the company after its recent successful test of a prototype at its Spaceport Houston headquarters.

https://robbreport.com/motors/aviation/hypersonic-aircraft-venus-global-flights-in-hour-1234837362/

David Szondy - October 31, 2024

A major player in aerospace innovation has bitten the dust. Reaction Engines, a developer of hypersonic engine technology since 1989, has gone into administration and its closure is having a major impact on the hypersonic weapons program of Britain and others.

Founded 35 years ago by Alan Bond, the lead engineer on the British Interplanetary Society's Project Daedalus and the designer of British Aerospace's HOTOL single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane, and chaired by Philip Dunne, a former defense minister, Reaction Engines focused on developing advanced space propulsion systems. Its primary goal was to one day build the company's Skylon spaceplane, though it also farmed out its key technologies to other projects and conducted tests for customers, including the US Air Force.

The company's Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE), with its regenerative cooling system that could protect a hypersonic jet engine by instantly cooling the incoming air using liquid hydrogen, attracted investors such as BAE Systems, which purchased 20% of Reaction Engines stock in 2015, and led to funds coming from Boeing, Rolls-Royce, and others.

https://newatlas.com/aircraft/hypersonic-engine-builder-reaction-engines-administration/

See also Disaster

By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Jan 12th 2020 21:26Z, last updated Wednesday, Jan 15th 2020 19:45Z

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-700, registration ET-ALN performing flight ET-363 from Djibouti (Djibouti) to Dire Dawa (Ethiopia), was on final approach to Dire Dawa's runway 15 when the aircraft flew through a swarm of grasshoppers and received a huge number of insect impacts into engines, windshield and nose of the aircraft. The crew went around, attempted a second approach but again needed to go around and diverted to their ultimate destination Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), where the aircraft landed safely about 90 minutes after departure from Djibouti.

by ainiriand - 3 February 2020

Flight AC837 from Madrid to Toronto is on an emergency call burning fuel.

https://www.flightradar24.com/ACA837/23be1953

Apparently she is missing a wheel.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22225994

By Simon Hradecky, created Wednesday, Feb 5th 2020 16:07Z, last updated Thursday, Feb 6th 2020 15:08Z

A Pegasus Boeing 737-800, registration TC-IZK performing flight PC-2193 from Izmir to Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen (Turkey) with 177 passengers and 6 crew, landed on Sabiha Gokcen's runway 06 at 18:20L (15:20Z) but overran the end of the runway, impacted the airport perimeter wall and broke into three parts about 170 meters/550 feet past the runway end. An engine, that had separated, caught fire. As of current rescue and recovery works are in progress, the engine fire was quickly extinguished. Three passengers died, 179 people were taken to hospitals with injuries.

http://avherald.com/h?article=4d2e6a8d&opt=7168

Nowhere has received more airliners for storage during this crisis than Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California.

By Tyler Rogoway - April 24, 2020

The Southern California Logistics Airport (VCV) in Victorville, California is an interesting aviation landmark, to say the least. It was once George Air Force Base, which hosted rows of fighter jets up until it was closed 1992. It then morphed into a fairly unique multi-use airport that supports everything from jet engine development to flight testing exotic aircraft. What it is best known for is for being a place where operators and manufacturers can store airliners where they'll be dry and safe. So, when COVID-19 swept the planet and airlines needed space to store their soon to be mothballed fleets, VCV was at the top of their lists.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/33141/these-aerial-and-satellite-photos-of-an-airport-absolutely-stuffed-with-airliners-are-nuts

Air Sinai is shrouded in mystery. But why?

by Shira Telushkin April 23, 2020

In 2007, Michael Paley went to Cairo to visit his daughter, Naamah, a junior at the University of Michigan who was spending a semester in Egypt studying Arabic. He had a work trip in Israel scheduled for a few weeks later, so he asked one of the trip administrators to book him a ticket directly from Cairo to Tel Aviv. It’s a 50-minute flight on a clear day.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/air-sinai-ghost-flight

Until now, an airplane was never a cheap date.

By Peter Garrison - April 28, 2020

As I taxi out, a crisp shadow follows on the taxiway beside me. I give a little burst of power, then pull the throttle lever back to idle. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the shadow of the prop stop. “Uh-oh,” I think. “The engine quit.”

But no.

https://www.flyingmag.com/story/aircraft/technicalities-sing-airplane-electric/

You may not fly in an electric plane for decades, but by testing new zero-emissions aircraft now, a Seattle company wants you to be excited for that day to come.

Kent German - May 26, 2020 5:32 p.m. PT

Magnix isn't trying to change aviation overnight, it just believes that any transformation has to begin somewhere. And Thursday morning, the Seattle-based manufacturer of electric motors hopes to nudge the future of air travel forward when it sends another airplane on a zero-emissions flight.

https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/this-electric-aircraft-could-jump-start-the-future-of-flight/

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Boeing MQ-25 Stingray is an aerial refueling drone that resulted from the Carrier-Based Aerial-Refueling System (CBARS) program, which grew out of the earlier Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program. The MQ-25 first flew on 19 September 2019.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_MQ-25_Stingray

Jeremy Bogaisky - Oct 24, 2019, 08:11am

It may be decades before airlines are powered by electricity rather than fossil fuels — batteries are still too heavy and drain too soon. But George Bye thinks he’s found a market that electric aircraft can thrive in today: flight training, where lessons generally include little more than an hour in the sky. On the arid plains outside Denver, his Bye Aerospace is flight-testing an airplane built specifically for that purpose, the two-seat eFlyer 2.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2019/10/24/bye-electric-pilot-shortage/

By Dan Avery January 27, 2020 6:58am

TEHRAN, Iran — An aging Iranian passenger airliner carrying 144 people crash-landed on a runway and skidded onto a major highway next to an airport Monday, the latest crash in the Islamic Republic as US sanctions bar it from parts or new aircraft.

Authorities said two people suffered injuries in the hard landing of the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 flown by Caspian Airlines in Mahshahr, a city in Iran’s oil-rich southwestern Khuzestan province.

https://nypost.com/2020/01/27/airliner-in-iran-crash-lands-on-highway-two-injured/

https://www.businessinsider.com/airbus-a350-engine-shutdowns-spill-cockpit-2020-1

Solution? A software update, natch

Thu 24 Sep 2020 / 10:45 UTC - Gareth Corfield

An Ethernet failure aboard popular Swiss-made business jets could prompt the aircraft to move into an emergency descent as flight systems entered a “degraded” mode, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has warned.

In a recently issued airworthiness directive, EASA has ordered operators of the Pilatus PC-24 to install new software aboard PC-24 business jets after “a dual Ethernet communication channel failure on a dual-channel data concentration and processing unit”.

Like all complex machines in the modern era, jet aircraft are essentially flying servers. Most airliners and business jets contain Ethernet-based internal networks that allow flight control computers to talk to other systems dotted around the airframe, as explained in a previous article about the Boeing 787. Data concentration units share some similarities with network switches down on terra firma, as detailed here.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/24/pilatus_pc24_software_update/

Software fixes available, says FAA

Gareth Corfield - Thu 22 Apr 2021 / 19:30 UTC

American aviation regulators have ordered private jet operators to install software updates for Garmin collision avoidance units after multiple reports of false alarms – raising the risk of a mid-air crash.

The affected Garmin products, its GTS 8000 series, generated seven false Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) warnings, said the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a formal Airworthiness Directive (AD) published [PDF] earlier this month.

GTS 8000 processing units, said the FAA, are known to be installed in a range of posh private jets including Cessna Citations, Learjet 45s and Embraer Phenoms – as well as the decidedly unsexy Shorts 360 passenger/cargo hauler.

TCAS Resolution Advisory (RA) systems work by detecting nearby TCAS-fitted aeroplanes. Alex Lomas, aviation security lead at British infosec consultancy Pen Test Partners (PTP) told The Register: “TCAS works with dedicated transponders that interrogate both the 'ownship' and 'intruder' to calculate a closing rate and generate alerts accordingly. In this case it seems that this calculation has failed safe in one regard, which is that alerts are generated when an intruder is too far away, but the knock on effect is that instructions to the pilot could then increase the risk of collision with a third aircraft.”

https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/22/garmin_tcas_software_collision_risks_faa/

Fortunately, David Warren kept working on his crash-proof flight data recorder

By Allison Marsh - 18 Jun 2021 | 15:00 GMT

In April 1954, David Warren submitted a four-page note, “Mechanical Engineering Technical Memorandum 142: A Device for Assisting Investigation into Aircraft Accidents.” Warren described the troubling increase in major air disasters, noting two fatal crashes so far that year of the de Havilland DH.106 Comet, the world’s first commercial jet airliner. There were no survivors in either crash.

Warren went on to explain how the final minutes before an accident could provide essential data for forensics experts trying to determine the cause. He proposed an instrument that would record cockpit conversation on a closed circle of wire. To facilitate the device’s recovery after a crash, he suggested it be placed in the part of the plane least likely to receive extensive damage, namely the tail. Much to Warren's surprise, his boss hated the idea. So begins one chapter in the story of the invention of the now-ubiquitous black box, otherwise known as the flight data recorder.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/space-age/the-inventor-of-the-black-box-was-told-to-drop-the-idea-and-get-on-with-blowing-up-fuel-tanks

Sumit Singh - July 16, 2021

This morning, an American Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner made contact with an Aer Lingus Airbus A330 at Dublin Airport. As a result, the AA flight was ordered to be temporarily grounded while the situation is under investigation.

https://simpleflying.com/american-airlines-aer-lingus-collision/

Chris Loh - July 20, 2021

In July of 2020, a United Airlines 787-10 had a near-miss in Paris when ATC cleared the aircraft to land on an occupied runway. At the time, the runway assigned for landing, 09R, was already occupied by an easyJet A320 on its way to Spain. A year has passed since the incident, and French investigators have released their final 14-page report with their conclusions and probable causes on the potentially disastrous incident.

https://simpleflying.com/united-boeing-787-occupied-paris-runway/

19th July 2021 - Clement Charpentreau

On July 20, 2020, a United Airlines Boeing 787-10 approached a runway of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) on which an Easyjet Airbus A320-214 was waiting to take off.

The French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) released its final report on the incident on July 19, 2021.

The United Airlines Boeing 787 was carrying out flight UA57 from Newark Airport (EWR) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG).

As the investigators found out, it was the mistake of an air traffic controller that oriented the Boeing 787 towards the wrong runway. This day, landings were carried out on runway 09L and take-offs on runway 09R.

However, shortly before the arrival of the United flight, another Boeing 787 operated by Air France demanded to land on runway 09R, the longest of the two, due to a technical problem.

https://www.aerotime.aero/28405-near-miss-at-cdg-due-to-atc-mistake

Simon Hradecky - Friday, Jul 3rd 2020 14:39Z, last updated Friday, Sep 3rd 2021 14:01Z

A China Airlines Airbus A330-300, registration B-18302 performing flight CI-202 from Shanghai Pudong (China) to Taipei Songshan (Taiwan) with 87 passengers and 11 crew, landed on Songshan's wet runway 10, when upon touchdown all three primary flight computers, thrust reversers and autobrake systems failed affecting the stopping distance of the aircraft. The crew applied maximum manual braking and managed to stop the aircraft 10 meters/33 feet ahead of the runway end (runway length 2600 meters/8530 feet). The aircraft was towed to the apron.

The aircraft remained on the ground until Jun 23rd 2020, then positioned to Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport and is on the ground there since.

https://avherald.com/h?article=4d97ca46&opt=0

Software 'enhancement' on the way after triple touchdown TITSUP

Richard Speed - Mon 6 Sep 2021 / 14:58 UTC

Airbus is to implement a software update for its A330 aircraft following an incident in 2020 where all three primary flight computers failed during landing.

The result was a loss of thrust reversers and autobrake systems and the pilots having to use manual braking to bring the aircraft, a China Airlines A330-302, to a halt just 30 feet before the end of the runway. The incident happened at Taipei Songshan Airport on 14 June 2020.

The flight, CI202 from Shanghai with 87 passengers and nine cabin crew members, had been uneventful. The landing, however, was anything but.

The final report [PDF] published by the Taiwan Transport Safety Board (TTSB) and reported in The Aviation Herald details the incident as it unfolded.

It was raining at the airport as the aircraft approached so the runway was wet (although still well within margins). The captain disengaged the autopilot at approximately 773 feet and continued the approach. The A330 touched down between 1,500 and 2,000 feet from the runway threshold and then, judging by the report, everything went to Hell.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/06/a330_computer_failure/

Ryan Grenoble - Fri, April 29, 2022, 9:04 AM

An unexploded bomb is secured by the Israel Airports Authority at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Thursday. (Photo: Israeli Airports Authority)

Bad idea: picking up an old, unexploded bomb.

Worse idea: deciding to keep an old, unexploded bomb as a souvenir.

The absolute worst idea: transporting an old, unexploded bomb to the airport in your luggage and attempting to bring it on a plane.

A chaotic scene unfolded at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Thursday after an American family attempted to pass through security with unexploded ordnance in their suitcase.

According to the Israel Airports Authority, the tourists approached airport security and asked about the shell as they deposited their luggage, sparking a panicked effort to evacuate the departure hall.

https://news.yahoo.com/american-tourists-try-board-plane-160435027.html

May 11, 2022 7:35 AM - CBS News

A passenger without any flight experience managed to safely land a plane in Florida Tuesday after the pilot suffered a possible medical emergency, the FAA said.

Dramatic audio between the passenger and air traffic controllers revealed the tense moments before the single-engine Cessna 208 landed at Palm Beach International Airport.

In the audio obtained by CBS News, the unidentified passenger can be heard saying: “I've got a serious situation here. My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/passenger-lands-plane-palm-beach-airport-pilot-medical-emergency/

The unnamed fellow had no flying experience, and the radio controller had no familiarity with the aircraft—but that didn't stop them.

Shoshana Wodinsky - 11 May 2022 12:15PM

n a scene that’s reminiscent of the 1980 cult comedy Airplane!, a flight pulling into West Palm Beach this week managed to avoid certain calamity when a passenger with no flying experience took over the controls from the pilot, who was suffering a “medical emergency.”

A local Palm Beach news affiliate, WPBF, was first to report the news, claiming that air traffic controllers were able to help the passenger safely get the aircraft landed (again, not unlike a certain movie).

https://gizmodo.com/passenger-manages-to-land-plane-after-pilot-s-medical-e-1848910795

Gary Leff - May 25, 2023

On May 19, a United Airlines flight was forced to abort landing in order to avoid a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 on the runway. Then an Alaska Airlines jet aborted its landing, too.

Air traffic control called out the Southwest pilot – “you shouldn’t be on the runway” – yet the FAA dismisses this in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle saying that there was no runway incursion (because of the aborted landings!) and that they “looked into the incident and determined the appropriate steps were taken to ensure a safe operation.”

https://viewfromthewing.com/united-and-alaska-airlines-aborted-landing-in-san-francisco-to-avoid-hitting-southwest-airlines-jet/

The following airliner models are ranked by the rate of fatal passenger events per million flights. Only flights involving at least one passenger death are included. Excluded would be events where the only fatalities were to crew members, hijackers, saboteurs, stowaways, or people outside of the aircraft. Also excluded are aircraft models have no fatal events involving airline passengers:

Airbus: A220, A319neo, A320neo, A321neo, A340, A350, A380
Boeing: 717, 747-8, 787
Embraer: ERJ 135, ERJ 140, ERJ 145 

Please note the following for the estimated number of flights:

• ATR models are current through 31 December 2014.
• 737 is current through March 2019.
• All other models are current through December 2017.

http://www.airsafe.com/events/models/rate_mod.htm

In a report that will make you want to travel by car for the rest of your life, the FAA's records detail how “near collision” episodes are frequent and ongoing.

Lucas Ropek - 22 August 2023

Easily qualifying as the worst thing I can remember reading lately, a terrifying new report from the New York Times claims that “near collision” episodes involving commercial airlines are basically a weekly occurrence in America. The Times report draws on extensive records sourced from the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as a little known NASA database that holds “safety reports” filed by pilots and air traffic controllers. Altogether, the documents reveal that planes from “all major U.S. airlines” suffer “near misses”—i.e., they almost crash into each other—pretty much all the fucking time.

The Times analysis shows that such “close calls” are happening multiple times a week—and that there were 46 such incidents reported last month alone. During the most recent 12-month period where data was available, reporters found that there were roughly 300 reported “near collision” incidents involving major airlines, some of which avoided disaster only via last second maneuvering.

https://gizmodo.com/plane-crashes-almost-happen-a-lot-faa-records-1850760132

Sydney Ember and Emily Steel - Wed, August 23, 2023 at 4:41 AM PDT

On the afternoon of July 2, a Southwest Airlines pilot had to abort a landing at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. A Delta Air Lines 737 was preparing to take off on the same runway. The sudden maneuver avoided a possible collision by seconds.

Nine days later, in San Francisco, an American Airlines jet was accelerating down the runway at more than 160 mph when it narrowly missed a Frontier Airlines plane whose nose had almost jutted into its path. Moments later, the same thing happened as a German airliner was taking off. In both cases, the planes came so close to hitting the Frontier aircraft that the Federal Aviation Administration, in internal records reviewed by The New York Times, described the encounters as “skin to skin.”

And 2 1/2 weeks after that, an American flight to Dallas was traveling at more than 500 mph when a collision warning blared in the cockpit. An air traffic controller had mistakenly directed a United Airlines plane to fly dangerously close. The American pilot had to abruptly yank the Airbus A321 up 700 feet.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/airline-close-calls-happen-far-114123018.html

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday August 26, 2023 03:04PM

The New York Times explores harrowing stories about recent airplane near-miss “close calls” on U.S. runways:

The incidents — highlighted in preliminary F.A.A. safety reports but not publicly disclosed — were among a flurry of at least 46 close calls involving commercial airlines last month alone… While there have been no major U.S. plane crashes in more than a decade, potentially dangerous incidents are occurring far more frequently than almost anyone realizes — a sign of what many insiders describe as a safety net under mounting stress. So far this year, close calls involving commercial airlines have been happening, on average, multiple times a week, according to a Times analysis of internal F.A.A. records, as well as thousands of pages of federal safety reports and interviews with more than 50 current and former pilots, air traffic controllers and federal officials.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/08/26/2159258/airline-close-calls-happen-far-more-often-in-the-us-than-previously-known

Kyra Dempsey - February 2024

Kyra Dempsey is a Seattle-based aviation writer who publishes accident and incident breakdowns for professional and lay audiences under the name Admiral Cloudberg.

The United States leads the world in airline safety. That’s because of the way we assign blame when accidents do happen.

What is the worst imaginable consequence of making a mistake? For some, it might be this:

“I really thought I was going to die,” said USAir passenger Laurel Bravo, speaking to the Associated Press. “The row ahead of us just disappeared. The seats all went flying downward…”

https://asteriskmag.com/issues/05/why-you-ve-never-been-in-a-plane-crash

Posted by BeauHD on Friday December 27, 2024 11:00PM

Accidental missile attacks on commercial airliners have become the leading cause of aviation fatalities in recent years (https://www.wsj.com/world/flight-deaths-shot-from-sky-rising-798fd31e) (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source - https://archive.is/Gp05K), driven by rising global conflicts and the proliferation of advanced antiaircraft weaponry. Despite improvements in aviation safety overall, inconsistent risk assessments, political complexities, and rapid military escalations make protecting civilian flights in conflict zones increasingly difficult. The Wall Street Journal reports:

The crash Wednesday (https://archive.is/T0atg) of an Azerbaijan Airlines jetliner in Kazakhstan, if officially confirmed as a midair attack, would be the third major fatal downing of a passenger jet linked to armed conflict since 2014, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network, a global database of accidents and incidents. The tally would bring to more than 500 the number of deaths from such attacks during that period. Preliminary results of Azerbaijan's investigation into the crash indicate the plane was hit by a Russian antiaircraft missile, or shrapnel from it, said people briefed on the probe.

“It adds to the worrying catalog of shootdowns now,” said Andy Blackwell, an aviation risk adviser at security specialist ISARR and former head of security at Virgin Atlantic. “You've got the conventional threats, from terrorists and terrorist groups, but now you've got this accidental risk as well.” No other cause of aviation fatalities on commercial airliners comes close to shootdowns over those years, according to ASN data. The deadliness of such attacks is a dramatic shift: In the preceding 10 years, there were no fatal shootdowns of scheduled commercial passenger flights, ASN data show. The trend highlights the difficulty – if not impossibility – of protecting civilian aviation in war zones, even for rigorous aviation regulators, because of the politics of war. Early last century similar woes plagued sea travel, when belligerents targeted ocean transport.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/12/27/2249249/missiles-are-now-the-biggest-killer-of-airline-passengers

“In the early days of flight, airships were hailed as the future of war. Then disaster struck the USS Akron.”

Longreads - September 4, 2025

One

It would be the greatest day in the history of Akron, Ohio. Forget the opening of the Ohio and Erie Canal, which allowed the budding metropolis to become an industrial center. No, the Rubber City—so-called because of the factories established there by Goodrich, Firestone, General Tire, and Goodyear—had never seen anything like this. Akron means “high” in Greek, and now, fittingly, the future was up in the sky.

Before the sun rose on August 8, 1931, people poured into the streets. Lloyd Weil, Akron’s mayor, had declared a holiday, freeing from their desks and assembly lines those workers lucky enough to have jobs during the depths of the Great Depression. Cars converged from all directions, carrying people from Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Erie, Toledo, and farther afield. Many navigated epic traffic jams en route to their destination: the Goodyear-Zeppelin Airdock, where the day’s action would take place.

In all, some 250,000 people came to witness the official launch of the new U.S. Navy airship. It would be called the USS Akron, after the city where it was engineered and built over a span of nearly three years. Dubbed by the press “the Queen of the Skies,” it was the culmination of America’s effort to conquer the heavens using dirigibles—vessels steered through the atmosphere buoyed by gas that was lighter than air. Aviation leaders and enthusiasts were eager to see the new ship take flight; Amelia Earhart was among the luminaries who came to Akron for the launch.

https://longreads.com/2025/09/04/zeppelin-navy-aircraft-disaster/

Sometimes it's best to just fess up

Andrew Chamings - Updated Jan 4, 2023 4:37 p.m.

There were 96 passengers and 11 crew on Japan Air Lines Flight 2, flying from Tokyo to San Francisco on November 22, 1968. The flight was going very smoothly, until it wasn’t.

As the DC-8 plane, named “Shiga” by the airline, finished its descent into the foggy bay, pilot Kohei Asoh realized his plane had dropped way too far, way too soon.

“We came alongside the mountains and went into thick fog,” passenger Walter Dunbar recalled. “I was sitting in the aft part of the plane. The next thing I knew, we were about one foot off the water. She hit, skipped twice, then nose up.”

“I realized two or three minutes ahead of time we were going in,” said Karen Fishburne of Sacramento, who was travelling with her daughter. “There was a great shock as the plane stopped and hand baggage, cameras and coats came flying off the racks above the seats. The railing along the racks came flying off and gave one little child a bloody nose. A piece of railing hit me on the head, but it didn’t hurt.”

And just like that, the plane stopped in the shallow water. Like Sully Sullenberger on the Hudson 41 years later, Captain Asoh somehow managed to guide the plane onto the water and into the mud below without a single injury to the 100 adults and seven children on board, beyond a bloody nose.

The resting place of Flight 2 was around one mile south of its intended runway. The passengers were ferried safely to the shore at nearby Coyote Point in San Mateo on life rafts, where ambulances and paramedics waited, but were not needed. No passenger even got wet.

https://www.sfgate.com/sfhistory/article/san-francisco-historic-plane-crash-asoh-defense-16319360.php

Admiral Cloudberg - Mar 5, 2022

Note: this accident was previously featured in episode 19 of the plane crash series on January 13th, 2018, prior to the series’ arrival on Medium. This article is written without reference to and supersedes the original. The wreckage of Southern Airways flight 242 lies scattered through a forest in New Hope, Georgia. (NTSB)

On the 4th of April 1977, a brief flight from Huntsville, Alabama to Atlanta, Georgia took a terrifying turn when the DC-9 encountered a powerful thunderstorm at 17,000 feet. As torrential rain and hail slammed the plane, the pilots quickly found themselves in a nightmare scenario, as both engines failed in the heart of the storm, sending the powerless plane plummeting from the sky. Desperately searching for a place to land their crippled airliner, the pilots set their sights on what seemed to be their last hope for salvation: State Highway 92 in New Hope, Georgia. As the passengers braced for impact, the pilots set the DC-9 down on the narrow, two lane road — only for all hell to break loose as the wings clipped trees and power poles, sending the plane careening into a gas station, a forest, and a rural neighborhood. By the time the flaming wreckage came to a halt, 72 people were dead: 63 of the 85 aboard the plane, and nine on the ground.

The crash would ultimately provide valuable lessons in several areas of aviation safety, ranging from weather reporting to emergency decision-making. Investigators would discover a series of organizational failures that left the pilots without adequate weather information; gaps in pilot training; and a previously unrecognized danger to all aircraft engines. But perhaps most heartbreakingly of all, they would find that the crash could have been so easily avoided: in fact, Southern Airways flight 242 could have made it to an airport, if only the crew had known it existed.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/highway-to-ruin-the-crash-of-southern-airways-flight-242-7eb1433281fe

Alan Bellows - November 2007

“Holy shit.”

Inside the cockpit of the cruising airliner, Captain Bob Pearson was understandably alarmed at the out-of-the-ordinary beeps that were chiming from his flight computer. On the control panel, an amber low fuel pressure warning lamp lit up to punctuate the audio alarm.

First Officer Maurice Quintal, copilot of Air Canada Flight 143, checked the indicator light to determine the cause of the computer’s complaints. “Something’s wrong with the fuel pump,” he reported.

The mustachioed Captain Pearson pulled out the trusty Boeing handbook, his fingers dashing through the pages to find the specifics of the warning. To his relief, the troubleshooting chart indicated that the situation was not as perilous as it might seem: the fuel pump in the left wing tank was signaling a problem, a minor issue considering that gravity would continue to feed the engines even if the pump failed.

“You know,” he commented to Copilot Quintal, “I would not take this air…” He trailed off as the computer blurted out another four beeps, and the indicator panel lit up like a Christmas tree decorated with bad news. “Oh fuck,” Pearson lamented, “we’ve got to go to Winnipeg.”

https://www.damninteresting.com/the-gimli-glider/

Admiral Cloudberg - 21 May 2024

On the 1st of September 1983, in the freezing darkness high above far eastern Russia, a Soviet fighter pilot changed the course of history with the press of a switch and a curt transmission to his commander: “The target is destroyed.” His was the closing shot in a mid-air drama that would confound the world and bring two superpowers closer to the brink of war, a shot that should never have been fired — because the target wasn’t a hostile attacker, but a South Korean airliner, a Boeing 747 flying wildly off course into the hornet’s nest, her crew oblivious to the danger.

The shootdown of Korean Air Lines flight 007 took the lives of 269 people and raised troubling questions on both sides of the Pacific. How could a trained flight crew make such a colossal navigational error, and then fail to notice for five and a half hours? Were they really so unaware? And how could Soviet air defense fail to recognize that the airliner wasn’t a threat? Did they know that they were attacking a plane full of civilians? For ten years, these questions had no concrete answers, becoming fuel for wild speculation and deliberate manipulation by politicians and amateur observers alike, building a cloud of myth and mystery around the events of that September night. But with the end of the Cold War came an end to the embargo on information, and since 1993 a great deal has come to light about what really happened — not only on board flight 007, but also among the Soviet military personnel who shot it down, and within the halls of power in Moscow and Washington, where staunch cold warriors used the shootdown to further their goals at the expense of the truth. Piecing together the evidence reveals that that truth is at once extraordinary and mundane; unbelievable yet inevitable; monstrous, but also terrifyingly human — a story that still lingers darkly in the imagination more than 40 years after it began.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/a-shot-in-the-dark-the-untold-story-of-korean-air-lines-flight-007-a4ae6a4ef734

Admiral Cloudberg - Jun 18, 2022

Note: this accident was previously featured in episode 26 of the plane crash series on March 3rd, 2018, prior to the series’ arrival on Medium. This article is written without reference to and supersedes the original.

On the 17th of July 1996, TWA flight 800 exploded and crashed off Long Island, New York, killing all 230 people on board in what remains one of America’s deadliest air disasters. The Boeing 747’s spectacular midair breakup, and the terrifying fate of its passengers and crew, captivated the nation in a way that few plane crashes ever have, before or since. Was the flight brought down by a bomb, a terrorist missile strike, or a catastrophic mechanical failure? It seemed that everyone had an opinion — and an agenda. As the FBI and the NTSB pursued different explanations, the chaos and constantly shifting evidence divided the public and sowed conspiracy theories which persist to this day. In the end, the NTSB published one of the most exhaustive reports in its history, outlining in incredible detail exactly how an escalating chain of events led to a catastrophic explosion of the 747’s center wing fuel tank, ripping the plane in half and sending its burning remains into a long, excruciating death spiral toward the Atlantic Ocean. But the findings, as important as they were, seemingly never caught on with the public, as polls showed that half of Americans did not believe the NTSB’s conclusion that the crash was an accident. What follows is not only a retelling of the cause of the infamous accident, but also a chronology of how the NTSB figured it out, and an attempt to explain the lingering public discontent — the scar left on America’s collective psyche by the crash of TWA flight 800.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/memories-of-flame-the-crash-of-twa-flight-800-fecfd651a157

Admiral Cloudberg - 5 November 2024

On the 3rd of May 2006, an Armenian Airbus A320 on approach to the Russian resort city of Sochi slammed into the Black Sea amid darkness and fog, killing all 113 passengers and crew. The worst disaster in the history of Armenian aviation unfolded shockingly fast. Just 83 seconds before impact, Armavia flight 967 was aligned with the runway and glideslope, fully configured, with landing clearance in hand — only for events to go suddenly awry, collapsing like a house of cards at the slightest tremor. That fateful jolt triggered a rapid sequence of events that left the captain helpless and confused, unable to comprehend what had gone wrong, even as he flew his plane and its passengers into the water, unaware that he had doomed them all.

The conditions for this meltdown in the cockpit were not created during the final minute of the flight. The full story of the events that night showed that the stage was set by systemic factors such as inadequate training, conflicting air traffic control procedures, and fatigue, as well as hazardous workplace attitudes adopted by the crew, whose words and actions became increasingly choleric as they escalated an imaginary fight with the Sochi approach controller. Descending into a fog of suspicion, they allowed stress to build until finally they snapped, precipitating a loss of situational awareness from which they never recovered. By utilizing a moment-by-moment analysis of how the pilots lost the plot, it becomes possible to understand the seemingly inexplicable loss of this perfectly functional aircraft, and to illustrate how the human mind is the most imperfect system aboard an airplane.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/the-spiral-of-wrath-the-crash-of-armavia-flight-967-c7d84541f0f7

Admiral Cloudberg - Oct 9, 2021

Note: this accident was previously featured in episode 10 of the plane crash series on November 11th, 2017, prior to the series’ arrival on Medium. This article is written without reference to and supersedes the original.

In the early hours of the first of June 2009, Air France flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris disappeared in a radar dead zone over the mid-Atlantic. The Airbus A330 with 228 people on board had vanished into the night without a distress call, leaving behind little to explain its sudden and dramatic end. What could have brought down a modern passenger jet, flying for a world class airline, during what should have been the safest part of the flight? For two years, the world could only speculate, as search teams scoured a vast area of the ocean floor in search of the elusive black boxes.

When the recorders were finally found in May 2011, they revealed a story at once more prosaic and more inexplicable than anyone had imagined. A brief interruption to their airspeed indications, lasting less than a minute, had thrown two trained Air France pilots into a state of paralyzed agitation. Through a series of increasingly misguided control inputs, they sent flight 447 plummeting towards the ocean, all the while trying desperately to understand what was wrong, only grasping too late that they themselves were the problem. How could such a thing happen? To this day, most people still struggle to understand it. But there is a reason, written between the lines of the cockpit voice recorder transcript, hidden away within the mysterious code that governs human behavior, a key to the secrets of the profoundly irrational. Its lessons could not be more important, even for those who believe themselves above the doomed crew of flight 447, as the boundary between the responsibilities of man and machine grows ever dimmer.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/the-long-way-down-the-crash-of-air-france-flight-447-8a7678c37982

Admiral Cloudberg - 9 December 2023

On the 4th of November 2010, a Qantas Airbus A380 was rocked by a catastrophic engine failure minutes after takeoff from Singapore, hurling fragments of a turbine disk through its wings and fuselage in multiple locations. The explosion damaged almost every major system on the airplane, from the flight controls and fuel tanks to hydraulics and pneumatics. Faced with a barrage of diverse failure warnings and an airplane of uncertain integrity, the flight crew worked together to make a series of critical decisions that would get their enormous airplane back on the ground. And in the end, despite one curveball after another — including landing gear problems, loss of braking power, and an engine that refused to shut down — they not only landed the plane, but did so without putting a scratch on any of the 469 passengers and crew.

The cause of the incident would ultimately be traced deep inside the number two engine to a single oil pipe that had been manufactured with a wall that was slightly too thin. How this seemingly tiny defect came about, and how it nearly brought down the world’s largest passenger plane, represent a story equally as fascinating as that of the flight itself, tracing back years to encompass questionable drawing board decisions, hidden flaws in the machining logic, and faulty assumptions about engine behavior. Time and time again, the problem slipped through the gaps in the system, tumbling down the long slope toward disaster — only to be stopped at the last moment, not only by the pilots themselves, but by a number of explicit protections built into the design of the A380, each of which played a crucial role in containing the fallout from a failure that exceeded the manufacturer’s worst expectations. The story of Qantas flight 32, as told herein, is therefore not only the tale of a dramatic emergency, but a testament to the safety of aviation today — a story that should make every reader feel a little less fearful of flight.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/a-matter-of-millimeters-the-story-of-qantas-flight-32-bdaa62dc98e7

10 December, 2019 - Steve Creedy

The pilots of a Jetstar A320 forgot to lower the landing gear as they approached Ballina airport in northern New South Wales and were forced to conduct a go-around after they were alerted to the oversight by a master warning. The aircraft operating a flight from Sydney in May, 2018, had already conducted one go-around after the captain decided its airspeed and altitude were higher than a normal approach profile. LISTEN: New podcasts tell very diffrent story about Lion Air MAX crash The Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the flight crew did not follow the Jetstar standard procedures during the first go-around and this created distractions that contributed to the landing gear oversight. In particular, the flaps remained at the Flaps 3 position during the visual circuit rather than the company standard of Flaps 1. The first go-around was performed correctly by the first officer until the Jetstar A320 reached the circuit altitude of 1500ft.

https://www.airlineratings.com/articles/jetstar-pilots-forgot-lower-landing-gear

Simon Hradecky - Friday, Mar 6th 2020 16:32Z / Updated Friday, Aug 11th 2023 15:49Z

A Virgin Atlantic Airways Boeing 787-9, registration G-VBOW performing flight VS-206 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Hong Kong (China) with 235 passengers and 14 crew, was on an ILS approach to runway 25R at about 15:49L (07:49Z) with the autopilot engaged when veered to the right off the localizer and descended below minimum safe sector altitude. The crew disconnected the autoflight system, assumed manual control of the aircraft, re-established the aircraft on the localizer about 12nm before the runway threshold and landed safely.

On Mar 6th 2020 Hong Kong's AAIA reported under the headline “Loss of Control - Inflight” the occurrence was rated a serious incident and opened an investigation.

There had been other similiar occurrences, see Incident: Virgin Atlantic B789 at Hong Kong on Sep 29th 2019, deviated from localizer and descended below minimum safe altitude, Incident: Etihad B789 at Hong Kong on Sep 7th 2019, veered off localizer and descended below safe height on ILS approach and Incident: Ethiopian B788 at Hong Kong on Jul 18th 2019, loss of control on ILS approach.

https://avherald.com/h?article=4d42d0b5

Scottie Andrew, CNN - Updated 5:58 PM EST, Thu December 5, 2019

A Los Angeles news helicopter made an emergency landing when an object struck its tail, and crew on board believe it was a drone.

KABC’s Air7 HD chopper was flying just east of downtown at about 1,100 feet when crew heard a pop, then a loud bang, reporter Chris Cristi told the CNN affiliate.

“We felt it, we heard it and we all looked at each other; didn’t really know what it was,” he said of Wednesday night’s incident.

He thought a bird might have flown into the chopper – but when the crew safely landed and assessed the damage, “it was a different story,” he said.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/05/us/helicopter-drone-emergency-landing-trnd/index.html

Jennings Brown - December 10, 2019

Operators lost contact with a C-130 Hercules military aircraft on Monday at 6:13 pm GMT—almost an hour and a half into a flight carrying 21 passengers and 17 crew members to Antarctica, according to a statement released by the Chilean Air Force.

The flight began in Santiago, then made a brief stop in the southern city of Punta Arenas before embarking on its final leg across Drake Passage, the water between Cape Horn and Antarctica.

The airplane was about 280 nautical miles from its intended destination at Chile’s military base on King George Island when it ceased communication, Chilean authorities said.

https://gizmodo.com/chilean-plane-carrying-38-passengers-disappears-during-1840338245

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The C-130 Hercules involved, taken in 1996 while operated by the USMC

Accident Date 9 December 2019

Summary Crashed into the sea

Site Drake Passage

Aircraft type C-130 Hercules

Operator Chilean Air Force

On 9 December 2019, a Chilean Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft crashed in the Drake Passage while en route to Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva, a Chilean military base on King George Island in Antarctica.

The crash site was located on 12 December 2019 after a three-day search, and no survivors were found.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Chilean_Air_Force_C-130_crash

Russ Niles - Published: June 18, 2023 Updated: June 19, 2023

The NTSB says the crew of a first-generation Boeing 737 that ditched in the ocean off Honolulu on July 2, 2021, mixed up which engine was underperforming on the plane and steadily reduced power to the good engine while trying to coax more out of the damaged one. The aircraft went down a few miles offshore and both pilots survived. According to the final report, the Transair cargo flight had just taken off from Honolulu with the first officer flying when they heard a thud and the pilot flying correctly assessed that the right engine had lost some power. As the crew worked the problem, the first officer reduced power on both engines to slow the plane to a target speed of 220 knots and subsequently mixed up the engines and told the captain it was the left engine that was affected. “The captain accepted the first officer’s assessment and did not take action to verify the information,” the report said.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/engine-mixup-led-to-737-ditching/

Admiral Cloudberg - 1 July 2023

On the 2nd of July 2021, a Boeing 737–200 hauling cargo between the Hawaiian Islands lost power in one engine shortly after takeoff from Honolulu. As the pilots attempted to turn back toward the airport, they reported the unthinkable: their second engine was going too, and they weren’t going to make it. While the Coast Guard scrambled to respond, the crew carried out an extraordinary ditching at sea in the dark of night, successfully bringing their 737 down on the heaving waters of Mamala Bay, 3.3 kilometers off the coast of Oahu. Although the plane broke into two pieces on impact, both pilots managed to escape, and in a harrowing rescue they were plucked from the water just as the remains of the airplane slipped beneath the waves.

Two years later, the publication of the National Transportation Safety Board’s final report has confirmed what many long suspected: that the crash of Transair flight 810 was not a story of exemplary airmanship, but quite the opposite, as a relatively minor engine failure snowballed into a dangerous ditching that need never have been attempted. The unfortunate truth was that the pilots never properly addressed the emergency, and in their confusion, reduced power on their functioning engine — a tale as old as the very concept of multi-engine airplanes. The cockpit voice recording and interviews with the pilots revealed the factors which may or may not have contributed, from their muddled attempts to declare an emergency, to an incomplete control handover, to simple stress, as the captain delivered a heated and sometimes sexist 32-minute pre-flight monologue about a fellow pilot. In any case, the findings raised questions about the safety culture at Transair, a scrappy (and now defunct) cargo airline operating 50-year-old airplanes — and highlighted how a breakdown in communication and critical thinking can turn a minor failure into a potentially deadly crash.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/dark-waters-of-self-delusion-the-crash-of-transair-flight-810-a4eeb033bc00

january 2024 BEA2022-0138

Serious incident to the BOEING - 777 - 300ER registered F-GSQJ

5 April 2022 at Paris–Charles de Gaulle (Val-d'Oise)

https://bea.aero/fileadmin/user_upload/F-GSQJ_finalreport_EN.pdf

Alabama crew had ‘safety huddle’ about how to move around the plane and employee who was killed received warning to stay back

Ramon Antonio Vargas - Wed 25 Jan 2023 02.00 EST

A worker at an airport in Alabama who died after being sucked into a jet engine this past New Year’s Eve had been warned repeatedly about the dangers of going near it, federal investigators revealed this week.

The Montgomery regional airport employee, along with other colleagues of the facility’s ground crew, had undergone a “safety huddle” about how to move around the plane at the center of the case 10 minutes before it arrived at the gate on 31 December, and there was another similar briefing just before the aircraft arrived at the gate, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a report Monday.

The pilots of the American Eagle jet had decided to leave the plane running at the airport gate for a cool-down period of two minutes because an auxiliary power unit on board wasn’t working, and the engines needed to stay on until the plane could be linked up to a power source on the ground, said the report from the agency which investigates aviation-related deaths.

According to the report, the pilots of the plane alerted airport workers that the engines would stay on for a time.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/25/alabama-airport-worker-killed-jet-engine-safety-warnings

The previously unreported December incident saw the Boeing 777 come within 800 feet of the Pacific Ocean.

2023-02-12T18:30:35+00:00 - The Air Current

A United Airlines Boeing 777-200 came within around 800 feet of impacting the Pacific Ocean off the north coast of Maui shortly after takeoff on December 18. The occurrence, not previously reported, adds to a series of extremely serious safety incidents and major operational disruptions within the U.S. aviation system in recent weeks.

Flight 1722 from Maui to San Francisco left Kahului Airport at 2:49 PM Hawaiian time in stormy weather and initially appeared to climb normally. Granular data analyzed with Flightradar24 showed the aircraft reached roughly 2,200 feet before beginning a steep dive that, according to the tracking telemetry, reached a descent rate of nearly 8,600 feet per minute.

The aircraft quickly recovered, but not before descending below 775 feet. Two people familiar with the incident said the climb produced forces of nearly 2.7 times the force of gravity on the aircraft and its occupants as that steep descent transitioned to an 8,600 foot per minute climb. The entire incident appears to have stretched no more than 45 seconds and in between radio calls with air traffic controllers in Maui, according to LiveATC recordings reviewed by The Air Current.

https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-safety/united-maui-dive-ua1722-close-call/

February 12, 2023

United Airlines flight UA1722 departed Kahului normally on 18 December last year until 71 seconds after take off when the aircraft entered a steep dive. The aircraft descended from 2,200 feet to just 775 feet before recovering and continuing its flight to San Francisco. The incident was first reported by The Air Current, which analyzed granular data supplied by Flightradar24.

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/united-airlines-777-dives-after-departure/

Marlene Lenthang - Mon, February 13, 2023 at 8:56 AM PST

A United Airlines flight took a terrifying dive, plummeting to merely 800 feet above the Pacific Ocean shortly after taking off from Maui late last year, flight data shows.

The drop unfolded just 71 seconds after United Airlines Flight 1722 took off from Kahului Airport in Maui bound for San Francisco on Dec. 18, according to data from Flightradar24, a flight tracking website. The dive was first reported by The Air Current.

The flight data shows the plane took off at 2:49 p.m. local time and rose to an altitude of 2,200 feet when it suddenly took a dive and dropped to 775 feet over the Pacific Ocean.

The plunge saw the plane dip at a vertical rate of nearly 8,600 feet per minute, according to the data.

The flight recovered and regained an altitude of 2,350 feet shortly after, the dive and recovery making up less than a minute, based on the data.

https://news.yahoo.com/united-airlines-plane-taking-off-165658609.html

By Simon Hradecky - Tuesday, Feb 14th 2023 09:28Z / Updated Tuesday, Feb 14th 2023 22:04Z

A United Boeing 777-200, registration N212UA performing flight UA-1722 from Kahului,HI to San Francisco,CA (USA), departed Kahului's runway 02, climbed to initially FL360 and further FL390 and landed on San Francisco's runway 28L about 4:10 hours after departure.

The aircraft remained on the ground in San Francisco for about 2.5 hours, then departed for its next flight.

The FAA reported: “The United Airlines flight crew reported the incident to the FAA as part of a voluntary safety reporting program. The agency reviewed the incident and took appropriate action.” but did not elaborate on what incident occurred and also did not comment on a report that had surfaced on Sunday (Feb 12th) whether this report had any merit or not.

https://avherald.com/h?article=50526a09

Patrick Reilly - February 14, 2023 4:54pm

The United Airlines pilots who were in the cockpit when their plane nosedived after taking off in Hawaii have been retrained, officials said — as aviation experts speculate they may have forgotten to program the aircraft’s autopilot.

The Boeing 777 dramatically plunged for about 10 seconds shortly after it took off from Maui International Airport bound for San Francisco on Dec. 18 and came within 775 feet of crashing into the Pacific Ocean.

“United then closely coordinated with the FAA and ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association) on an investigation that ultimately resulted in the pilots receiving additional training. Safety remains our highest priority,” United rep Josh Freed told The Post.

The plane had reached an altitude of about 2,200 feet before it plummeted 1,400 feet about a minute into the flight — reaching a descent rate of almost 8,600 feet per minute before the pilots regained control.

https://nypost.com/2023/02/14/united-pilots-retrained-after-plane-nose-dived-above-pacific-airline/

None of the 63 people on board were hurt, but the passengers had to be bussed to the terminal.

WMTW - Updated: 9:44 AM EST Jan 24, 2023

An American Airlines flight slid off the runway just after landing at the Portland International Jetport Monday afternoon.

The CRJ-900 aircraft was carrying 59 passengers and four crew members, and none were hurt in the incident.

Flight 5280 had taken off from Philadelphia International Airport at 10:47 a.m., arriving at the Jetport at 12:08 p.m.

“After landing, the nose landing gear of American Eagle flight 5280, operated by PSA Airlines, exited the runway due to snowy conditions,” the airline's statement says.

Airport Director Paul Bradbury says the nose gear of the aircraft left the paved taxiway, but the main landing gear remained on the pavement. Photos of the plane at the time appear to show the nose landing gear stuck in a snowbank.

https://www.wmtw.com/article/american-airlines-flight-slides-off-runway-at-portland-jetport/42628514

Soleil Ho - June 8, 2023 / Updated: June 9, 2023 10:34 a.m.

When you’re trapped in a metal tube traveling more than 200 miles per hour in the air, you really don’t ever want to be confused.

But this week, on an evening United flight from Chicago to San Francisco, I and my fellow passengers were all very, very confused as the plane gently glided down toward the glittering lights of the Peninsula — then jerked right back up, filling the cabin with the deafening roar of jet engines on overdrive. As we floated above the clouds once more, the people sitting around me gripped their armrests and prayed; the pilot and flight attendants were silent, save to reprimand a panicked passenger who kept hitting the call button, the softness of its pings undercutting the urgency of its repetition.

We passengers were helplessly enduring the possibility that we might have all blown up together, our molecules splicing into a fiery tangle of flesh and titanium. Someone asked me if experiencing an aborted landing was like an out-of-body experience, and I’d say that it’s actually the opposite. Jolted out of the familiar bumps of a normal landing, you’re keenly aware of every hitch and noise in the plane around you and biding time until something bad possibly happens. Your ears cling to every whimper of your neighbors, and you feel envious of the babies who feel free enough to wail.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/aborted-plan-landing-sfo-san-francisco-airport-18139993.php

Updated January 15, 20239:21 PM ET - Joe Hernandez

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a near-miss between two commercial airplanes at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday.

According to preliminary information from the FAA, a Delta Air Lines flight had to stop “its takeoff roll approximately 1,000 feet” from where an American Airlines flight had crossed the same runway in front of the Delta plane.

The close call occurred around 8:45 p.m. local time as the American Airlines plane, a Boeing 777, was traveling from an adjacent taxiway and air traffic controllers noticed the two approaching aircraft, the FAA said.

In audio posted on Twitter by flight watcher @xJonNYC, an air traffic controller appears to realize that the two planes are converging and tells the Delta plane, a Boeing 737, to stop.

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/15/1149330980/jfk-delta-american-airlines-near-miss-faa-investigation

Gary Leff - January 15, 2023

On Friday night, American Airlines flight 106 from New York JFK to London Heathrow had a near-collision with a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 headed to Santo Domingo. The incident was first reported by aviation watchdog JonNYC.

The American plane, a 22 year old Boeing 777-200 (registration N754AN) crossed in front of the Delta jet that was in its takeoff roll. Air traffic control saw this happening and at almost the last possible moment called out to Delta to abort takeoff, out of fear the two planes would collide (“Shit! Delta 1943 cancel takeoff clearance!”).

The Delta flight stopped less than 1000 feet from where it would have intersected 
with American’s plane.

Runway 4L was being used for takeoffs. The American Airlines aircraft did not follow 
air traffic control instructions. ATC audio shows they were told to “”cross runway 31 
Left at Kilo” and instead crossed runway 4 Left at Juliet, in front of the accelerating 
Delta Boeing 737.

https://viewfromthewing.com/what-we-know-now-about-friday-nights-near-disaster-at-jfk-airport/

The Delta flight was forced to stop its takeoff roll, officials said.

Julia Jacobo and Amanda Maile - January 15, 2023, 11:15 AM

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a near-collision between a Delta and American Airlines aircraft at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the government agency announced.

A Boeing 737 operated by Delta stopped its takeoff roll about 1,000 feet away from where American Airlines Flight 106, a Boeing 777, had crossed from an adjacent runway on Friday around 8:45 p.m., according to the FAA.

The Delta Flight 1943 came to a safe stop on Runway 4-Left after air traffic controllers noticed the other aircraft crossing the runway in front of the departing jetliner, the FAA said in a preliminary statement.

There were 145 passengers and six crew members on Flight 1943, which was flying to Santa Domingo Airport in the Dominican Republic, Delta said in a statement.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/faa-investigating-delta-american-airlines-planes-collided-jfk/story?id=96447033

Gary Leff - January 21, 2023

On January 13, an American Airlines Boeing 777 headed to London taxied on the wrong runway as a Delta 737 began its take off roll. This was nearly a disaster of epic proportions, as the American jet crossed right in front of Delta, and the Delta plane hit the brakes.

The Delta flight stopped less than 1000 feet from where it would have intersected with American’s plane. The transatlantic 777 didn’t follow air traffic control instructions. It was told whom to call to report the incident, and half an hour later took off for Heathrow airport.

https://viewfromthewing.com/american-airlines-pilot-union-trying-to-cover-for-crew-in-new-york-near-disaster/

Ben Schlappig - 11 February 2023

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) does a great job making our skies as safe as possible, by investigating every accident and near accident, so that similar incidents can be avoided in the future. Well, as noted by @RossFeinstein, the American Airlines pilots who recently nearly caused an accident are refusing to cooperate, and the union is defending them.

In mid-January, an American Boeing 777 and Delta 737 nearly collided on a runway at JFK. An American 777 was crossing the runway on which a Delta 737 was taking off. Fortunately the air traffic controller realized what was going on, and the Delta pilots responded quickly, so potential disaster was avoided.

The NTSB has been investigating this incident, and has now released its initial report. In addition to receiving written statements from the flight crew, the NTSB asked to conduct recorded interviews with the American pilots who caused this incident. However, the pilots are refusing recorded interviews. Per the report:

https://onemileatatime.com/news/american-777-pilots-refuse-interviews/

A FedEx plane was cleared to land while a Southwest Airlines plane was taking off

Anders Hagstrom, FOXBusiness - Updated February 5, 2023 8:35am EST

U.S. aviation officials have opened an investigation at the Austin, Texas, airport after two planes operated by FedEx and Southwest Airlines could have collided Saturday.

The incident occurred when air traffic controllers at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport cleared a Southwest passenger plane to take off on the same runway that a FedEx cargo plane had been cleared to land on. The FedEx plane aborted its landing and regained its altitude after the mistake was identified.

“The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

The Southwest plane was able to take off without incident, and a FedEx spokesperson later confirmed to the media that their plane also safely landed following the incident.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/industrials/officials-investigating-austin-airport-planes-nearly-collide-runway

Will Horton (@winglets747) - 5:03 PM · Feb 4, 2023

FedEx 767 flight 1432 cleared to land on runway 18L. “Shortly before the FedEx aircraft was due to land, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to depart from the same runway,” FAA says.

FedEx aircraft got to 141 feet above runway per Fr24.

https://twitter.com/winglets747/status/1622038080680038400

Why the Austin airport situation was so dangerous.

James Fallows - Feb 7, 2023

Two days ago I wrote about the latest airline “close call.” It happened before dawn this past Saturday, in near zero-visibility conditions, at the Bergstrom Airport in Austin.

—A Boeing 767 flown by FedEx was cleared to land, on a “Cat III” approach that allows an airliner to touch down safely even if the pilots cannot see the runway. Meanwhile a Boeing 737 flown by Southwest was cleared to take off from that same runway, directly in the descending airplane’s path.

—It appears that quick action and situational awareness by the FedEx crew prevented a mass-casualty disaster.

I’m writing today to highlight two online assessments of the incident. The first one greatly clarifies what happened and how things went wrong. The second argues that this should be seen not as an isolated mishap but as a warning sign.

https://fallows.substack.com/p/as-bad-as-it-gets-without-body-bags

Tue, February 28, 2023 at 10:25 AM PST -

BOSTON (AP) — A JetBlue pilot had to take “evasive action” while landing at Boston’s Logan International Airport when another aircraft crossed an intersecting runway, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The close call occurred at about 7 p.m. Monday when the pilot of a Learjet 60 took off without clearance as a JetBlue flight was preparing to land on an intersecting runway, according to the FAA's preliminary review.

The FAA is investigating just how close the two aircraft came, but flight data tracking service Flightradar24 said Tuesday that a preliminary analysis put the aircraft approximately 530 feet (160 meters) apart.

An air traffic controller instructed the pilot of the Learjet to line up and wait on one runway while the JetBlue flight landed on another, the FAA said in a statement.

“The Learjet pilot read back the instructions clearly but began a takeoff roll instead,” the FAA said. “The pilot of the JetBlue aircraft took evasive action and initiated a climb-out as the Learjet crossed the intersection.“

https://news.yahoo.com/evasive-action-pilot-pulls-another-182547349.html

Cameron Kiszla - Feb 24, 2023 / 07:15 AM PST / Updated Feb 24, 2023 / 10:49 AM PST

The most recent case of a near collision at a United States airport occurred at a local favorite for many Angelenos.

At Hollywood Burbank Airport at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, a Mesa Airlines flight had to abort a landing attempt while just over a mile from the runway after a SkyWest Airlines flight was given permission to take off at the same time, NBC News reports.

The pilot of the Mesa Bombardier CRJ900 was able to pull out of the landing attempt, and air traffic control directed the aircraft out of the path of the SkyWest Embraer E175, which departed the airport without any issues.

The takeoff “prompted an automated alert to sound on the flight deck of the Mesa aircraft,” NBC reported.

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/near-crash-at-hollywood-burbank-airport-prompts-faa-investigation-latest-in-string-of-such-incidents/

Noah Goldberg, Staff Writer LA Times - Feb. 24, 2023 12:27 PM PT

A flight arriving at Hollywood Burbank Airport this week was forced to abort its landing about 1,000 feet above the runway after an air traffic controller cleared another flight for takeoff at the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The aborted Mesa Airlines landing was the latest in a string of errors involving U.S. flights and airports that have led to near misses between planes and left passengers holding their breath. But the high-profile incidents don’t necessarily mean there is a trend toward more mistakes occurring, according to the FAA and aviation experts, who say it is still the safest time to fly in history.

“There are a lot of airports in the United States and a lot of daily takeoffs and landings — on the order of 5,000. So having one or two [issues] occur in a week’s time is not a large number in comparison to the total number,” said Robert Ditchey, an aviation expert and former Navy pilot.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-24/burbank-airport-aborted-landing-string-of-close-calls

The aircraft was reportedly less than 1,200 feet away from another plane that arrived on an active runway.

Channing Reid - Feb 19, 2023

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating an incident involving a Boeing 777-200 operated by United Airlines arriving in Honolulu from Denver last month. While taxiing to the gate, the widebody jet reportedly crossed an active runway in front of another aircraft landing.

The near-miss incident also prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct an investigation and introduce a formal safety review. The agency's officials said the United 777 was instructed to hold by air traffic control but did not stop and continued to taxi past the runway.

https://simpleflying.com/united-airlines-boeing-777-runway-incursion-honolulu/

Leticia Juarez - Saturday, February 11, 2023 9:21AM

LOS ANGELES (KABC) – Four people were hospitalized after an American Airlines jet and a shuttle bus collided on a taxiway at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said.

The “slow-speed collision” was reported just before 10 p.m. Friday near the south side of a terminal.

According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, a tug driver was taken to a hospital in moderate condition, the bus driver and two passengers were transported in fair condition and the one person inside the plane, a worker, was treated, but declined to be taken to a hospital.

The plane was being towed from a gate to a parking area when it swiped the bus, the airport said.

“We thank our partners @LAFD for quickly responding and treating passengers from the bus,” LAX tweeted. “Other LAX operations remain normal.”

https://abc7.com/lax-passenger-bus-plane-hits-taxiway/12799150/

Simon Hradecky - Wednesday, Mar 1st 2023 20:15Z / Updated Wednesday, Mar 1st 2023 20:15Z

A Southwest Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration N8844Q performing flight WN-971 from Phoenix,AZ to Houston Hobby,TX (USA) with 164 people on board, was climbing out of Phoenix's runway 07L when the crew requested to level off at 11,000 feet advising they were working on an autopilot issue. The crew subsequently declared emergency advising they had no autopilot trim and no electrical trim system on their brand new aircraft and needed to trim the aircraft manually, they had control of the aircraft, and advised they needed to return to Phoenix. The aircraft landed safely on Phoenix's runway 08 about 23 minutes after departure.

The aircraft had arrived in Phoenix on its delivery flight from Boeing Field the day before.

https://avherald.com/h?article=505d0701

Dominic Gates, Seattle Times aerospace reporter - Feb. 17, 2023 at 7:59 pm / Updated Feb. 20, 2023 at 3:59 pm

On the morning of Jan. 26, as two Alaska Airlines flights from Seattle to Hawaii lifted off six minutes apart, the pilots each felt a slight bump and the flight attendants at the back of the cabin heard a scraping noise.

As the noses of both Boeing 737s lifted skyward on takeoff, their tails had scraped the runway.

Both planes circled back immediately and landed again at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Tail strikes happen occasionally in aviation, but two in quick succession was not normal.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/after-alaska-airlines-planes-bump-runway-a-scramble-to-pull-the-plug/

An unsettling incident at an airport in Seattle earlier this year can be attributed to a minor data hiccup, investigators have found.

Lucas Ropek - 24 February 2023

In aviation, a “tail strike” is an unfortunate incident in which a plane’s tail literally strikes the runway, the ground, or another stationary object. Typically, such episodes will occur during take off or landing and, typically, they’re not considered dangerous. However, that’s not always the case, and they have been known to cause real damage to planes.

Well, here’s some less than comforting news: earlier this week, it was reported that a bizarre incident had occurred at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in which two tail strikes occurred on the same morning. The strikes happened only minutes apart—both involving Boeing aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines. For obvious reasons, the incident grounded both flights and forced a temporary shutdown of Alaska’s flight activity nationwide.

https://gizmodo.com/alaska-airlines-talk-strikes-software-bug-cybersecurity-1850150052

Dominic Gates, The Seattle Times - February 20, 2023

On the morning of Jan. 26, as two Alaska Airlines flights from Seattle to Hawaii lifted off six minutes apart, the pilots each felt a slight bump and the flight attendants at the back of the cabin heard a scraping noise.

As the noses of both Boeing 737s lifted skyward on takeoff, their tails had scraped the runway.

Both planes circled back immediately and landed again at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Tail strikes happen occasionally in aviation, but two in quick succession was not normal.

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/aviation/2023/02/20/after-alaska-airlines-planes-bump-runway-a-scramble-to-pull-the-plug/

A new 737-8 suffered a bird strike in Havana and was forced to make an emergency landing, with passengers deplaning via evacuation slides.

Michael Doran - 5 March 2023

On Sunday, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 was forced to make an emergency landing in Cuba following bird strikes. The aircraft was taking off when the bird strike occurred and returned safely to the airport, where passengers exited the aircraft via emergency slides.

https://simpleflying.com/southwest-737-max-emergency-landing-cuba/

Identity of worker killed on Friday evening at San Antonio international airport has not been publicly released

Ramon Antonio Vargas - Sun 25 Jun 2023 12.43 EDT

A worker at San Antonio’s international airport died after being sucked into a jet’s engine late on Friday, officials said.

A source briefed directly on the case told the Guardian on Sunday that it appeared the worker had “intentionally stepped in front of the live engine” on the jet and that police were investigating that aspect. But the cause of the worker’s death hadn’t officially been determined on Sunday, and the source spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation into the case was still pending.

The worker’s death occurred at about 10.25pm as a Delta Air Lines jet which had just arrived from Los Angeles was taxiing to an arrival gate, US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials said in a statement.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/25/texas-airport-worker-dies-after-being-sucked-into-delta-jet-engine

An investigation into the death of an airline worker who was sucked into an engine at San Antonio International Airport is under investigation.

Nikki Main - 26 June 2023

On Friday, a Texas airline worker was ingested into an engine and killed at San Antonio International Airport. The employee, whose name has not yet been released, was working on the runway at 10:25 p.m. when he was “ingested” into the engine of an Airbus A319 aircraft, which had just arrived from Los Angeles International Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a written statement, according to NPR.

The NTSB confirmed the employee was an airport ramp worker and was employed by Unifi Aviation, a contracted third-party company Delta uses to assist with ground-handling operations. An investigation is underway into how the accident occurred, the NTSB said, and it confirmed it will release more information as it becomes available.

https://gizmodo.com/delta-airline-worker-dies-ingested-into-plane-engine-1850577201

Delta Airlines Flight 1092 landed around 8:40 a.m.

WBTV Web Staff and David Whisenant - Jun. 28, 2023 at 7:10 AM PDT / Updated Jun. 28, 2023 at 1:50 PM PDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - A airplane dealing with mechanical issues landed at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport on Wednesday morning.

According to the airport, Delta Airlines Flight 1092 landed around 8:40 a.m. on Runway 36 Left. Photos provided by passengers show the plane landed without the nose gear.

The airplane has been removed from the runway, which was closed for hours while crews worked to remove it. Nobody was injured in the incident and passengers were bussed to a terminal.

A passenger on the plane said via text that they were allowed to leave, but nothing was allowed off the plane - no suitcases or carry-ons.

He said they were told the Federal Aviation Administration has a hold on the plane so nothing can move on it or from it. The passenger added he was headed to a work meeting in an Uber with no wallet.

https://www.wbtv.com/2023/06/28/plane-lands-charlotte-douglas-international-airport-after-dealing-with-mechanical-issues/

Following this incident, flight AA723 has been canceled for today. Further, the aircraft is severely damaged and might need to be grounded for maintenance.

Bhavya Velani - July 10, 2023

According to a source, the AirBridge near the Terminal 2 of Ireland’s Dublin Airport (DUB) has collapsed, causing damage to the American Airlines (AA) Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

But the airport operations are not affected. Further, the flights are taking off and landing as per the schedule. Fortunately, no injuries reported yet. More details are awaited regarding this incident.

American Airlines Boeing 787 Damaged at Dublin

According to the flight tracking website, American Airlines Boeing 787 arrived at Dublin (DUB) from Chicago (ORD). Subsequently, it is scheduled for Philadelphia (PHL).

But the Aerobridge that is used to embark and disembark passengers failed and collapsed. Subsequently damaging the Aircraft structure.

The aircraft involved in the incident is AA Boeing 787-8, registered as N812AA. Further, it is 7.6 years old, and Boeing delivered it to AA in Dec 2015.

https://aviationa2z.com/index.php/2023/07/09/dublin-airport-airbrige-collapsed-damaging-american-airlines-boeing-787/

The incident is the latest in a string of close calls involving airliners on or near runways in recent months.

Bloomberg Wire - 7:40 AM on Aug 14, 2023 CDT

U.S. authorities are investigating a near miss between a Southwest Airlines Co. plane and a Cessna business jet at San Diego International Airport last week.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday it’s looking into the Aug. 11 runway incident, which injured no one and caused no damage. The incident happened when a Cessna 560X that was cleared to land on a runway nearly hit a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 that was in line on the same runway, it said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in June that it would start mandatory monthly safety training sessions for air-traffic controllers across the U.S. after a spike in near misses.

In the first two months of the year, eight incidents involving airliners on or near runways were rated by the FAA as a serious risk of a collision or prompted the NTSB to open an investigation. That’s almost double the annual average for the previous five years.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/airlines/2023/08/14/ntsb-probes-near-collision-of-southwest-airlines-business-jets-in-san-diego/

Alexandra Skores, CNN - UPDATED May 28, 2025 at 6:41 AM PDT

Washington — “Excessive grinding” during maintenance led to a metal pin cracking and eventually breaking causing the left landing gear to collapse on an Alaska Airlines flight in 2023, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a final report Tuesday.

On August 20, 2023, the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800 was landing at John Wayne-Orange County Airport in when the gear failed, sending sparks flying as the engine scraped the runway.

There were 112 passengers and crew on board, who had to evacuate from stairs onto a taxiway, but no injuries were reported.

When the plane touched down, the captain reported feeling a “firm jolt” and the plane was “pulling reasonably hard” to the left.

In the NTSB’s analysis, a “fatigue crack,” in a metal pin 0.144 inches deep, was “large enough to cause the remaining material of the 10-inch-long pin to fracture… during landing, resulting in the collapse of the left main landing gear.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/05/28/landing-gear-collapse-on-alaska-airlines-737-caused-by-excessive-grinding-during-maintenance-ntsb-says/

Mateusz Maszczynski - 29th March 2025

A mid-air collision alarm that went off during a United Airlines flight from Newark to San Francisco left one passenger with a broken back, and another with a fractured ankle after the pilots took evasive action to avoid hitting an aircraft that was passing 1,500 feet below them.

As well as seriously injuring two passengers, the emergency maneuver that the Captain performed to avoid any chance of a mid-air collision left two flight attendants in the forward galley with minor injuries after the sudden aircraft movement toppled them over.

The incident occurred on September 19, 2024, as United Airlines flight UA2428 was in the final stages of an otherwise routine five and half hour transcontinental flight to California, according to a final report into the incident, which has just been published by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

As the Boeing 757 approached San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the pilots started the descent to land and were given clearance by Air Traffic Control to descend to Flight Level 310, where they maintained the flight level until receiving further instructions.

But 500 feet out from reaching Flight Level 310, a collision alarm known as TCAS sounded in the cockpit – a last line of defense against a mid-air collision.

TCAS stands for ‘Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System’ (TCAS), although internationally, it is also sometimes known as the Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS).

The system functions independently of ground-based alert systems, and the more advanced system, known as TCAS II, provides both traffic advisories and resolution advisories.

https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2025/03/29/mid-air-collision-alarm-leaves-passengers-with-broken-back-and-ankle-as-pilots-of-united-airlines-flight-to-san-francisco-suddenly-pitched-up/

November 10, 202311:01 AM ET - Emily Olson

A U.S.-bound plane took off from London last month with four damaged window panes, including two that were completely missing, according to U.K. air accident investigators.

No one was injured by the window malfunctions, which appear to have been caused by high-power lights used in a film shoot, the U.K.'s Air Accident Investigation Branch reported in a special bulletin published Nov. 4.

The aircraft departed from London's Stansted Airport on the morning of Oct. 4 carrying 11 crew members and nine passengers, all of whom are employees of the “tour company or the aircraft's operating company,” the report states, without elaborating on the tour company.

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/10/1212144515/plane-missing-window-london-us

Ian Petchenik - Updated November 3, 2023

In a newly released special bulletin, the UK’s Air Accident Investigation Branch says that damage to a Titan Airways A321neo’s windows was the result of heat generated by high powered film lamps used during a project the day prior to the incident flight. The high powered lamps led to deformation of the window pane and melting of the window seal.

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/aaib-says-film-lights-caused-window-damage-on-titan-a321neo/

Gabriel Castillo, Ben Bradley - Dec 5, 2023 09:39 PM CST / Updated Dec 6, 2023 06:06 AM CST

CHICAGO — Two airplanes at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport clipped wings while taxiing to their gates on Tuesday evening, city officials say.

According to the Chicago Department of Aviation, two aircraft made contact while taxiing just before 7:30 p.m. Both planes were operated by regional carriers who fly under the United Express name.

A spokesperson for SkyWest, one of the regional carriers involved, later confirmed that the two plane’s wingtips made contact during a slow taxi after the SkyWest jet arrived at the airport.

Officials say nobody was injured in during the collision and both planes proceeded to their gates and all passengers were able to get off the plane without issue.

According to SkyWest, maintenance teams are inspecting the aircraft for damage.

https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/2-planes-make-contact-while-taxiing-at-ohare/

Alia Shoaib - Updated Sun, December 17, 2023 at 6:55 AM PST

Two planes narrowly avoided colliding on a runway in Colorado after the pilot of the JetBlue plane made a quick-thinking maneuver.

Unclear communication between the planes and the air-traffic-control center led to one plane taking off and one coming in to land on the same runway at around the same time on January 22, 2022, according to a National Transit Safety Board report published this week.

“I hope you don't hit us,” the Beechcraft B300 King Air flight crew said as it descended to land at Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden.

The King Air's flight crew mentioning “runway 28” and “runway 10” in communications exacerbated the confusion.

The pilot of the JetBlue Airbus A320 already on the runway increased the thrust during takeoff and turned the plane slightly to the right to avoid the incoming King Air plane.

https://news.yahoo.com/2-planes-narrowly-avoided-colliding-094022558.html

Chang-Ran Kim - January 3, 2024 8:46 AM PST

TOKYO, Jan 3 (Reuters) - From the moment a Japan Airlines passenger jet collided with a smaller plane on a runway in Tokyo on Tuesday, it took crew 18 minutes to get all 367 travellers off the plane and safely accounted for.

Reconstructing the scene based on crew accounts, officials at Japan's second-biggest airline on Wednesday said crew followed emergency procedures in textbook fashion, starting with the first rule: panic control.

As soon as the Airbus A350 wide-body jet came to a stop, cabin attendants called out to passengers to remain calm as bright-orange flames engulfed large areas of the plane and smoke quickly filled the cabin.

The crew quickly sized up the situation with visual checks of the exterior and decided which of the eight emergency exits were safe for use. They then used short, direct commands, as they are trained to do, such as “leave your luggage” and “not this door”, officials said.

Some passengers interviewed at the airport late on Tuesday credited the swift evacuation drill with saving their lives.

“I heard an explosion about 10 minutes after everyone and I got off the plane,” said 28-year-old Tsubasa Sawada. “I can only say it was a miracle, we could have died if we were late.”

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/how-japan-airlines-crew-led-367-passengers-safety-burning-plane-2024-01-03/

Simon Hradecky - Tuesday, Jan 2nd 2024 10:07Z / Updated Wednesday, Jan 3rd 2024 18:10Z

A JAL Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900, registration JA13XJ performing flight JL-516 from Sapporo to Tokyo Haneda (Japan) with 367 passengers and 12 crew, landed on Haneda's runway 34R at 17:47L (08:47Z) in night time conditions but collided with a Japanese Coast Guard Dash 8-300 registration JA722A (Coast Guard code MA722) on the runway shortly after touchdown and burst into flames. The A350 came to a stop off the right hand edge of the runway about 1680 meters/5510 feet down the runway and was evacuated. All occupants were able to evacuate. The other aircraft carrying 6 people also burst into flames, 5 of the six occupants are confirmed dead. Both aircraft burned down. 14 occupants of the A359 received injuries, the captain of the Dash 8 received serious injuries. The aircraft fires were extinguished about 8 hours after the collision.

The airline reported their A350 was carrying 367 passengers (including 8 children) and 12 crew, all of them evacuated from the aircraft. In a second press release the airline reported there had been no anomaly with the aircraft prior to departure. The crew had received and read back landing clearance. After the collision and coming to a stand still three emergency slides were used to evacuate the occupants of the aircraft. The details of the accident are under investigation by the JTSB.

http://avherald.com/h?article=5132b9fe

Posted by msmash on Tuesday January 02, 2024 04:45AM

A Japan Coast Guard plane and a Japan Airlines passenger jet collided at Tokyo's Haneda Airport but all 379 people on board the passenger jet were able to escape, Japan Airlines said. From a report:

Five of the six people aboard the Coast Guard plane died in the crash, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said. He said they were planning to deliver relief supplies to people affected by an earthquake on the Japan Sea coast on New Year's Day. Passengers in local television interviews said they saw a fire on the side of the Japan Airlines plane after it landed and were guided by cabin attendants to evacuate via escape chutes.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/01/02/1241212/all-passengers-on-japan-airlines-jet-evacuated-after-plane-collision

Terrifying footage showed a Japan Airlines flight engulfed in flames on the runway of Tokyo's Haneda Airport today after colliding with a coastguard plane during landing, killing two on the second plane and leaving the captain in critical condition

Plane catches on fire on the runway at Tokyo airport

Ryan FaheyReporter - 09:23, 2 Jan 2024 / Updated14:58, 2 Jan 2024

Terrified passengers were seen running for their lives after a plane erupted in flames when it landed at Tokyo Airport this morning.

Bright orange flames engulfed the Japan Airlines aircraft as it came into Haneda Airport in the Japanese capital. Emergency vehicles raced along the tarmac to deal with the pulsing inferno after the flight collided with a Japanese coastguard aircraft.

Local TV broadcast images of a large eruption of fire and plumes of thick black smoke billowing into the air as the plane taxied on the runway. The area around the wing - where the engines are situated - then caught fire. Another video showed the moment the jumbo suddenly snapped in two as the molten steel broke due to the searing temperatures.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-plane-catches-fire-taking-31786520

Daniel Leussink and Satoshi Sugiyama - January 3, 2024 2:50 AM PST

TOKYO, Jan 2 (Reuters) - All 379 people aboard a Japan Airlines (JAL) plane escaped the burning airliner after a collision with a Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo's Haneda airport that killed five of six crew on the smaller aircraft on Tuesday.

Live footage on public broadcaster NHK showed the JAL Airbus A350 (9201.T), (AIR.PA) airliner burst into flames as it skidded down the tarmac shortly before 6 p.m. (0900 GMT).

Video and images shared on social media showed passengers shouting inside the plane's smoke-filled cabin and running across the tarmac after escaping via an evacuation slide.

At one point a child's voice can be heard shouting: “Let us get out quickly! Let us get out quickly!”

All 367 passengers and 12 crew were evacuated from the blazing airliner, but the fire was not extinguished until shortly after midnight, after burning for more than six hours, broadcaster TBS reported citing the fire department.

“I was wondering what happened and then I felt the airplane tilted to the side at the runway and felt a big bump,” said Satoshi Yamake, 59, a telecommunications company worker who was on board. “The flight attendants told us to stay calm and instructed us to get off the plane.”

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/fire-breaks-out-plane-runway-japans-tokyo-haneda-airport-nhk-2024-01-02/

Taylor Rains and Tom Porter - Jan 6, 2024, 2:17 AM PST

A Japan Airlines Airbus A350 erupted into a fireball this week after colliding with a Japanese coast guard aircraft on a runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

Five people in the coast guard plane, a smaller Dash-8 turboprop, died. However, in what many people call a miracle, all 379 passengers and crew aboard the A350 jetliner survived.

The aircraft only had three of its eight emergency exit doors available for the evacuation, which took about 18 minutes in total.

An investigation into the cause of the crash is underway. Still, it will likely be months before Japanese regulators release their preliminary findings, and it's impossible to know for sure the root cause before then.

https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-airlines-crash-swiss-cheese-holes-may-explain-collision-2024-1

Monday, Jan. 8, 13:16

Sources have told NHK the air traffic control instruction of “number 1” that indicates the order in which planes should take off at Japanese airports will not be used for the time being.

The move comes after the misinterpretation of the phrase could have led to last week's deadly collision between a Japan Airlines passenger plane and a Japan Coast Guard aircraft on a runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

The Coast Guard aircraft is believed to have mistakenly entered the runway after its pilot possibly misinterpreted “number 1” as clearance for takeoff. Traffic controllers and the JAL pilot were reportedly unaware of the aircraft's location.

NHK has learned of emergency safety measures compiled by the transport ministry following the accident.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240109_04/

NTSB - (Viewed 10 July 2025)

What Happened

​​On January 5, 2024, a Boeing 737-9 airplane operated by Alaska Airlines as flight 1282 experienced an in-flight separation of the left mid exit door (MED) plug and rapid depressurization when climbing through about 14,830 ft after takeoff from Portland International Airport (PDX), Portland, Oregon. One flight attendant and 7 passengers received minor injuries; the captain, the first officer, 3 flight attendants, and 164 passengers were uninjured; and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight and cabin crews executed the emergency procedures in response to the rapid depressurization, and the flight returned to PDX for a safe landing.

The airplane had a hole in the fuselage where the left MED plug (a rectangular airframe structure about 29 inches wide and 59 inches high) had been installed. Components on the fuselage frame that surrounded the hole, including fittings and assemblies associated with the left MED plug installation, were damaged. The passenger seats and cabin interior located nearest the hole were also damaged, and a seatback tray table, two seat headrests, and cabin interior panels were missing. The airplane’s left MED plug and some of the seat and interior pieces were located on the ground (along the airplane’s flight path) and recovered. Multiple components associated with the left MED plug installation, including four bolts that would secure the left MED plug from moving upward vertically, were not located.

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/DCA24MA063.aspx

They say they suffered physical and emotional injuries from the incident.

Isabel van Brugen - Aug. 1 2025 5:47AM EDT

Four flight attendants have filed lawsuits against Boeing, alleging physical and emotional injuries after a mid-air cabin panel blowout aboard an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 aircraft last January. The suits, filed in Seattle’s King County Superior Court, accuse Boeing of negligence and failure to ensure reasonable care in the production, sale, and maintenance of the aircraft and its parts. “Each of the four flight attendants acted courageously, following their training and putting their passengers’ safety first while fearing for their lives,” said Tracy Brammeier, lawyer for the plaintiffs, Reuters reported. “They deserve to be wholly compensated for this life-altering traumatic experience.” The flight attendants, in separate lawsuits, said they have suffered physical and mental injuries, emotional distress, and other financial costs, and are seeking compensation for past and future economic damages. “Boeing knew or should have known of the quality control issues present in its production of the 737 MAX line of aircraft,” the court papers said. The January 2024 incident led to a criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. The Daily Beast has reached out to Boeing for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/hero-flight-attendants-sue-boeing-over-terrifying-mid-air-blowout/

Gabriel Castillo - Jan 14, 2024 09:36 PM CST / Updated Jan 15, 2024 04:45 PM CST

CHICAGO — Maintenance technicians are evaluating a Delta Airlines jet on Sunday evening after another plane made contact with it while parking at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

According to a spokesperson from the airline, Delta flight 2122 from Detroit landed at O’Hare and while it was undergoing final parking, another plane made contact with the aircraft.

According to data from the flight tracking website FlightAware, Delta flight 2122 is a Boeing 717 that landed in Chicago just before 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Officials said nobody was injured and passengers were able to get off the plane without issue. Technicians are now evaluating the plane for damage.

“Customers deplaned normally at the gate and the aircraft is being evaluated by Delta’s maintenance technicians. The safety of Delta’s customers and crew is our number one priority,” Emma Johnson, a spokesperson for the airline, said.

https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/2-planes-make-contact-on-the-ground-at-ohare/

Josephine Harvey - Updated Fri, January 19, 2024 at 6:42 AM PST

An Atlas Air cargo plane made an emergency landing at Miami International Airport late Thursday night after an engine malfunction, the airline said.

“We can confirm that Flight 5Y095, a cargo aircraft, landed safely after experiencing an engine malfunction soon after departure from Miami International Airport (MIA),” Atlas Air said in a statement. “The crew followed all standard procedures and safely returned to MIA.”

The airline said safety was its top priority, and it would conduct a thorough inspection to determine the cause.

Dramatic video posted on social media appeared to show sparks and flames shooting from the plane’s left wing.

https://news.yahoo.com/flames-seen-shooting-plane-emergency-112454409.html

The plane, a 747 operated by Atlas Air, was forced to return to Miami International Airport shortly after takeoff on Thursday night.

Derrick Bryson Taylor - Jan. 19, 2024 Updated 11:00 a.m. ET

A Boeing cargo plane headed for Puerto Rico was diverted back to Miami International Airport shortly after takeoff when an engine failed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The episode is another potential setback for Boeing, which has been thrust into the spotlight in recent weeks over quality control concerns.

Atlas Air Flight 5Y095 landed safely after experiencing an “engine malfunction” shortly after departure, the airline said early Friday.

Video taken from the ground appeared to showed flames repeatedly shooting from the plane as it flew.

The F.A.A. said in its initial report on the incident that a post-flight inspection revealed “a softball-size hole” above the No. 2 engine. It said it would investigate further.

“The crew followed all standard procedures and safely returned” to the airport, Atlas Air said in a statement. “At Atlas, safety is always our top priority and we will be conducting a thorough inspection to determine the cause.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/19/us/miami-boeing-plane-engine-fire.html

Posted by msmash on Friday January 19, 2024 04:48AM

A Boeing cargo plane headed for Puerto Rico was diverted Thursday night after taking off from Miami International Airport because of engine trouble, according to an official and flight data. From a report:

Atlas Air Flight 5Y095 landed safely after experiencing an “engine malfunction” shortly after departure, the airline said early Friday. It was unclear what kind of cargo the plane was carrying. Data collected by FlightAware, a flight tracking company, showed the aircraft was a Boeing 747-8 that left its gate at Miami International at 10:11 p.m. on Thursday and returned to the airport about 50 minutes later. The website also showed that the plane traveled 60 miles in total.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/01/19/1247247/boeing-cargo-plane-makes-emergency-landing-in-miami-after-engine-malfunction

The airplane manufacturer is currently under federal scrutiny after a number of frightening incidents.

Lucas Ropek - 19 January 2024 8:25PM

Boeing, one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers, has been in the news a lot lately but not in a good way. Safety incidents involving the company’s planes keep cropping up and this week brought yet another example of that unfortunate trend. On Thursday, an Atlas Air 747 cargo plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Florida after one of its engines burst into flames.

The plane, which took off from Miami en route to Puerto Rico, suffered the frightening malfunction shortly after takeoff. Video footage of the problem was captured by onlookers and shared widely on social media. In the video, the plane can be seen streaking across the sky, visibly on fire, while the person taking the video yells: “Oh my god it’s on fire!”

What caused the mid-air inferno? It’s unclear right now, though Reuters reports that, during a post-flight inspection process, a “softball-size hole” was discovered above the craft’s engine. Gizmodo reached out to Boeing for comment and will update this story if it responds.

https://gizmodo.com/boeing-miami-atlas-air-747-fire-1851181690

Emily Crane - Jan. 22, 2024, 10:26 a.m. ET

A New York-bound Virgin Atlantic flight was canceled just moments before takeoff last week when an alarmed passenger said he spotted several screws missing from the plane’s wing.

British traveler Phil Hardy, 41, was onboard Flight VS127 at Manchester Airport in the UK on Jan. 15 when he noticed the four missing fasteners during a safety briefing for passengers and decided to alert the cabin crew.

“I’m a good flyer, but my partner was not loving the information I was telling her and starting to panic, and I was trying to put her mind at rest as much as I could,” Hardy told the Kennedy News agency of the moment he spotted the missing fixings.

“I thought it was best to mention it to a flight attendant to be on the safe side.”

Engineers were promptly called out to carry out maintenance checks on the Airbus A330 aircraft before its scheduled takeoff to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, a Virgin Atlantic rep said.

https://nypost.com/2024/01/22/news/nyc-bound-flight-canceled-when-passenger-notices-missing-bolts-on-plane-wing/

Gregg Re (@gregg_re) - 8:44 AM · Jan 23, 2024

the wheel of a Delta Boeing 757 just flew off while it was preparing to take off at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The wheel then rolled down the runway…

could have been catastrophic if it happened a few seconds later

video from 1/20 (VASAviation)

https://twitter.com/gregg_re/status/1749835450804576370

That old kit isn't our fault Boeing tells us

Brandon Vigliarolo - Wed 24 Jan 2024 19:00 UTC

Another day, another incident with a Boeing passenger jet, this time when a landing gear wheel popped off a Delta Airlines 757 while it was waiting to take off out of Atlanta.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration's report of the incident, Delta flight 982 from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to El Dorado International in Bogota, Columbia was lined up for takeoff when a “nose wheel came off and rolled down the hill.”

No one was hurt in the incident, per the FAA report. Thankfully 757 nose landing wheels come in pairs and the aircraft was towed off the runway eventually.

Delta told The Register the flight's 172 passengers (which conflicts with the FAA's count of 184) were transferred to another aircraft, which arrived in Columbia a little over five hours late.

“Delta Flight 982 ATL/BOG was taxiing for departure when a nose gear tire came loose from the landing gear,” the airline said. “All customers and their bags were removed from the aircraft, transferred to the gate and onto a replacement aircraft. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”

Delta said the incident is still under investigation, and the aircraft was returned to service the following day aftewr repairs.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/24/boeing_757_wheel_failure/

Delta Air Lines jet was due to depart from Atlanta airport and none of six crew or 184 passengers were hurt

Oliver Holmes - Wed 24 Jan 2024 11.00 EST

A nose wheel fell off a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 passenger jet and rolled away as the plane lined up for takeoff over the weekend from Atlanta’s international airport in the US, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

According to a preliminary FAA notice, none of the 184 passengers or six crew onboard were hurt in the incident, which took place on Saturday at Hartsfield-Jackson airport.

The report said the aircraft was lining up and waiting for takeoff when the “nose wheel came off and rolled down the hill”.

Boeing 757 planes have two rubber nose wheel tyres positioned side by side and are checked before flight.

The aircraft had been scheduled to fly to Bogotá, Colombia, and Delta said the passengers were put on a replacement flight, according to the New York Times.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/24/delta-air-lines-plane-nose-wheel-falls-off

Posted by msmash on Wednesday January 24, 2024 07:00AM

A Boeing 757 plane operated by Delta Air Lines lost a nose wheel as it prepared to take off from Atlanta's main airport on Saturday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It was the latest troubling episode involving one of the manufacturer's aircraft. The New York Times:

Delta Air Lines Flight 982 was preparing to take off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for a trip to BogotÃ, Colombia, at about 11:15 a.m. Saturday when a “nose wheel came off and rolled down the hill,” the agency said in a preliminary report. More than 170 passengers who were aboard had to deplane, but no one was hurt, the report said. The F.A.A. said that it was continuing its investigation.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/01/24/1426247/delta-air-lines-boeing-757-lost-nose-wheel-before-takeoff-faa-says

WSBTV.com News Staff - January 23, 2024 at 3:34 pm EST

Delta flight from Atlanta loses nose wheel during attempted takeoff, FAA confirms

ATLANTA — A Delta flight traveling from Atlanta lost a wheel as it attempted to take off at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport around 11:15 a.m. Saturday, according to the FAA.

Delta Flight 982 from Atlanta Botago, which was operating on a Boeing 757 aircraft, lost a nose wheel from the gear. According to the incident report the “nose wheel came off and rolled down the hill.”

Customers and their bags were removed from the plane and transferred to the gate on buses and then onto a replacement aircraft.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/delta-flight-atlanta-loses-nose-wheel-during-attempted-takeoff-faa-confirms/HLTC44LONVF6NDIIOZEVJUJQFI/

Delta Air Lines Flight 982 was waiting to take off in Atlanta when the wheel “came off and rolled down the hill,” the FAA said in a preliminary report.

Patrick Smith - Jan. 24, 2024, 2:51 AM PST / Updated Jan. 24, 2024, 4:10 AM PST

The nose wheel of a Boeing 757 jet fell off and rolled away while the plane was waiting on the runway for takeoff clearance, with almost 200 people on board.

Delta Air Lines Flight 982 was moments away from taking off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta on Saturday when the wheel “came off and rolled down the hill,” according to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration published Monday.

The plane had 172 passengers — as well as two pilots and four crew members — and was bound for Bogotá, the Colombian capital, Delta said Wednesday. But passengers were instead removed from the plane and later put on a replacement flight. There were no injuries.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boeing-passenger-jet-nose-wheel-fell-off-takeoff-rcna135410

Joelle Jones, Aimee Plante - Mar 7, 2024 04:12 PM PST / Updated Mar 7, 2024 06:07 PM PST

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Alaska Airlines is facing another round of safety concerns after a flight arrived at the gates at Portland International Airport with its cargo door slightly ajar.

Last week, Alaska Airlines Flight 1437 from Los Cabos, Mexico arrived at PDX with what appeared to be an incorrectly sealed cargo door, according to photos obtained by KOIN 6 on Wednesday.

It’s unclear how long the Boeing 737 door was open, but sources say passengers’ pets were inside and lived. It is not clear whether the circumstance could have put the flight at risk, but a source told KOIN 6 the flight did not require an emergency landing.

In a statement to KOIN 6 News, Alaska Airlines said, “Upon landing at PDX on March 1, Alaska Airlines flight 1437 was discovered to have the forward cargo door unsealed. There was no indication to the crew that the door was unsealed during flight and all indications point to the door partially opening after landing. Our maintenance teams inspected the aircraft, replaced a spring in the door, tested the door and reentered it into service.”

https://www.koin.com/news/alaska-airlines-safety-concerns-cargo-door-pictures-portland/

Simon Hradecky - Sunday, Apr 21st 2024 11:27Z / Updated Sunday, Apr 21st 2024 11:27Z

A Swiss International Airlines Airbus A330-300, registration HB-JHD performing flight LX-17 from New York JFK,NY (USA) to Zurich (Switzerland), was cleared for takeoff from runway 04L and was in the initial stages of the takeoff run when three aircraft went past the hold short lines and entered the runway to cross it. The Swiss crew rejected takeoff at low speed (about 40 knots over ground) advising ATC they had rejected their takeoff because of traffic on the runway. ATC acknowledged, queried the crew whether they wanted to return to the departure point and instructed the aircraft to vacate the runway and taxi to the holding point. The aircraft departed about 15 minutes after the rejected takeoff.

The three aircraft crossing runway 04L, Delta Airlines Boeing 767-400 registration N838MH performing flight DL-29 from Nice (France), Delta Airlines Bombardier C-Series CS-300 registration N104DU performing flight DL-420 from Dallas Ft. Worth,TX (USA) and American Airlines Boing 737-8 MAX registration N342RX performing flight AA-2246 from Dallas Ft. Worth, had landed on runway 04R and had been cleared to cross runway 04L by the tower controller 04R about 40 seconds prior to LX-17 receiving their takeoff clearance.

According to ADS-B Data DL-420 was still on the eastern parallel taxiway to 04L when LX-17 began and rejected their takeoff, DL-29 was just reaching the western edge of the runway when LX-17 rejected takeoff and AA-2246 was just crossing the runway center line when LX-17 rejected takeoff.

https://avherald.com/h?article=517ad348

Senegal's transportation ministry said 10 people were injured

Melvin Backman, Quartz - 9 May 2024

A bad thing happened to another Boeing plane on Thursday. A 737-300 operated by the Senegalese carrier Transair skidded off the runway while ablaze at Blaise Diagne International Airport in Dakar, Senegal. A statement from Senegal’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Land and Air Transport posted on the social media platform X by the Gambian media outlet Kerr Fatou says that 10 people were injured, including the pilot, and were taken to the hospital.

The Associated Press reports that the Malian musician Cheick Siriman Sissoko wrote on Facebook that “our plane just caught fire.” Reuters reports that videos posted on social media indicate the left wing was in flames.

The injuries appear related to the plane’s sudden deceleration and not from fire. It is not immediately apparent what caused the fire, though Senegal’s Bureau of Investigation and Analysis has begun an inquiry.

https://gizmodo.com/boeing-senegal-runway-incident-1851466508

Robert Greenall,BBC News - 9 May 2024

A Boeing 737-300 aircraft has skidded off a runway in Senegal, injuring at least 10 people, four of them seriously.

The incident occurred as Air Senegal flight HC 301 was taking off for the Malian capital Bamako in the early hours of Thursday, Dakar's Blaise Diagne airport said in a statement.

The pilot was slightly injured, but most of the 78 passengers on board were not hurt in the incident.

Operations were halted at the airport for a few hours but have now resumed.

Emergency services at the airport were mobilised to evacuate passengers, the airport's statement said.

An inquiry is under way to determine the causes of the incident, which took place at around 0100 GMT.

Boeing has not commented on the incident, nor has Transair, the private company from which Air Senegal chartered the plane.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce5ljpnggp4o

JESSICA DONATI and MARK BANCHEREAU - Updated 6:58 PM PDT, May 9, 2024

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A Boeing 737 carrying 85 people caught fire and skidded off a runway at Senegal’s main airport, injuring 10 people including the pilot, the country’s transport minister said Thursday.

Passengers were evacuated from the burning aircraft and some described “complete panic” as they scrambled for their lives.

The Air Sénégal flight operated by TransAir was headed to Bamako, in neighboring Mali, late Wednesday with 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew, when the crash happened at Blaise Diagne International airport, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Dakar.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the Boeing 737-300 to catch fire and skid off the runway. The injured were being treated at a hospital, while the others were taken to a hotel to rest, the minister added.

https://apnews.com/article/senegal-dakar-plane-crash-boeing-ca40060696eaedfb69324d9110a55c60

21 May 2024 - BBC

Passengers have recounted scenes of “absolute terror” when severe turbulence hit their Singapore Airlines flight, launching people and objects across the cabin.

A 73-year-old British man died from a suspected heart attack, while more than 30 people were injured when the London-Singapore flight suffered a sudden drop as a meal service was under way.

Briton Andrew Davis described “awful screaming and what sounded like a thud” in the first few seconds of the incident.

“The thing I remember the most is seeing objects and things flying through the air.

“I was covered in coffee. It was incredibly severe turbulence,” he told the BBC.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8889d7x8j4o

Boeing aircraft, operated by TUI, departed for Las Palmas, Gran Canaria with 163 passengers on board when it struggled to take off

Matt Mathers - Friday 07 June 2024 12:17

A potential disaster was narrowly avoided when a packed passenger plane took off just seconds before it was about to run out of runway because of a software glitch.

The Boeing aircraft, operated by TUI, departed from Bristol Airport for Las Palmas, Gran Canaria on 9 March with 163 passengers on board when it struggled to take off.

The 737-800 plane cleared runway nine with just 260 metres (853ft) of tarmac to spare at a height of 10ft.

It then flew over the nearby A38 road at a height of just 30 metres (100ft) travelling at the speed of around 150kts (about 173mph).

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/tui-boeing-flight-bristol-disaster-avoided-b2558536.html

Russ Niles - June 11, 2024 / Updated June 12, 2024

The shattered radome and cracked windscreens of an Austrian Airlines A320 got viral coverage Sunday after the plane encountered hail from a cell on approach to Vienna-Scwechat Airport. The flight was on its way from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, when it hit the weather, which the airline said didn’t show up on the crew’s weather radar (which ironically took the brunt of the damage). “I think we were about 20 minutes from landing when we got into a cloud of hail and thunderstorm, and the turbulence started,” Emmeley Oakley, a passenger on the flight, told ABC News.

The crew issued a Mayday, likely because of the suddenly opaque windscreens, but landed uneventfully. Passengers lauded the crew for calming their fears as they approached Vienna, but some weren’t prepared for what seemed to be serious damage to the aircraft when they deplaned. “It wasn’t until we exited that we saw the nose was missing! The pilots really did an excellent job keeping things as smooth and safe as they could,” Oakley said. The radome is a relatively thin fiberglass structure that is no match for hailstones at 200 knots.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/292031/

Jon Hemmerdinger - 20 June 2024

Boeing’s top engineer insists the 25 May incident involving a Southwest Airlines 737 Max 8 which experienced ‘Dutch Roll’ was due to factors specific to the aircraft involved rather than the jet’s design or to its production system.

Speaking during a 18 June Senate hearing, Boeing chief engineer Howard McKenzie also revealed more detail about an issue involving 787 fasteners.

McKenzie says Boeing believes there is a “unique circumstance” around the Southwest narrowbody “that has nothing to do with design or manufacturing”, but cautioned that the National Transportation Safety Board still needs to complete its investigation.

“We are pulling together the data that we have, and it does not indicate that there is anything that is of fleet concern here,” he adds.

The NTSB is investigating the incident, saying the jet experienced an “oscillation event” and that a later inspection revealed structural damage. The Southwest pilots described the movements as a “Dutch roll”, which involves a combination of yawing and rolling. But much about the incident remains unknown.

Senators pressed McKenzie during the hearing, called by the subcommittee to probe Boeing’s quality and safety issues.

https://www.flightglobal.com/airframers/southwest-dutch-roll-not-caused-by-737-production-or-design-boeing-chief-engineer/158820.article

Posted by msmash on Thursday June 13, 2024 10:00PM

New submitter wgoodman writes:

A Boeing 737 Max 8 jet experienced a rare but potentially serious problem recently known as a Dutch roll before landing safely. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the incident during a Southwest Airlines flight last month. Less than an hour after taking off from Phoenix on May 25th, the plane experienced an uncontrolled side-to-side yawing motion known as a Dutch roll while cruising at 32,000 feet. The pilots of Southwest flight 746 were able to regain control and the plane landed safely in Oakland, according to a preliminary report from the FAA.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/06/14/0331240/faa-is-investigating-new-incident-involving-a-boeing-737-max-8-jet-in-midair

The shocking incident occurred on the two-hour journey from Klagenfurt, Austria

Sami Quadri - 27 June 2024

An investigation was launched after a Boeing 737 Max flown by Ryanair plunged at alarming speed during its final approach to London Stansted Airport, it has emerged.

Flight data reveals that on December 4 last year, flight FR1269 dropped more than 2,000ft in a mere 17 seconds.

The shocking incident occurred on the two-hour journey from Klagenfurt, Austria, when the aircraft's descent rate exceeded 8,000ft per minute at low altitude.

Miraculously, none of the passengers or crew aboard the 197-seat aircraft were harmed, according to the I newspaper.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/ryanair-boeing-flight-plunge-stansted-airport-landing-investigation-b1167274.html

Gregory Wallace and Ross Levitt, CNN - Updated 6:11 PM EDT, Sat June 15, 2024

A federal investigation is underway after a Southwest Airlines flight plunged toward the ocean off the coast of a Hawaiian island.

The incident occurred April 11 aboard Southwest Flight 2786, but only came to light publicly on Friday after Bloomberg reported Southwest sent a memo to pilots about the incident. Bloomberg reported the memo indicated a “newer” first officer was flying at the time and inadvertently pushed forward on the control column.

Flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange shows the plane dropping at a rate of more than 4,000 feet per minute while only 600 feet above sea level. The Boeing 737 Max 8 flew as low as 400 feet before rapidly climbing.

“Nothing is more important to Southwest than Safety,” the airline said. “Through our robust Safety Management System, the event was addressed appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement.”

In a brief statement to CNN, Southwest acknowledged the incident but did not address the memo or why the incident took place.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it learned of the incident immediately and opened an investigation.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/15/us/southwest-flight-hawaii-federal-investigation/index.html

Sheri Walsh - July 22, 2024 5:42 PM

July 22 (UPI) – Another Southwest Airlines flight is under investigation for flying at dangerously low altitudes, this time on approach to Tampa, Fla., dropping to within 150 feet of the water off the coast before increasing thrust, regaining altitude and diverting to Fort Lauderdale, according to flight tracking data.

This is the third incident in the past four months for Southwest, as the Federal Aviation Administration launches an investigation into last week's incident aboard the Boeing 737 MAX 8, which was traveling from Columbus, Ohio.

“Southwest Flight 425 safely diverted to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on July 14 after the crew discontinued their planned approach into Tampa International Airport. The aircraft returned to Tampa after a short time on the ground in Fort Lauderdale,” Southwest said in a statement.

“Southwest is following its robust Safety Management System and is in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration to understand and address any irregularities,” Southwest's statement continued. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees.”

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/07/22/florida-southwest-airlines-low-altitude/8091721681819/

Most passengers didn’t know how close they came to what one expert called a “near fatal” incident.

Brandon Kingdollar, Times staff - July 25, 2024 / Updated July 27, 2024

Southwest Airlines Flight 425 was cruising over the waters of Tampa Bay the evening of July 14 when passengers were startled by a sharp jolt upward.

“We got way down low, and then all of a sudden, just pulled up, and they didn’t say anything at first,” said passenger Amy Giannotti, referring to the pilots. “Everybody was sort of looking at each other.”

What passengers weren’t told at the time is that the plane’s rapid descent toward the water put them one wind gust away from disaster, according to aviation experts.

The incident began around 7 p.m. that Sunday more than 4 miles out from Tampa International Airport as the plane dipped below the clouds and took a final descent that felt normal to most on board.

“You would have never known that anything was wrong,” Giannotti told the Tampa Bay Times this week. “We didn’t drop from the sky. It was a slow descent, like normal.”

Another passenger, however, said she knew something was wrong. Nancy Allen, who’s from a family of pilots, had been closely eyeing the flight map since the plane left Columbus, Ohio amid bad weather. From her window seat over the wing, she watched as big bolts of heat lightning crackled.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/2024/07/25/southwest-tampa-florida-flight-descent/

Nothing bad happened - except to the nylon tool

Laura Dobberstein - Fri 15 Nov 2024 04:45 UTC

An Airbus A380 operated by Australian airline Qantas clocked over 290 hours of flight time despite a tool having been left inside one of its engines, according to a report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

The meter-long nylon turning tool was used during an inspection of the left outer engine's intermediate-pressure compressor on December 6 of last year, during a three-day routine maintenance check at Los Angeles Airport (LAX).

It was left in the engine by a maintenance worker who departed his shift early for medical reasons. The worker was told to leave it in place, as it was still in use, and assumed a colleague would ensure the tool was removed.

Over the course of the three-day inspection period, multiple engineers rotated shifts. It was noted that the tool had not been returned after being checked out. Maintenance crews did search for the tool, but it wasn’t found during two inspections – first because it was dark and an engineer didn't use a flashlight, and the second time because the inlet cowl where it sat was not examined.

According to the Safety Bureau report, at least some of the engineers didn't even realize what part they were looking for and thought the missing tool was a larger gearbox turning tool. If it had been the gearbox tool, it would have been reasonable to assume it would be more visible inside the engine.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/15/tool_found_in_a380_engine/

KLM in a statement confirmed that incident and said that during takeoff, a loud noise was heard, leading to an emergency landing.

Sanstuti Nath, World News - Dec 29, 2024 20:20 pm IST

Oslo:

An Amsterdam-bound flight skidded off the runway at Oslo Torp Sandefjord Airport in Norway after an emergency landing. The incident happened on Saturday night, when a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines-operated Boeing 737-800 experienced a hydraulic failure shortly after taking off from Oslo Airport, prompting the crew to divert to Sandefjord Airport.

This came hours before a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, operated by Jeju Air, flying from Bangkok to South Korea with 181 people on board crashed on landing at Muan International Airport on Sunday, leaving all but two people plucked from the wreckage feared dead.

As per media reports, the KLM flight was carrying 176 passengers and six crew members. It landed safely at Sandefjord Airport, situated 110 kilometres south of Oslo. However, on landing, the plane veered off the runway before stopping in soft grass near a taxiway, a video of which is being widely shared on social media.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/video-dutch-plane-skids-off-runway-after-emergency-landing-in-norway-7357681

Bart Noëth - 28 December 2024

In the evening of Saturday, 28 December, a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 737-800 (registered PH-BXM) operated flight KL1204 from Oslo, Norway to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, when shortly after take-off, the aircraft experienced a hydraulic failure.

The crew decided to divert to the Oslo Torp Sandefjord Airport. During landing, however, the aircraft skidded right, off the runway into soft grass, just before reaching a taxiway.

No injuries have been reported and passengers evacuated the aircraft by mobile stairs. Emergency crews are responding to the scene. Passengers and crew are being provided assistance as investigations into the incident continue.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/air-france-klm-group/klm-royal-dutch-airlines/boeing-737-800-experiences-hydraulic-failure-skids-off-runway-in-norway/

Boeing ends abysmal year on an even lower note

Brandon Vigliarolo - Tue 31 Dec 2024 18:06 UTC

The disastrous crash of a Boeing 737-800 in South Korea over the weekend, which killed 179 of the 181 people onboard, was followed by a second incident involving Jeju Air. On Monday, the flight was forced to return to its origin due to a reportedly similar landing gear issue.

It's still not clear what caused Jeju Air flight 7C2216, originating in Bangkok, Thailand, to crash Sunday at Muan International Airport in South Korea shortly before landing. Preliminary investigation of video footage of the accident, however, suggests multiple factors leading to the crash, in which only two flight attendants seated at the rear of the plane survived.

According to reports describing the leadup to the crash, 7C2216 was warned of bird activity in the area, followed by a report from the aircraft that, despite the warning, it had struck a bird. Aviation experts at FlightRadar24 said the craft made a low-altitude flyover of the airport, likely in an attempt to have officials on the ground confirm the state of the plane and suggest next steps.

FlightRadar24 said that ADS-B broadcasts from 7C2216 stopped during its flyover, which could have multiple explanations, “including loss of electrical power to the transponder, a wider electrical failure, or pilot action on the flight deck,” the flight tracking site explained.

Regardless of the reason, video of the crash landing on 7C2216's second approach showed that the landing gear on the aircraft wasn't deployed, and flaps and slats used to slow the aircraft appeared to be stowed. After landing, 7C2216 crashed into a concrete barricade and burst into a fireball, killing nearly everyone onboard.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/31/second_jeju_air_mechanical_issues/

2025-01-11 15:16 / Updated 2025-01-12 17:09

The black boxes holding the flight data and cockpit voice recorders for the crashed Jeju Air flight that left 179 people dead stopped recording four minutes before the disaster, Korea's transport ministry said Saturday.

The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to Muan, Dec. 29, carrying 181 passengers and crew when it crash-landed with its undercarriage retracted at Muan airport and exploded in a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier.

It was the worst-ever aviation disaster on Korean soil.

“The analysis revealed that both the CVR and FDR data were not recording during the four minutes leading up to the aircraft's collision with the localiser,” the transport ministry said in a statement, referring to the two recording devices.

The localiser is a barrier at the end of the runway that helps with aircraft landings and was blamed for exacerbating the crash's severity.

The damaged flight data recorder had been deemed unrecoverable for data extraction by Korean authorities, who sent it to the United States for analysis at the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board laboratory.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2025/01/281_390174.html

Gawon Bae and Chris Lau, CNN - Updated 3:25 AM EST, Sat January 11, 2025

Flight recorders from the passenger jet that crashed in South Korea last month, killing more than 170 people, stopped working minutes before the plane belly-landed and exploded on the runway, investigators said Saturday.

Officials probing the country’s deadliest aviation accident in almost three decades had hoped information from the so-called black boxes would shed light on why Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 from Bangkok belly-landed at Muan International Airport on December 29, erupting into a fireball.

The disaster killed 179 passengers and crew members. Two people survived.

But South Korea’s transport ministry said Saturday that both the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) from the Boeing 737-800 had stopped working about four minutes before the crash.

In a statement, the ministry said it was unclear why the devices stopped recording, adding that it will work to determine the cause.

“CVR and FDR data are important data for accident investigations, but accident investigations are conducted through investigation and analysis of various data, so we plan to do our best to accurately identify the cause of the accident,” the ministry said.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/11/asia/south-korean-airline-black-boxes-stopped-recording-intl-hnk/index.html

Mon, May 5 20255:15 PM EDT - Leslie Josephs

Air traffic controllers lost contact with aircraft heading to and from Newark Liberty International Airport last week, their union said, detailing an equipment failure that led to massive flight delays and raised more concerns about aging U.S. aviation infrastructure and staffing shortages.

The controllers who guide flights in and out of the New Jersey airport on April 28 “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them,” the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, their union, said in a statement.

Staffing shortages followed the incident, which was so severe that some of the controllers involved “have taken time off to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages,” the Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday.

There were more than 1,500 delays in the New Jersey airport last week, according to flight-tracker site FlightAware, as disruptions piled up because of shortages of air traffic controllers.

“Our antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce,” the FAA said. “We are working to ensure the current telecommunications equipment is more reliable in the New York area by establishing a more resilient and redundant configuration with the local exchange carriers.”

The FAA and union did not say how long the outage lasted, but Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that it was nearly 90 seconds.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/05/air-traffic-controllers-newark-airport-delays.html

United Airlines canceling flights as chaos mounts

Iain Thomson - Wed 7 May 2025 15:01 UTC

Air traffic controllers for Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were horrified when all radar and radio equipment, including backup systems, failed last week, cutting communication with aircraft for 90 seconds.

Operators were reportedly in tears, with one experiencing heart palpitations, during the brief blackout on April 28. The outage was apparently down to a single unsheathed copper wire shorting out equipment at the ATC facility located to the southwest in Philadelphia. Flyers are now advised to avoid the busy transport hub if at all possible.

Around 20 percent of the staff have either resigned or taken sick leave due to stress. As a result, flights in and out of Newark have slowed to give those remaining a chance to ensure landing schedules are safe.

“Air traffic controllers in Area C of the Philadelphia TRACON (PHL), who are responsible for separating and sequencing aircraft in and out of Newark Airport (EWR), temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them,” a National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.

Since the incident, more than a thousand flights have been canceled or delayed and there's no indication the airport will return to normal operations any time soon. United Airlines has canceled 35 routes that use the airport and CEO Scott Kirby expressed frustration in an open letter to customers.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/07/newark_airport_outage/

Bloomberg - Tue, May 6, 2025 at 1:45 PM PDT

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says it is safe to fly into and out of Newark Liberty International Airport. He says the agency will focus on improving traffic at the airport to give travelers more options. This after air traffic controllers lost contact with aircraft for about 90 seconds on April 28. Duffy spoke to reporters at the White House.

https://finance.yahoo.com/video/newark-airport-disruption-week-2-162731200.html

Posted by BeauHD on Friday May 09, 2025 01:45PM

Just days after a radar and communications outage at Newark Liberty International Airport, the FAA confirmed a second incident on May 9 that disrupted radar and radio contact for 90 seconds due to a telecom failure at Philadelphia TRACON. “As of 12:30PM ET, FlightAware stats showed 292 total delays for flights into or out of Newark, which is also experiencing delays due to runway construction,” reports The Verge. From the report:

After the first outage on April 28th, an air traffic controller who had been on duty that day told CNN it ”…was the most dangerous situation you could have.“ CNN reports that after a change made last July, the airport's radar and radio communication flows over a single data feed from a facility in New York, where controllers used to manage Newark's flights, to Philadelphia.

The FAA has announced a plan to replace the current copper connection with fiber, as well as adding “three new, high-bandwidth telecommunications connections between the New York-based STARS and the Philadelphia TRACON,” and more air traffic controllers. Until those and other changes are made, the agency also said a new backup system is being deployed in Philadelphia, but it's unclear when that will be available.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/09/2042235/newark-airport-radar-outage-strikes-again-delaying-more-flights

Fixing U.S. infrastructure costs money. The question is whether Congress will spend it.

Matt Novak - May 9, 2025

Radar screens that monitor Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey went completely black for about 90 seconds early Friday morning, according to a new report from ABC News. The outage comes after an identical problem last week when air traffic control screens for the same airport went dark for about 60-90 seconds.

The radar outage for Newark on Friday happened at 3:55 a.m., the FAA told Gizmodo over email. Air traffic control for Newark is handled in Philadelphia, where the actual screen outage occurred.

“There was a telecommunications outage that impacted communications and radar display at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport airspace,” the FAA said in a statement. A private plane was reportedly told to stay at or above 3,000 feet during the incident to avoid any possible collisions, according to ABC.

Newark has been plagued with problems recently, including delays and terrifying outages. When screens went black on April 28 the scene was so harrowing that at least half a dozen air traffic controllers have requested mental health support. Their “trauma leave” will allow them to take a break from work for up to 45 days.

https://gizmodo.com/radar-screens-go-dark-at-newark-airport-again-2000600205

Blake Ellis, Casey Tolan and Kyung Lah, CNN - 6:00 AM EDT, Fri May 9, 2025

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/09/us/newark-delays-air-traffic-control-safety-invs

Ronny Reyes - May 19, 2025, 3:40 p.m. ET

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Monday yet another system outage occurred at the facility handling flights in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport.

The agency said the Philadelphia control tower handling the air traffic lost radio frequencies for about two seconds at around 11:35 a.m.

Despite the brief outages, all the aircraft “remained safely separated” at the New Jersey airport, officials added.

The outage remains under investigation.

Monday’s outage occurred at the troubled Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (Tracon) area, which has continued to have intermittent outages since the first failure was reported on April 28.

The FAA said that new upgrades at the facility would prevent further outages following the last radar error on May 11. Stiil, the brief failure caused the agency to implement new delays at the airport, which averaged about 23 minutes.

https://nypost.com/2025/05/19/us-news/newark-airport-air-traffic-controllers-experience-another-outage-faa/

According to the exchange, the Iberia (IB) pilot repeatedly expressed concern over the proximity of another aircraft in front of him.

Natalia Shelley - May 7, 2025

NEW YORK- A tense radio exchange between the pilot of Iberia (IB) Flight IB2627 and Air Traffic Control at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) raises questions about communication protocols and safety in the skies.

The aircraft EC-ODA was arriving from Barcelona (BCN) to New York JFK. The Airbus A330 narrowly avoided a potential mid-air conflict during its final approach into JFK, leading to a visibly frustrated pilot confronting the situation over the radio.

The confrontation unfolded on 30th April at New York JFK Airport. Iberia (IB) A330 heavy jet was being vectored for landing.

According to the exchange, the Iberia (IB) pilot repeatedly expressed concern over the proximity of another aircraft in front of him.

“He was very fast, and way too low, and wasn’t supposed to be there.”
Iberia Airlines Pilot

At this, the ATC replied, “He is supposed to be there, he was vectored in front of you, and as soon as you checked in, I told you to start reducing your speed, and you didn’t…”

To this, he replied to the ATC that they were too heavy to make further speed reductions safely. The controller responded that the conflicting aircraft had been placed ahead by a different controller.

ATC then offered to provide a phone number to the pilot upon landing, indicating the matter would be followed up on formally.

https://aviationa2z.com/index.php/2025/05/07/iberia-a330-pilot-outraged-after-close-call-at-new-york-jfk/

Ben Schlappig - 17 May 2025

VASAviation has just covered a recent close call at New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA), which is just another example of the extent to which our air traffic control system needs reform.

In this post:

American jet takes off as United jet taxies on runway
This incident was so avoidable, no?
Bottom line

American jet takes off as United jet taxies on runway

This incident happened at around 12:30AM on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, at LaGuardia Airport. It involves two aircraft:

United flight UA2657, operated by a mainline Boeing 737-800, had just completed a flight from Houston (IAH), and was taxiing to the gate
American Eagle flight AA4736, operated by a Republic Airways Embraer E175 (callsign “Brickyard”), was scheduled to depart to Buffalo (BUF), roughly three hours behind schedule, and was taxiing to the runway for departure

https://onemileatatime.com/news/laguardia-near-disaster-plane-takes-off-occupied-runway/

Winglets touched during pushback at Seattle-Tacoma airport, causing delays but no injuries

Alexandra Koch - May 17, 2025 8:25pm EDT

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating after two Alaska Airlines planes clipped wings at a Seattle-Tacoma International Airport gate Saturday.

At about 12:15 p.m. local time, ground-service tugs were pushing back two aircraft from their gates when their winglets touched, an Alaska Airlines spokesperson told FOX Business.

There were no injuries, the spokesperson said.

Passengers on the two flights deplaned at the gate, were transferred to other aircraft and departed a short time later.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/fox-news-air-space/alaska-airlines-planes-clip-wings-gate-area-seattle-tacoma-international-airport

AIRLIVE contibutors - Updated June 3, 2025 08:24

Airline: El Al Israel Airlines

Aircraft: Boeing 737-958ER

A flight from Tel Aviv is declaring an emergency while approaching Barcelona Airport.

A Boeing 737-900 (registration 4X-EHH) departed Tel Aviv 4 hours ago to Barcelona.

The crew squawked 7700 (general emergency) while being 30 minutes from Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport due to a medical situation on board.

https://airlive.net/location/europe/2025/06/03/el-al-flight-ly393-is-declaring-an-emergency-on-approach-to-barcelona/

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday July 20, 2025 10:34AM

A new video shows flames emanating from one side of a Boeing 767 moments after takeoff, reports LiveMint.com. “Delta flight 446 was forced to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles,” they report, adding “No one was injured. The fire was extinguished upon landing.”

According to a report by Aviation A2Z, the plane (24-year-old Boeing 767-400 with registration N836MH) had just departed from Los Angeles International Airport when its left engine ignited. The pilots promptly declared an emergency and requested to return to the airport.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/20/1421220/deltas-boeing-767-makes-emergency-landing-as-engine-catches-fire-moments-after-takeoff

KABC - Sunday, July 20, 2025 5:21AM

LOS ANGELES – New video captures the frightening moment a Delta plane's engine burst into flames shortly after takeoff on Friday at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

The Boeing 767, carrying 9 crew members and 226 passengers, was on its way to Atlanta. Pilots had to turn around due to a problem with the left engine, according to Delta.

Delta flight 446 landed safely, and the plane taxied to the gate on its own with no sign of a fire at that point. Passengers were able to deplane normally.

Firefighters examined the aircraft as a safety precaution.

An investigation is now underway to determine what went wrong.

Delta said customers were reaccommodated on a new aircraft to their final destinations.

https://abc7chicago.com/post/delta-flight-446-fire-video-shows-boeing-767s-engine-burst-flames-shortly-takeoff-lax-atlanta-airport/17210186/

Ben Schlappig - 20 July 2025

Delta plane has close call with military jet in North Dakota

This incident happened on Thursday, July 18, 2025 (I know the video says July 19, but that’s not accurate, as the flight didn’t operate that day), and it involves Delta flight DL3788, operating from Minneapolis, Minnesota (MSP), to Minot, North Dakota (MOT). The 449-mile flight was flown by an Embraer E175 operating under the Delta Connection brand, which is Delta’s regional subsidiary.

The roughly 90-minute flight was mostly routine, and if you look at flight tracking software, you’ll simply see that the plane had a missed approach at Minot, circled back around, and came in for a successful landing. That’s hardly out of the ordinary, at least on the surface.

However, the actual details of the incident are a bit more dramatic. A TikTok user posted a video online with the audio of the pilot explaining to passengers what happened, and it has now been viewed millions of times. The pilot’s explanation is quite something. Note that the audio only starts part way into the explanation:

https://onemileatatime.com/news/delta-plane-aggressive-maneuver-avoid-b-52-bomber/

Joe Skurzewski - Jul. 21, 2025 at 5:43 PM PDT

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (KMOT) – A crew conducting a ceremonial B-52 flyover at the North Dakota State Fair Friday was not advised of an inbound commercial aircraft, according to a statement from base public affairs.

In the statement, the base said the B-52 crew began its approach to the state fair grandstand at 7:40 p.m. after sitting in a holding point 12 miles east of the fairgrounds.

The statement indicates that, minutes later, the crew contacted the air traffic control tower, which instructed the crew to continue two miles westbound, but the crew was not advised of the inbound plane.

Over the weekend, it was reported that the pilot of a SkyWest flight acting as a connector for Delta had to conduct an ‘aggressive maneuver’ to avoid a possible mid-air collision. The jet was traveling from Minneapolis to Minot.

Video shared with us from a passenger showed the pilot explaining what had happened over the plane’s PA system. The plane landed safely at Minot International Airport.

The B-52 crossed the grandstand at the fairgrounds at 7:50 p.m. and headed west to clear the tower’s airspace before returning to the base.

The FAA confirmed with Your News Leader in a statement that they were investigating the incident, adding that the air traffic services at the tower are provided by a private company and were not FAA employees.

A spokesperson for the city of Minot, which oversees the airport, said the control tower was not staffed by city employees.

We reached out to the FAA for further clarification on communications between the tower and the B-52 crew in the minutes leading up to the flyover.

https://www.kfyrtv.com/2025/07/22/minot-air-force-base-says-b-52-crew-was-not-advised-incoming-plane-during-flyover/

Thousands attending the North Dakota State Fair were on the ground as the drama was unfolding in the sky.

July 21, 2025, 2:20 PM PDT - Janhvi Bhojwani, Jay Blackman and Corky Siemaszko

A concertgoer at the North Dakota State Fair recorded footage of a B-52 bomber and a SkyWest jet on a collision course, but he didn't realize he was watching a potential disaster unfolding before his very eyes.

Josh Kadrmas said he was in the crowd on the opening day of the annual fair Friday waiting for the B-52 flyover when he aimed his cellphone at the sky.

“We could see the exhaust from the B-52 far to the east, so I started recording as it was announced to the crowd the B-52 was going to fly over the grandstand,” he told NBC News. b-52 bomber plane jet A B-52 bomber flies over the North Dakota State Fair in Minot on Friday.Courtesy Josh Kadrmas

What Kadrmas also wound up catching was faint footage of Delta Flight 3788, which is operated by SkyWest, heading into the same airspace as the bomber.

“I didn’t think this would be a disaster at the time as the smaller plane was difficult to see from the stands,“ he said.

Luckily, the disaster was averted when the pilot of the controls of the Minneapolis-to-Minot plane spotted the bomber in time and was able to perform a go-around maneuver to avoid hitting it and land safely at the North Dakota airport.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/collision-b-52-skywest-jet-was-caught-camera-rcna220020

The incident is under investigation.

Sam Sweeney and Kelly McCarthy - July 21, 2025, 4:32 PM

The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it will investigate an incident that occurred between a Delta regional jet and a B-52 aircraft.

On Friday, a Delta regional jet on approach to Minot, North Dakota, made an “aggressive maneuver” to avoid a midair collision with a B-52 bomber, according to the Delta pilot.

“All of a sudden we just jerk really hard to the right – we just kept taking more turns and more turns and he gets on the announcement and says, 'I'm sorry everybody, I'll explain everything once we've landed safely,” passenger Monica Green told ABC News following the incident.

The flight, operated by SkyWest, had departed from Minneapolis. Once on the ground, the pilot apologized to passengers for the abrupt move and explained the situation.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/delta-regional-pilot-takes-evasive-action-avoid-52/story?id=123908431

Updated August 28, 2025 6:15 AM EDT

Shortly after an airliner made an aggressive maneuver to avoid colliding with a B-52 last month over North Dakota, the bomber nearly collided with a small private plane as it flew past the Minot airport, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Investigators released their preliminary report Wednesday on the July 19 incident that happened after the bomber completed a flyover at the North Dakota State Fair in Minot. The close call with Delta Flight 3788 is well known because of a video a passenger shot of the pilot's announcement after making an abrupt turn to avoid the bomber. But the fact that the B-52 subsequently came within one-third of a mile of a small Piper airplane hadn't been previously reported.

The SkyWest pilot told his passengers that day that he was surprised to see the bomber looming to the right, and the U.S. Air Force also said that air traffic controllers never warned the B-52 crew about the nearby airliner. Officials said at the time that the flyover had been cleared with the FAA and the private controllers who oversee the Minot airport ahead of time.

These close calls were just the latest incidents to raise questions about aviation safety in the wake of January's midair collision over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/b-52-bomber-two-near-misses-north-dakota-ntsb-report/

Shane Galvin - July 26, 2025 / Updated July 26, 2025, 9:28 p.m. ET

At least one person was injured when a plane departing Denver International Airport was forced to abort takeoff due to a landing gear failure — causing passengers to flee the flaming and smoking aircraft on an inflatable emergency slide in a chaotic scene captured on harrowing video Saturday.

American Airlines Flight 3023 had a landing gear incident as it was taking off for Miami around 2:45 p.m. local time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

“Flight 2023, you got a lot of smoke,” an air traffic controller can be heard telling the pilot in cockpit audio from Live ATC, 9News reported.

https://nypost.com/2025/07/26/us-news/american-airlines-flight-at-denver-airport-engulfed-in-smoke-flames-forcing-passengers-to-flee-via-emergency-slide-video/

Salt Lake City-to-Amsterdam flight landed in Minneapolis and injured passengers were taken to the hospital

Guardian staff - Thu 31 Jul 2025 10.52 EDT

At least 25 people were injured in a severe case of turbulence that forced a Delta Air Lines jet flying to Amsterdam into an emergency landing in Minneapolis, the airline said in a statement.

The flight had taken off from Salt Lake City in Utah but landed at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul international airport after “significant turbulence” struck.

“Medical personnel met the flight upon arrival to evaluate customers and crew. Twenty-five of those on board were transported to local hospitals for evaluation and care,” Delta said in a statement.

“We are grateful for the support of all emergency responders involved.”

William Webster, one of the passengers on board the stricken flight, told CNN it was “the craziest turbulence I’ve ever seen in my life”.

“I felt the centrifugal force. I was off my seat for like 30 seconds with the turbulence,” he said in an interview with the network.

The turbulence hit as a meal was being served, adding to the dangers to those onboard. “I watched a wine cart just get thrown into the air,” Webster added.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/31/severe-turbulence-delta-25-passengers-injured

December 20, 2025 / Updated December 21, 2025 - Russ Niles

Garmin has confirmed the first emergency use of its Autoland system occurred on Saturday in Colorado. “Garmin can confirm that an emergency Autoland activation occurred at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, Colorado,” the company said in a statement Sunday. “The Autoland took place on Sat., Dec. 20, resulting in a successful landing. We look forward to sharing additional details at the appropriate time.” Social media posts from flight tracking hobbyists reported a King Air 200 squawked 7700 about 2 p.m. local time today. The Autoland system was initiated and landed the aircraft at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport near Denver. A recording from LiveATC’s feed of the airport’s tower frequency includes a robotic female voice declaring a pilot incapacitation and the intention to land on Runway 30. The tape is below and first mention of the incident by ATC is at about 5:00. The Autoland system announces its intentions at about 11:10. (The time stamps are approximate.) There is no word on the condition of the pilot but social media posts suggest all aboard were safe.

https://avbrief.com/autoland-saves-king-air-everyone-reported-safe/

The recording is chilling, but it also provides new details about the terrifying incident.

By Tyler Rogoway - September 30, 2020

In the early evening on September 29th, 2020, The War Zone was among the first to report on the collision between a USMC KC-130J Hercules tanker-transport and an F-35B Lightning II fighter from the same service in a military operating area (MOA) adjacent to the Salton Sea in Southern California. The Marines confirmed that the F-35B pilot safely ejected and the KC-130J made an emergency landing and everyone on board survived. Now, thanks to recorded air traffic control audio, we can hear exactly what communications were like before and after the collision occurred, as well as learn a number of new details about the mishap.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36809/listen-to-intense-air-traffic-control-audio-of-kc-130js-collision-with-an-f-35b

Posted by msmash on Monday March 29, 2021 09:01AM

An anonymous reader shares a report:

The pilot was 3,000 feet over the Amazon, flying a small propeller plane on his maiden assignment for wildcat miners deep in the forest, when the lone engine cut out. He took a deep breath and scanned the vast emerald green canopy below. He had about five minutes, he calculated, to bring down the plane and its highly flammable cargo: 160 gallons of diesel fuel. He reported his imminent crash over a portable radio to whoever might be listening, noting that he was about halfway to his destination, a mine known as California. Then, as his plane barreled down, Antonio Sena aimed for a small valley lined with palm trees. “There!” he recalls thinking. “Palm trees mean there is water, perhaps a river.” Since becoming a pilot nine years earlier, Mr. Sena had heard countless stories about fatal crashes. But while his plane scraped a few trees and then smashed into the ground, Mr. Sena realized something exhilarating as he rolled to a halt: He had survived. He grabbed a pocketknife, a flashlight, a couple of lighters and a phone with little juice in the battery and scrambled away from the aircraft. Moments later, it burst into flames. Then he settled down to wait for his rescue. It was a long wait.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/21/03/29/0521230/his-plane-crashed-in-the-amazon-then-came-the-hard-part

Mercedes Streeter - 1 April 2021 9:28AM

A gender reveal stunt ended in tragedy on Tuesday when the plane carrying out the reveal crashed into the sea off the coast of Cancún, Mexico. Two people in the airplane died in the incident, and authorities are investigating.

On March 30, a Cessna 206 with registration XA-UPC departed Holbox Island bound for Cancún, SIPSE News reports. The Cessna 206 is a light single-engine aircraft popular with smaller commercial operations and bush pilots. The plane was owned by XOMEX, which provides an air taxi and personalized services in Mexico. Some local reports say that the plane may have been carrying four occupants.

https://jalopnik.com/gender-reveal-flyby-turns-tragic-when-plane-crashes-int-1846595845

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday July 12, 2025 08:34PM

An anonymous reader shared this report from Jalopnik:

On July 2, the 88th anniversary of famed aviator Amelia Earhart's disappearance, Purdue University announced an expedition [which will launch in November] to confirm whether or not the wreckage of her plane has been found.

Satellite imagery from a decade ago indicated the presence of something that sure looks plane-like under the waters of Nikumaroro Island, an uninhabited spit of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that just happens to be near Earhart's intended flightpath…

This isn't the first time Earhart investigators have been to Nikumaroro. Human bones were recovered from the island previously, which scientists determined with 99% confidence to belong to the beloved pilot, per the university's student newspaper the Purdue Exponent. The investigators also found some women's beauty products from the 1930s. If that is indeed where Earhart died, it stands to reason that her Lockheed Electra 10E, nicknamed the Flying Laboratory, wouldn't be far away. Since nobody noticed any aircraft wreckage on the island (which isn't very big), it would probably be under the water.

Recovering such a legendary airplane will be a multi-stage process spanning years. This expedition, which will embark in November, is only planning to verify what's actually there, not retrieve anything. Recent satellite imagery doesn't show the object anymore, meaning it might have become buried; in fact, it was only ever visible in 2015, right after a cyclone blew threw and shifted a bunch of sand, as NBC News reports. The team will start with non-invasive procedures, such as sonar and magnetometers, before drilling through the silt with a hydroglobe to make physical contact with the object. Lastly, they will use a suction dredge to pull off loose sediment. If they're lucky, that will be sufficient to actually see part of the Lockheed Electra.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/13/0215218/amelia-earharts-airplane-may-finally-have-been-found

A Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A320 flying from Lahore has crashed in the densely populated Model Colony residential area of Karachi.

Flight PK8303, carrying 91 passengers and eight crew, was trying to land at Jinnah International Airport.

Provincial health officials confirmed at least 37 fatalities, but a far higher death toll is feared. At least two passengers survived.

The pilot had reported a loss of engine power and subsequently issued a mayday.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52766904

Twenty-four years ago, two burning planes plunged into the mustard and cotton fields of a Haryana village. It changed the way we fly

bhavya dore - 08 Oct 20

International air operations draw professionals across countries, ethnicities and linguistic groups. For the most part, the radiotelephony, their technical chatter, is unremarkable. After all, when air traffic control tells you to steer your plane to 17,000 feet, you simply follow those instructions, right? No one notices it because it works.

But language is a notoriously tricky instrument. When it goes wrong, 300,000kg hunks of metal may plummet from the sky. Airplanes may crash. People may die. It happened in 1990, when the Spanish-speaking pilot of a plane low on fuel simply failed to use the word “emergency” in exchanges with the New York air traffic controller (ATC). It happened on the island of Tenerife in 1977 when a Dutch captain mistook an instruction to stand by as a confirmation for take-off, ramming into another aircraft on the fog-clogged runway.

And it happened when a Kazakh crew misunderstood the instructions of the ATC at Delhi airport, bringing its plane directly in the line of a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747, in the worst mid-air collision in history. The sky seems like an infinite thing: vast, blue, borderless. But on a November evening in 1996, its grand expanse shrunk to a tiny passage, when two passenger aircraft crashed into each other. 349 people, everyone on board both flights, died.

https://fiftytwo.in/story/collision/

It’s a bird, it’s a plane… holy crap there’s a nacelle in my kitchen

Laura Dobberstein - Mon 22 Feb 2021 / 13:03 UTC

In what can only be described as a bad day for Boeing, not one but two of its planes suffered engine fire and began shedding parts along their respective flight paths.

Shortly after takeoff, a Boeing 747-400 cargo plane flying from Maastricht Aachen airport in the Netherlands to New York on Saturday afternoon suffered an engine fire. Debris rained over a residential neighbourhood, damaging homes and piercing through the tops of cars.

See Denver - 2021 and Germany - 2021

https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/22/planespotters_weekends_turn_traumatic_as/

Simon Hradecky - Wednesday, Jan 26th 2022 07:42Z, last updated Sunday, Jan 30th 2022 08:42Z

A Jetblue Airbus A320-200, registration N760JB performing flight B6-1748 from Hayden,CO to Fort Lauderdale,FL (USA), was departing Hayden's runway 10 at 11:57L (18:57Z) when the aircraft's tail contacted the runway surface. The aircraft continued a normal departure and climbed to FL310, when Denver Center forwarded a message to the crew stating they had a tail strike on the departure runway. The crew subsequently decided to divert to Denver,CO (USA) where the aircraft landed on runway 35R without further incident about 45 minutes after departure from Hayden. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage however.

The FAA reported: “AIRCRAFT INCURRED A TAIL STRIKE ON DEPARTURE, HAYDEN, CO.”, stated the damage was unknown and rated the occurrence an incident, later correcting to accident.

The NTSB opened an investigation into the occurrence rating the occurrence an accident.

https://avherald.com/h?article=4f3b0864

Russ Niles - May 25, 2022 / Updated: May 26, 2022

The FAA wants to revoke the air carrier certificate of the company that owned a Boeing 737-200 that ditched off Honolulu last year. The FAA naturally had a good look at Rhoades Aviation’s operation after the dual flameout that preceded the ditching last July 2. The agency claims to have found hundreds of illegal flights and numerous violations. It also said the carrier, which operated a freight business called Transair, flew 33 flights with engines that weren’t airworthy. Rhoades has until June 8 to appeal.

Rhoades was under investigation before the ditching and the agency had served it 30 days’ notice of suspension two weeks before the mishap. The carrier was grounded after the ditching. The aircraft, a 45-year-old first-generation 737, was heading for Kahului Airport on Maui, a 94-mile trip with significant stretches over water. The engines quit shortly after takeoff and the crew was trying to get back to Honolulu but fell about two miles short.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/faa-proposes-pulling-certificate-after-737-ditching/

Omar Rodríguez Ortiz, Grethel Aguila, Devoun Cetoute , David Ovalle - Tue, June 21, 2022 at 4:06 PM

A passenger jet from a new low-cost airline from the Dominican Republic crash-landed at Miami International Airport on Tuesday evening, bursting into flames and injuring three of the 126 people on board.

Firefighters doused the billowing flames that engulfed RED Air Flight 203 after a landing gear malfunction. The plane skidded on the runway and came to a stop on a grassy area. The damaged plane remained in the runway area on Wednesday morning, surrounded by emergency vehicles.

On Tuesday evening, passengers scampered away from the plane, some holding their children, some rolling their carry-on luggage, others taking cellphone video.

“When our fire crews arrived they saw the wing of the aircraft was on fire. they quickly began working on putting out the fire utilizing specialized foam trucks,” Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Erika Benitez said. “All passengers were off the aircraft.”

https://news.yahoo.com/airplane-carrying-126-people-santo-230606159.html

28 September 2022 - BBC

Two aircraft were involved in a “minor collision” at Heathrow on Wednesday evening, a spokeswoman for the airport confirmed.

The incident, involving an Icelandair aircraft and Korean Air aircraft on the airfield, is being investigated.

The spokeswoman said: “No injuries have been reported but emergency services are attending to ensure all passengers and crew are safe and well.”

Passengers are being asked to check the status of their flights.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-63069004

Recent general aviation and air carrier accidents.

Editorial Staff - October 17, 2022

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the accident, although some take longer. Find out more about Aviation Safety at www.aviationsafetymagazine.com.

https://www.avweb.com/flight-safety/accidents-ntsb/general-aviation-accident-bulletin-october-17-2022/

Admiral Cloudberg - Apr 9, 2022

On the 4th of June 1967, a deadly drama unfolded in the skies over England as an antiquated propeller airliner lost two of its four engines on approach to Manchester. As the pilots fought to keep their crippled Canadair Argonaut airborne, they found themselves losing altitude and on a collision course with the densely populated town of Stockport. With nowhere to land and barely any control of their plane, all they could do was put it down and hope for the best. The outcome proved catastrophic, as the plane slammed into several buildings and a wooded ravine, breaking into pieces and catching fire as it plowed through the center of downtown. Although bystanders miraculously escaped harm, the passengers and crew of British Midland flight 542 were not so lucky: of the 84 on board, only 12 would survive, pulled from the wreckage by first responders before fire consumed the plane.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/the-case-of-the-missing-fuel-the-story-of-the-stockport-air-disaster-74685ae96cb3

WCVB - Updated: 3:48 PM EDT Oct 31, 2022

BEVERLY, Mass. — A small plane went off the runway at Beverly Regional Airport on Monday afternoon.

According to records associated with the tail number, the plane is a Piper PA-28-161 manufactured in 1981. It is associated with a limited liability company registered in Danvers.

A line in the grass showed the path the single-engine aircraft took off the runway.

Conditions at the airport were gusty and the plane' landing gear hit the runway hard, a witness said.

https://www.wcvb.com/article/small-plane-slides-off-runway-at-beverly-airport-north-shore-massachusetts/41821849

Bart Noëth - 18 November 2022

On 18 November, a LATAM Airlines Airbus A320neo (registered CC-BHB) operated domestic flight LA2213 between Lima and Juliaca, Peru. During the take-off roll, however, the aircraft struck a fire engine that crossed the runway. 

The fire engine (an ARFF or Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting), and other firefighting vehicles, were on their way for an intervention when the crash occurred:

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/latam/airbus-a320neo-hits-vehicle-on-runway-during-take-off-roll/

Admiral Cloudberg - Jan 7, 2023

On the 24th of August 2001, a fully loaded Airbus A330 on a transatlantic flight from Toronto to Lisbon ran out of fuel over the middle of the ocean, forcing the pilots to attempt a harrowing 121-kilometer glide to a remote island airfield. And yet, with no fuel, no engines, minimal braking power, and only a single chance to get it right, the pilots pulled off the seemingly impossible — they brought Air Transat flight 236 to a safe landing in the Azores, after what would prove to be the longest powerless glide ever accomplished in a commercial aircraft. For a few brief days, the pilots became extraordinary heroes; and the flight itself, the Miracle on the Hudson of its time. And then reality came crashing down.

Investigators would soon uncover a chain of decisions, both on the ground and in the air, which brought flight 236 to the brink of disaster. The story involved mismatched parts during an engine replacement; a massive fuel leak over the ocean in the middle of the night; and an inability on the part of the pilots to identify the problem — a lapse which led them to feed all their fuel straight into the leak until it was gone. The incident would ultimately reveal that pilots around the world were unprepared to deal with fuel leaks, and that the design of numerous airplanes, including the A330, actively hindered crews’ ability to respond. These discoveries would cast the miracle of flight 236 in a new light — but would also tangibly improve safety for passengers everywhere.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/crisis-over-the-atlantic-the-near-crash-of-air-transat-flight-236-671d3a0c4b04

The incident damaged Amsterdam's shortest runway.

Daniel Martínez Garbuno - 12 January 2023

A Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-300 operating flight DL134 between Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) and Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport (AMS) landed short of the runway on Thursday, damaging the pavement and runway lights. No one onboard was injured due to the incident.

https://simpleflying.com/delta-air-lines-airbus-a330-lands-short-runway-amsterdam-schiphol-airport/

Note: this accident was previously featured in episode 5 of the plane crash series on October 7th, 2017, prior to the series’ arrival on Medium. This article is written without reference to and supersedes the original. Admiral Cloudberg - Aug 14, 2021

On the 3rd of March 1974, a packed Turkish Airlines DC-10 was rocked by a tremendous explosion shortly after takeoff from Paris. A huge hole had opened up near the back of the cabin, throwing part of the floor, two rows of seats, and six passengers out into the sky. The pilots tried to save their crippled plane, but the pitch controls had been destroyed, sending the plane into an irrecoverable dive, and the jet crashed less than two minutes later in the Ermenonville Forest, killing all 346 passengers and crew.

Investigators would find that this incomprehensible tragedy was completely avoidable. Two years earlier, the same thing happened to another DC-10 operating American Airlines flight 96, leading to a harrowing fight for control which culminated in a successful emergency landing that saved the lives of 67 people. The cause: a poorly designed cargo door locking mechanism which allowed the door to come open in flight. The case should have been open and shut, the resulting design changes uncontroversial. But by the time of the Turkish Airlines disaster, nothing was fundamentally different, thanks to one of the most infamous cases of corporate malfeasance in the history of commercial aviation. This is the story of that sordid saga, that years-long dance of critically flawed business decisions, conflicting motivations, and failures of governance that led directly to one of the deadliest plane crashes of all time.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/a-legal-and-moral-question-the-crash-of-turkish-airlines-flight-981-and-the-dc-10-cargo-door-saga-d22f0b9fa689

Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday January 19, 2022 06:02PM

A YouTuber and former Olympic snowboarder has been accused of crashing his plane on purpose for clicks, and the FAA has opened an investigation to get to the bottom of the growing mess. The Drive reports:

Trevor Jacob has been the subject of online criticism after posting a YouTube video where he parachuted from a Taylorcraft BL64 plane and filmed it crashing into the hills of the Los Padres National Forest near Cuyama, California. The video outlined his newly-purchased Taylorcraft's final flight on Nov. 24, 2021, a trip from the Lompoc City Airport in Santa Barbara to Mammoth Lakes where he planned to partake in some general adventuring like paragliding and snowboarding. [If Nov. 24 rings a familiar bell in your head, that's the same day that D.B. Cooper famously jumped from a hijacked plane with $200,000 in ransom 50 years prior.] Jacob also mentioned that he would be spreading the ashes of his friend Johnny Strange during the flight. Strange was killed in a wingsuit accident in 2015 and Jacob explains that he loved the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/22/01/19/2253215/the-feds-are-investigating-a-youtuber-accused-of-crashing-a-plane-for-views

A pilot and professional YouTuber is under investigation after crashing his plane in a California forest. Many people believe he did it for the page views.

Lucas Ropek - 20 January 2022 8:50PM

A pilot and professional YouTuber has run into some trouble after he crashed his plane in the California mountains last month, only to be accused of doing the whole thing on purpose to grab some page views. Now he’s being investigated by the feds.

Trevor Jacob, a former Olympic snowboarder turned social media star, recently crashed a Taylorcraft BL64 plane into the foothills of the Los Padres National Forest, filming the entire episode as it occurred, The Drive reports. Jacob, who has been making YouTube videos for awhile, has claimed that he was en route from Lompoc City Airport in Santa Barbara to Mammoth Lakes (a Sierra Nevada snowboarding town) when the plane randomly stalled out, forcing him to abandon it. When he escaped, Jacob notably pitched the plane nose-down, forcing it on a vertical trajectory into the wilderness, before jumping out with a parachute.

https://gizmodo.com/an-influencer-pilot-is-under-investigation-after-being-1848395204

DOJ - Monday, December 4, 2023

LOS ANGELES – A YouTuber pilot was sentenced today to six months in federal prison for obstructing a federal investigation by deliberately destroying the wreckage of an airplane that he intentionally crashed in Santa Barbara County to gain online views.

Trevor Daniel Jacob, 30, of Lompoc, was sentenced by United States District Judge John F. Walter.

Jacob pleaded guilty on June 30 to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.

Jacob is an experienced pilot, skydiver and former Olympic athlete who had secured a sponsorship from a company that sold various products, including a wallet. Pursuant to the sponsorship deal, Jacob agreed to promote the company’s wallet in a YouTube video that he would post.

On November 24, 2021, Jacob took off in his airplane from Lompoc City Airport on a solo flight purportedly destined for Mammoth Lakes. Jacob did not intend to reach his destination, but instead planned to eject from his aircraft during the flight and video himself parachuting to the ground and his airplane as it descended and crashed.

Prior to taking off, Jacob mounted several video cameras on different parts of the airplane and equipped himself with a parachute, video camera and selfie stick. Approximately 35 minutes after taking off, while flying above the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Maria, Jacob ejected from the airplane and videoed himself parachuting to the ground.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/santa-barbara-county-man-sentenced-6-months-prison-obstructing-federal-probe-plane

Posted by BeauHD on Monday December 04, 2023 05:25PM

Trevor Jacob, a daredevil YouTuber who deliberately crashed a plane for views in a moneymaking scheme, has been sentenced to six months in federal prison. Jacob posted a video of himself in 2021 parachuting out of a plane that he claimed had malfunctioned. In reality, the aircraft was purposely abandoned and crashed into the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. From a report:

Jacob pleaded guilty to one felony count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation on June 30. “It appears that (Jacob) exercised exceptionally poor judgment in committing this offense,” prosecutors said in the release. ”(Jacob) most likely committed this offense to generate social media and news coverage for himself and to obtain financial gain. Nevertheless, this type of 'daredevil' conduct cannot be tolerated.“

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/12/04/236224/youtuber-who-deliberately-crashed-plane-for-views-is-headed-to-federal-prison

Rescuers have yet to examine the plane's black box which could include crucial flight data.

Mack DeGeurin - 22 March 2022 5:05PM

After a day of rigorous searching, Chinese investigators are still unable to find any survivors from the aftermath of a China Eastern Airlines plane that nosedived into a mountain. The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 132 people on board.

https://gizmodo.com/plane-crash-in-china-remains-a-mystery-132-assumed-dea-1848688426

21st Mar. 2022 - Jan-Hendrik Fiedler and Jakob Wert

A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 operating flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou has crashed near Wuzhou in the Guangxi region in Southern China. According to reports by Chinese state media, 132 people were on board the passenger aircraft and rescue services have been dispatched to the supposed crash site. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) confirmed the crash, saying there were nine crew members and 123 passengers on board the flight.

Data from flight tracking services indicate that the aircraft descended at a rate of more than 30,000 feet per minute before disappearing at 2:22 PM local time. Videos circulating on the internet show the Boeing 737 was completely destroyed on impact, which caused a large fire in the surrounding area. Pictures from the crash site show it impacted a small valley in mountainous and forestry terrain. It is not yet confirmed whether there are any survivors, but the footage indicates it is highly unlikely.

https://www.ifn.news/posts/china-eastern-flight-mu5735-crashes-near-wuzhou/

Simon Hradecky - Monday, Mar 21st 2022 10:55Z / last updated Thursday, Mar 24th 2022 21:58Z

A China Eastern Boeing 737-800, registration B-1791 performing flight MU-5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou (China) with 123 passengers and 9 crew on board, was enroute at 8900 meters/FL291 about 130nm west of Guangzhou nearing the top of descent at 14:20L (06:20Z) when the aircraft suddenly lost altitude and impacted ground about 119nm west of Guangzhou in mountaineous terrain. A search and rescue operation reached the crash site but found no survivors.

China's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) confirmed the aircraft has crashed. Contact with the aircraft was lost in the Wuzhou region (about 120nm west of Guangzhou).

The airline confirmed the crash and fatalities in a note to the stock exchanges (though not stating how many people had died in the crash).

China's Civil Aviation Authority have opened an investigation into the crash. The NTSB have appointed an accredited representative and have joined the investigation together with representatives of Boeing and engine manufacturer CFM.

Guangxi Region's (including Wuzhou Region) Emergency Services reported contact with the aircraft was lost at 14:15L (06:15Z).

https://avherald.com/h?article=4f64be2f

Everyone on board is feared dead, but specifics are still unknown.

Matt Novak - Monday 21 March 2022 7:10AM

A Boeing 737-800 operated by China Eastern Airlines with over 130 people on board crashed into a mountain on Monday, according to Chinese state media outlet CGTN. There’s no word on casualties yet but horrifying video obtained by the Associated Press shows a plane going down vertically into the mountain.

The flight, MU5735, was traveling from Kunming, China to the city of Guanghzou, departing at 1:11 p.m. local time, according to FlightRadar24. Roughly an hour after takeoff, the flight disappeared off radar in the Guangxi region and crashed near the city of Wuzhou.

The flight had 123 passengers and nine crew members, according to CGTN and confirmed by the China Aviation Commission.

https://gizmodo.com/boeing-737-crashes-vertically-into-mountain-in-china-wi-1848678843

Posted by msmash on Monday March 21, 2022 07:42AM

A China Eastern Boeing 737-800 with 132 people on board crashed in a remote mountainous area of southern China on Monday, officials said, setting off a forest fire visible from space in the country's worst air disaster in nearly a decade. From a report:

More than seven hours after communication was lost with the plane, there was still no word of survivors. The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement the crash occurred near the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi region. The flight was traveling from Kunming in the southwestern province of Yunnan to the industrial center of Guangzhou along the east coast, it added. Villagers were first to arrive at the forested area where the plane went down, sparking a blaze big enough to be seen on NASA satellite images. Hundreds of rescue workers were swiftly dispatched from Guangxi and neighboring Guangdong province.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/03/21/1435253/chinese-airliner-crashes-with-132-aboard-in-countrys-south

GIO BENITEZ, JOSH MARGOLIN and AMANDA MAILE - Tue, May 17, 2022, 1:13 PM

The China Eastern Airlines plane crash that killed 132 people is believed to have been caused by an intentional act, according to U.S. officials who spoke to ABC News.

The Boeing 737-800 passenger jet was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou on March 21 when it plunged into a mountainous area in Guangxi, China. All 123 passengers and nine crew members were killed.

MORE: 2nd black box found as investigators search for answers in China plane crash

The Wall Street Journal was first to report the news.

The officials who spoke to ABC News point to the plane's flaps not being engaged and landing gear not put down. The near-vertical descent of the plane, they believe, would've required intentional force.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/chinese-plane-crash-killed-132-195355700.html

The plane that was carrying 132 people on board nosedived into a mountain.

Passant Rabie - 18 May 2022 12:05PM

nitial investigations into the China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed into a mountain suggests that someone intentionally caused the plane to plummet. A report by the Wall Street Journal cites “people familiar with U.S. officials’ preliminary assessment of what led to the accident” who claim that data from a recovered black box revealed inputs to the controls that made the plane nosedive into the mountainous area in southern China.

The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 132 people on board, none of whom are presumed to have survived the crash. The flight was traveling from Kunming to Guanghzou, China, when it disappeared off the radar about an hour after takeoff, and crashed near the city of Wuzhou on March 21. The plane reportedly experienced a sudden change in altitude moments before losing communications with air traffic controllers, plummeting 20,000 feet in a little more than a minute. A horrifying video obtained by the Associated Press at the time showed the plane in an almost vertical descent, nosediving towards the mountains below.

https://gizmodo.com/china-plane-crash-boeing-737-800-black-box-1848942624

JUAN A. LOZANO, JOSH FUNK and LM OTERO - Sun, November 13, 2022 at 5:39 AM

DALLAS (AP) — A national transportation official probing the cause of a midair crash of two historic military planes during an air show that left six people dead said Sunday that one of the key questions for investigators is why the aircraft were seemingly sharing the same space just before impact.

A World War II-era bomber and a fighter plane collided and crashed to the ground in a ball of flames on Saturday, leaving crumpled wreckage in a grassy area inside the Dallas Executive Airport perimeter, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the city’s downtown. Several videos posted on social media showed the fighter plane flying into the bomber.

“One of the things we would probably most likely be trying to determine is why those aircraft were co-altitude in the same air space at the same time,” Michael Graham, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference.

https://news.yahoo.com/6-killed-vintage-aircraft-collide-133924040.html

Giancarlo - 12:17 PM · Nov 12, 2022

JUST IN: B-17 bomber collides with smaller plane at Dallas airshow.

https://twitter.com/remarks/status/1591525604947824641

By Eric Levenson, CNN - Updated 8:14 AM ET, Mon February 22, 2021

Hayden A. Smith, 17, is a plane spotter and photographer and took this photo of UAL Flight 328 on Saturday, February 20, as it flew overhead in Aurora, Colorado.

(CNN)The loud boom was unmistakable aboard United Flight 328 just after takeoff on Saturday. Something had clearly gone very wrong.

Some of the 241 people on the flight from Denver International Airport to Honolulu opened their windows to see an exposed engine spewing flames and pieces of the plane falling away.

Others closed their windows, grabbed their loved ones and prayed. Thousands of feet below in a Denver suburb, people on the ground ran to shelter to dodge debris suddenly plummeting to the earth.

The pilots issued a mayday call and, after turning back to the airport, landed the Boeing 777-200 plane safely. Remarkably, there were no reports of injuries either in the air or on the ground. Still, interviews with passengers show the incident provided a huge scare for everyone involved.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/21/us/united-airlines-engine-passenger-reaction-trnd/index.html

By Dillon Ancheta | February 20, 2021 at 4:32 PM HST - Updated February 21 at 1:08 PM

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Hawaii woman experienced first hand what she called a frightening, yet well-handled, engine failure onboard the Honolulu-bound United Airlines flight 328 Saturday.

Barbara Underwood of Kauai was flying back to the islands on the Boeing 777 when the plane’s right-wing engine blew out and scattered metal debris across Colorado suburbs.

Underwood, a frequent flyer, was traveling with her husband Ed. She was sitting on the right side of the plane and said at first, she thought nothing seemed out of the ordinary as the plane gained altitude.

“I looked out the window and I saw the engine,” she said. “I noticed it was just shaking a lot. And I thought, well, it’s the turbulence.”

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2021/02/21/it-just-blew-fire-kauai-woman-watched-engine-failed-united-flight/

Alyse Stanley - Sunday, 21 February 2021 5:08PM

On Saturday, residents of a Colorado suburb witnessed a scene straight out of a disaster movie: The sound of an explosion overhead followed by huge chunks of metal raining down from above.

Panicked, some worried their neighborhood might be under attack, others wondered if some kind of UFO had just crashed down to Earth, the Denver Post reports. In reality, it was United Airlines flight 328, a Boeing 777-200 that experienced engine failure shortly after taking off from Denver International Airport.

https://gizmodo.com/check-out-the-debris-that-rained-down-on-a-colorado-sub-1846321294

By Simon Hradecky, created Saturday, Feb 20th 2021 21:24Z, last updated Tuesday, Feb 23rd 2021 02:45Z

A United Boeing 777-200, registration N772UA performing flight UA-328 from Denver,CO to Honolulu,HI (USA) with 229 passengers and 10 crew, was in the initial climb out of Denver's runway 25 when the right hand engine's (PW4077) inlet separated associated with the failure of the engine. The crew declared Mayday reporting an engine failure. The aircraft stopped the climb at about 13000 feet, the crew requested to return to Denver after running the checklists. ATC offered any runway, they would make it happen. The aircraft returned to Denver for a safe landing on runway 26 about 23 minutes after departure. The aircraft stopped on the runway for a check by emergency services. Emergency services advised of an active fire within the right hand engine and extinguished the fire a few minutes later. The aircraft was subsequently towed off the runway to a remote parking stand, where passengers disembarked and were bussed to the terminal. There were no injuries.

A replacement Boeing 777-200 registration N773UA reached Honolulu as flight UA-3025 with a delay of 6 hours.

Beyond the damage to the right hand engine itself the aircraft received a puncture of the right hand wing root fairing below the right hand wing.

https://avherald.com/h?article=4e35503b&opt=0

By Yonhap - Published : Feb 22, 2021 - 17:30 / Updated : Feb 23, 2021 - 11:40

South Korea's two biggest carriers – Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. – said Monday they will ground all Boeing 777 passenger jets following a recent engine failure incident in the United States.

A B777-200 plane suffered an engine failure after taking off for Honolulu on Saturday (local time), with an engine cowling and other parts from the plane found to be scattered on the ground in Denver, according to foreign media reports.

The United Airlines, Inc. flight reportedly landed safely without any injuries on the plane or the ground.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210222001051

Alyse Stanley - 20 February 2021 7:16PM

Huge metal chunks of debris rained down on a Colorado suburb Saturday afternoon after the engine on a United Airlines plane overhead burst into flames.

United Airlines flight 328 departed the Denver International Airport around noon en route to Honolulu and began experiencing right-engine failure shortly after takeoff, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration. Pilots aboard the Boeing 777-200, which was carrying 231 passengers and 10 crew members, issued a mayday call to air traffic controllers but managed to return safely to the airport at around 1:30, CNN reports. There were no reported injuries onboard.

https://gizmodo.com/chunks-of-united-airlines-plane-rain-down-on-colorado-s-1846317634

By Simon Hradecky, created Wednesday, May 12th 2021 17:39Z, last updated Wednesday, May 12th 2021 21:34Z

A Key Lime Air Swearingen SA-226TC Metro II, registration N280KL performing flight KG-970 from Salida,CO to Denver Centennial,CO (USA) with one crew, was on a visual approach to Centennial's runway 17L cleared for the approach and was descending through 6400 feet about 3nm north of the threshold runway 17L at about 11:24L (16:24Z).

A private Cirrus SR-22, registration N416DJ with two people on board, was cleared for a visual approach to runway 17R and was advised of the traffic landing on the parallel runway. The Cirrus descended through 6400 feet about 3nm north of the threshold of runway 17R, but overshot the centerlines of both runways 17R and 17L.

The two aircraft collided, the Cirrus apparently struck across through the fuselage of the Metroliner just above the wings taking out the whole cabin section at that point. The Metro crew declared emergency on tower frequency reporting their right hand engine had failed and reported they saw another aircraft on parachute going down. After landing the crew advised, it had definitely been a mid air collision.

https://avherald.com/h?article=4e74b6e5

The plod needs a lesson in keeping air traffic controllers in the loop, it seems

Iain Thomson - Mon 23 Aug 2021 / 23:44 UTC

A police drone hit and significantly damaged a Cessna coming in for landing in Canada earlier this month.

According to an incident report compiled by the nation's transport officials, Ontario's York Police crashed a drone into the light aircraft during the latter's final approach to runway 15 at Toronto's Buttonville airport.

Air traffic control “had not been advised” the cops were flying their gizmo in the Richmond Hill area, the paperwork noted.

The single-engine Cessna 172N, owned by Canadian Flyers International Inc with the registration C-GKWL, was being flown by a flight instructor and a passenger when “they felt a jolt that pushed them back on their seat. They thought they had hit a large bird,” the report into the August 10 prang stated.

“They proceeded to land … When exiting the aircraft, they were shocked to see a major dent on the left underside of the engine cowling. The airbox was also bent. A few hours later, a police detective confirmed a York Regional Police drone had struck their aircraft. The aircraft suffered major damage, including a propeller strike.”

https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/23/canadian_drone_strike/

Posted by BeauHD on Monday August 23, 2021 03:40PM

A plane has major damage after a York Regional Police (YRP) drone struck the aircraft at Toronto Buttonville Municipal Airport earlier this month. CTV News reports:

On Aug. 10, a Canadian Flyers International Inc. Cessna plane was on a flight to the airport in Markham at an unknown time during the day. The small plane was about to land at the airport's runway when the pilot felt a jolt that “pushed them back on their seat,” according to a report from Transport Canada issued this week. The pilot thought the plane hit a large bird and proceeded to land the plane, the report said. When the pilot exited the aircraft they saw a “major dent” on the left underside of the engine cowling and the airbox was also bent. No injuries were reported but the airplane suffered significant damage, including a propeller strike. A few hours after the incident, police confirmed that a YRP drone had struck the aircraft, according to the report.

https://slashdot.org/story/21/08/23/2133225/york-police-drone-damages-plane-at-buttonville-airport

Kerrisa Wilson, Web Content Writer, CP24 - Published Friday, August 20, 2021 7:17AM EDT

TORONTO – A plane has major damage after a York Regional Police (YRP) drone struck the aircraft at Toronto Buttonville Municipal Airport earlier this month.

On Aug. 10, a Canadian Flyers International Inc. Cessna plane was on a flight to the airport in Markham at an unknown time during the day.

The small plane was about to land at the airport’s runway when the pilot felt a jolt that “pushed them back on their seat”, according to a report from Transport Canada issued this week.

The pilot thought the plane hit a large bird and proceeded to land the plane, the report said.

When the pilot exited the aircraft they saw a “major dent” on the left underside of the engine cowling and the airbox was also bent.

No injuries were reported but the airplane suffered significant damage, including a propeller strike.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/plane-damaged-after-being-hit-by-york-police-drone-at-buttonville-airport-1.5554617

CBSNews - Thu, April 28, 2022, 3:08 AM

An EgyptAir crash in 2016 that killed 66 people in the Mediterranean was likely caused by a fire that started in the cockpit, according to the conclusions of French experts contained in documents revealed on Wednesday.

According to a 134-page document seen by Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera and sent to the Paris court of appeal in March, a fire on board was likely to have been caused by the conjunction of two factors.

These were a leak from the co-pilot's oxygen mask and the combustion of a cigarette smoked by the pilot or co-pilot.

After the crash in 2016, a U.S. intel source confirmed to CBS News the wreckage showed “signs of damage because of high temperature” and that a flight data recorder indicated there was smoke on board.

https://news.yahoo.com/plane-crash-killed-66-likely-100850945.html

Erin Marquis - 8 April 2022 10:00AM

A quick-thinking pilot managed to avoid disaster during an approach to Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris on Tuesday when he lost control of the aircraft during its final approach.

French officials are investigating what caused flight AF011 to suddenly abort its landing at 1,500 feet after its seven-hour flight from JFK in New York. In the meantime, AirLive published the flight recording of the very scary event. Everything was going well until about 40 seconds into the exchange between flight crew and the control tower, when a groan from the pilot and some very concerning alarms can be heard:

https://jalopnik.com/pilot-loses-control-of-777-just-1-500-feet-above-the-ta-1848768070

Simon Hradecky - Tuesday, Apr 5th 2022 19:02Z / Updated Wednesday, Apr 6th 2022 11:16Z

An Air France Boeing 777-300, registration F-GSQJ performing flight AF-11 from New York JFK,NY (USA) to Paris Charles de Gaulle (France), was on final approach to Paris' runway 26L established on localizer and cleared to land descending through about 1500 feet when the crew was heard on tower frequency audibly in distress, alarm sounds in the background, one of the pilots calling “Stop! Stop!”, “Stop it!”, tower instructed the crew to stop the approach at 1500 feet. When the aircraft descended through 1200 feet significantly having veered to the left off the localizer the autopilot disconnect wailer can finally be heard on the radio transmission, the crew manages to go around from about 1150 feet. While climbing out and levelling off at 4000 feet the crew reported they had problems with the aircraft not following commands, the aircraft did not follow the commands. The crew requested runway 27R under radar vectoring, positioned for an approach to 27R and landed without further incident.

https://avherald.com/h?article=4f700fec

Victoria Bryan - 28 April 2022

French investigators have released details showing how Air France pilots were making opposing movements to control their Boeing 777 aircraft during a serious incident while landing in Paris.
The Air France 777-300ER, registered F-GSQJ, was carrying out flight AF011 from New York-JFK (JFK) to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) on April 5, 2022 when the pilots broke off the approach.
The pilots reported to air traffic control that the plane was unresponsive to controls. In ATC audio published online, the crew can be heard struggling and calling “Stop, stop,” while warnings sound in the flight deck.
The Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) released an update into the investigation on April 27, 2022. The update explains that the aircraft was functioning normally and that, so far, the control inputs made by the pilots match with what the plane did. However, the data shows both pilots making opposing movements of the controls during the go-around procedure.

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/30863-air-france-boeing-777-incident-bea-update

André Orban - 20 February 2021

According to a spokesman for the South Limburg Safety Region, an explosion has probably occurred in engine number one of the aircraft. Metal parts such as turbine blades have come down around the Limburg town of Meerssen.

Debris hit an elderly woman, who was slightly injured as a result. A child also burned his fingers on a piece of metal.

In Meerssen several houses and cars got damaged by falling debris.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/longtail-aviation/boeing-747-loses-parts-after-take-off-from-maastricht-diverts-to-liege-two-people-injured/

The time the United States blew up a passenger plane—and tried to cover it up.

By Fred Kaplan July 23, 20145:17 PM

Fury and frustration still mount over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and justly so. But before accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes or dismissing the entire episode as a tragic fluke, it’s worth looking back at another doomed passenger plane—Iran Air Flight 655—shot down on July 3, 1988, not by some scruffy rebel on contested soil but by a U.S. Navy captain in command of an Aegis-class cruiser called the Vincennes.

A quarter-century later, the Vincennes is almost completely forgotten, but it still ranks as the world’s seventh deadliest air disaster (Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is the sixth) and one of the Pentagon’s most inexcusable disgraces.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/07/the-vincennes-downing-of-iran-air-flight-655-the-united-states-tried-to-cover-up-its-own-destruction-of-a-passenger-plane.html

A Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 with 176 people on board has crashed in Iran, and officials say there is no chance of finding survivors.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51029994

Matt Novak - 9 January 2020

Officials at the Pentagon believe the Ukrainian Airlines Flight that crashed shortly after takeoff on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board, was mistakenly shot down by Iran, according to a new report from Newsweek and follow-up reporting by CBS News and CNN.

https://gizmodo.com/pentagon-believes-iran-shot-down-ukrainian-airlines-fli-1840901315

By Arsalan Shahla, Alan Levin, and Daryna Krasnolutska

January 7, 2020, 7:42 PM PST Updated on January 8, 2020, 3:57 AM PST

A Boeing Co. 737-800 jetliner bound for Ukraine that crashed after takeoff in Iran, killing everyone on board, was most likely brought down by an engine fire, according to Tehran authorities.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-08/boeing-737-carrying-180-people-crashes-in-iran-state-media-says

Alyse Stanley - 10 January 2020 11:24PM

Iran’s military admitted to “unintentionally” shooting down a Ukrainian International Airlines passenger jet that crashed shortly after takeoff earlier this week, per a recent Associated Press report.

https://gizmodo.com/iran-says-it-unintentionally-shot-down-ukrainian-airl-1840942174

Investigator also heard pressuring family member to delete online posting critical of Iranian regime

Ashley Burke, Nahayat Tizhoosh · CBC News · Posted: Jul 03, 2020 1:33 PM ET | Last Updated: July 3

A newly released audio recording suggests Iran's highest authorities allowed commercial airliners to fly in and out of Tehran during the period of intense military activity when Flight 752 was shot down — because closing the airspace would have given away the regime's plan to strike U.S. military bases in Iraq.

CBC News obtained a recording of a 91-minute conversation that took place March 7 between a victim's family member in Canada and Hassan Rezaeifar, who was appointed the head of Iran's investigation into the downing of the Kyiv-bound Ukraine International Airlines aircraft. The crash of Flight 752 killed 176 people, including 57 Canadians.

The recording, which reveals a number of damning details about the downing of the plane and Iran's response, is also in the custody of Canadian authorities.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/audio-recording-iran-lead-investigator-flight-ps752-1.5636450

Favas Jalla - August 7, 2020 / 8:51 AM

KOZHIKODE, India (Reuters) - At least 17 people were killed and more than 100 injured when an Air India Express passenger plane repatriating Indians stranded by the COVID-19 pandemic overshot the runway in heavy rain near the southern city of Kozhikode on Friday, officials said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-crash/air-india-repatriation-flight-crash-lands-at-least-17-killed-idUSKCN2532G1

The Hindu Bureau - New Delhi, January 19, 2022 11:34 IST / Updated: January 19, 2022 21:49 IST

Two IndiGo planes came within distance of colliding with each other while taking off from Bengaluru airport earlier this month.

The incident happened on January 7, when IndiGo flights 6E 455 departing for Kolkata, and 6E 246 departing for Bhubaneshwar, were given permission to take off at the same time.

Bengaluru airport has two parallel runways — a north runway and a south runway. One runway is used for departures and the other for arrivals. Parallel runway operations, in other words simultaneous departures from two parallel runways at an airport, are not permitted in India.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/mid-air-collision-between-two-aircraft-averted-at-kempegowda-international-airport-on-january-7/article38290778.ece

Geoffrey Thomas - May 04, 2021

A new research paper by one of the world’s leading MH370 investigators has revealed that the pilot in command (PIC) of the Boeing 777 made many turns to avoid detection before it settled on its fatal course into the Southern Indian Ocean.

MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, taking 239 souls.

The paper, “Global Detection and Tracking of Aircraft as used in the Search for MH370,” by aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey uses a revolutionary new technology called Weak Signal Propagation (WSPR), which is a digital radio communication protocol.

WSPR was released in 2008 and developed by Prof. Joe Taylor, who is a Nobel Prize Laureate for Physics and a distinguished Professor of Physics at Princeton University.

https://www.airlineratings.com/news/mh370-pilot-made-many-turns-speed-changes-new-report-reveals/

Geoffrey Thomas - September 16, 2021

Using a set of tools (see below) aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey says he is “able to detect and track aircraft anywhere in the globe and at any time currently or historically going back as far as 2009.”

This system has been undergoing a number of tests that have been set up by an ex Qantas Captain Mike Glynn and adjudicated by AirlineRatings.com which have been very successful.

https://www.airlineratings.com/news/new-search-for-mh370-greatly-enhanced-by-breakthrough-flight-tracking-results/

In the search for MH370, an aerospace engineer has discovered more details about #MH370 flight path.

November 18, 2021

In the search for MH370, Richard Godfrey – an aerospace engineer – has discovered that after following the coastline of Sumatra the Boeing 777 was put into a holding pattern for 22 minutes before proceeding south.

Mr. Godfrey is using a revolutionary new tracking technology called WSPRnet to track MH370 which it is hoped will lead to a new search.

He discovered that the #MH370 did fly around the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, most likely without actually crossing the coast line and therefore passing over the territory of Indonesia.

https://www.airlive.net/new-discovery-regarding-mh370-flight-path-the-boeing-777-entered-a-holding-pattern-for-22-minutes/

By Simon Browning, Business reporter - 3 December 2021

The disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines flight, carrying 239 passengers and crew, is one of the world's biggest aviation mysteries.

But a British aeronautical engineer, who has spent more than a year working on the disaster, thinks he has calculated where MH370 crashed.

Richard Godfrey believes the Boeing 777 crashed into the Indian Ocean 2,000km west of Perth, Western Australia.

The aircraft vanished from radar during a flight in March 2014.

Mr Godfrey told the BBC he hoped “we'll be able to give closure to the next of kin and answers to the flying public and the aviation industry on exactly what happened with MH370 and how we prevent that in the future”.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59517821

Admiral Cloudberg - Mar 27, 2021

“Good night, Malaysian three seven zero.”

Seven years have now gone since this last fateful transmission, so laden with the dark shadow of premonition, that marked the passing of MH370 into the realm of legend. Exactly one minute and forty-three seconds later, a dramatic and mysterious sequence of events would begin to unfold, the opening chapter in a story that transfixed the world.

At 1:20 a.m. on the 8th of March 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared from radar over the South China Sea and embarked on an enigmatic journey to the most remote corner of the Indian Ocean. Confused authorities scrambled to find the crash site, unaware that the plane was still in the air, heading deeper into uncharted seas at the margin of the world. Even after its true path was traced, answers proved elusive. How was it possible for something as big as a Boeing 777 to simply vanish without a trace? And the million-dollar question: why? To this day, we still don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle. But over the years, enough evidence has trickled in to paint a disturbing picture of a flight that could only be considered a masterwork of airmanship directed toward nefarious ends. Indeed, the fate of the 777 is not as much of a mystery as the public discourse makes it seem — on the contrary, when all the evidence is considered, only one theory makes sense. This is the story of what really happened to MH370.

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/call-of-the-void-seven-years-on-what-do-we-know-about-the-disappearance-of-malaysia-airlines-77fa5244bf99

Scientists partially reconstruct debris drift path based on ocean temp data stored in shells.

Jennifer Ouellette - 8/24/2023, 2:37 PM

It's one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation history. In March 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport en route to Beijing and lost communication about 38 minutes into the flight. Military radar tracked the aircraft as it veered off course before the signal (and the plane) disappeared somewhere over the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean.

All 12 crew members and 227 passengers were presumed dead, and search-and-rescue efforts yielded no signs of the doomed plane apart from a few pieces of debris that washed up on coastal shores months later. Now, scientists have partially reconstructed the possible origin and drift path of that debris via a novel means: extracting data about ocean temperatures stored in shells of barnacles, according to a new paper published in the journal AGU Advances.

“Knowing the tragic story behind the mystery motivated everyone involved in this project to get the data and have this work published,” said co-author Nasser Al-Qattan, who recently received his PhD from the University of South Florida. “The plane disappeared more than nine years ago, and we all worked aiming to introduce a new approach to help resume the search, suspended in January 2017, which might help bring some closure to the families of those on the missing plane.”

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/08/barnacles-could-hold-key-to-finding-wreckage-of-malaysia-airlines-mh370/

New claim MH370 hijacked by ‘experienced pilot’ before disappearance

Nathan Schmidt - December 25, 2023 9:28AM

The mystery of missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 could be solved in a matter of “days” if there was a new search, experts have revealed.

Flight MH370 disappeared about 38 minutes after leaving Kuala Lumpur airport in southern Malaysia en route to Beijing, China, on March 8, 2014.

Despite a frantic search by governments and private companies, the plane was never found and the fate of its 237 passengers remains unknown.

In September, aerospace expert Jean-Luc Marchand and pilot Patrick Blelly called for a new search based on revelations about the fate of the flight.

During a lecture before the Royal Aeronautical Society, the pair said the new search area could be canvassed in just 10 days in an open call for help.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/new-claim-mh370-hijacked-by-experienced-pilot-before-disappearance/news-story/fde7cda0991c581cafcf504f12090362

• Unordered List ItemAerospace expert Jean-Luc Marchand and pilot Patrick Blelly called on Australian and Malaysian authorities, and exploration firm Ocean Infinity to begin a new search
• On March 8, 2014, the Malaysia Airlines aircraft with 239 people on board left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing but vanished from radar screens 2 hours after departure

The Star - 8:02pm, 25 Dec, 2023 / Updated 8:02pm, 25 Dec, 2023

Experts have called for a new search on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 following new leads on the flight.

Aerospace expert Jean-Luc Marchand and pilot Patrick Blelly called for a new search based on revelations about the fate of the flight.

The duo claimed the mystery of the missing flight could be solved in a matter of “days” if there was a new search.

During a lecture before the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, the pair said the new search area could be canvassed in 10 days in an open call for help.

“It could be a quick thing. Until the wreckage of MH370 is found, nobody knows [what happened]. But, this is a plausible trajectory,” Marchand said, according to Australian news site news.com.au.

In that same report by the news website, the pair called on Australia’s Transport Safety Authority, the Malaysian government, and Ocean Infinity – an exploration company – to start a new search.

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3246227/missing-malaysian-flight-mh370-could-be-found-days-new-search-claim-experts

Posted by msmash on Friday March 08, 2024 06:00AM

An anonymous reader shares a report:

For the past 10 years it has remained one of the modern era's greatest mysteries. A commercial airliner with a strong safety record carrying 239 people vanishing from the map, spawning a wide variety of competing theories, books and documentaries and leaving the families of those left behind asking themselves every March 8 – what happened to those aboard Malaysia Airlines flight 370?

In an era when black boxes have been successfully hauled up from the very depths of the ocean and whole chunks of a downed airliner painstakingly pieced back together to determine what caused a catastrophe, the fate of MH370 remains infuriatingly elusive. It is a plane crash without a plane. A disaster without conclusive proof of what happened to its victims. A story that anyone who embarks on a commercial flight can instantly relate to but one that, for now at least, doesn't have a closing chapter.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/03/08/1314203/10-years-on-is-the-world-any-closer-to-finding-mh370

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday March 17, 2024 04:34AM

After the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, barnacles offer “a potential breakthrough” in the search for its wreckage, reports WION:

These barnacles were discovered clinging to the initial piece of debris conclusively linked to MH370 — a flaperon bearing the distinctive marking “657 BB,” which washed ashore on Reunion Island, situated off the coast of Africa, a year following the event…

Scientists now posit that barnacles could provide invaluable insights into solving this mystery. These small creatures offer a unique biological record akin to the growth rings found in trees. Researchers speculate that by deciphering this information, it may be feasible to retrace the barnacles' trajectory along the flaperon, potentially leading investigators to the crash site.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/03/16/239221/tiny-sea-creatures-could-help-unravel-flight-mh370s-mysterious-disappearance

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday May 26, 2024 12:05PM

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished in 2014 — and efforts continue to find it. In 2018 a UK-based video producer claimed to have discovered the crashed aircraft on Google Maps — but Newsweek pointed out the same wreckage “is visible in imagery dating back to January 1, 2004 — more than a decade before MH370 disappeared.”

Marine robotics company Ocean Infinity also failed to find the aircraft after a five-month search in 2018 — but has returned to the headlines this March, writes the Independent, “claiming that they have scientific evidence” for the flight's final resting place. (The company's CEO says the last six years they've been “innovating with technology and robotics to further advance our ocean search capabilities.”)

And this week Indian Express reported that researchers from the UK's Cardiff University investigating the mystery “have come up with a novel plan to unravel it — sea explosions.”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/05/26/193242/could-sea-explosions-finally-locate-the-2014-crash-site-of-flight-mh370

Ocean Infinity, a Texas-based marine robotics company, will deploy a more advanced fleet of search vessels in pursuit of the missing plane.

Ellyn Lapointe - December 4, 2025

It’s been over a decade since Malaysia Airlines flight 370 and the 239 souls on board vanished over the southern Indian Ocean. Years of extensive, international search efforts have failed to locate the plane, but an American tech company believes it could finally find it.

On Wednesday, the Malaysian Ministry of Transport announced that Ocean Infinity, a marine robotics firm based in Austin, Texas, will recommence seabed search operations for MH370 on December 30. The company will hunt for the plane intermittently over the course of 55 days, working within a “targeted area assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft.” That area spans roughly 5,800 square miles (15,000 square kilometers).

Ocean Infinity signed a “no-find, no-fee” contract with the Ministry in March and will be paid $70 million if it recovers wreckage from MH370. This isn’t the first time the company has tried to find the plane; its initial search in 2018 turned up nothing. This time, Ocean Infinity will deploy a more advanced fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).

https://gizmodo.com/the-hunt-for-missing-malaysia-flight-370-is-back-on-heres-why-it-might-actually-work-2000695861

Asha Thapa, Kathleen Magramo and Sugam Pokharel, CNN - Updated 7:03 PM EST, Sun January 15, 2023

Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said he was “deeply saddened by the sad and tragic accident.”

“I sincerely appeal to the security personnel, all agencies of the Nepal government and the general public to start an effective rescue,” Dahal said on Twitter.

The government declared Monday a public holiday to mourn the victims, a spokesman for the prime minister said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin both conveyed their condolences, as did Australia’s ambassador to Nepal.

Nepal’s Yeti Airlines said it was canceling all regular flights on Monday, January 16, in mourning for the victims of the crash.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/15/asia/nepal-yeti-airlines-crash-intl-hnk/index.html

Nepal Plane Crash: The video opens with shots of passengers sitting inside the plane and the city below seen from the window as the plane circles before landing.

India NewsReported by Alok PandeyUpdated - January 16, 2023 11:16 am IST

New Delhi:

A cellphone recovered from the wreckage of the Yeti Airlines flight that crashed in Nepal today, has apparently captured the final, very disturbing moments of the flight. The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft from Kathmandu – which carried 72 people – crashed shortly before landing in Pokhara, a major tourist destination in the Himalayan nation. At least 68 of the passengers are dead.

The video, which is making the rounds of social media, opens with shots of passengers sitting inside the plane and the city below seen from the window as the plane circles before landing. Suddenly there is an explosion and the screen goes topsy-turvy. The final few seconds show a horrifying fire outside the window and cries of distraught passengers can be heard.

NDTV could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

Another video from the ground had captured the flight's progress as it started landing. The plane suddenly tilted to the left, turned upside down and reports say it then burst into a ball of fire.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/video-indian-passenger-shot-last-moments-of-nepal-plane-before-it-crashed-3695120

A video of the deadly airline crash in Nepal was recorded by four passengers in the moments leading up to the fatal wreck.

Nikki Main - 17 January 2023

The final moments aboard the deadly Yeti Airlines plane heading for Nepal surfaced in a video mere moments before the aircraft came crashing to the ground following an explosion on Sunday, killing all 72 passengers on board.

In a Facebook live video posted in the minutes before the plane went down, Sonu Jaiswal recorded himself and his three friends who were headed to Pokhara. They can be heard laughing and joking as the plane began its final descent.

https://gizmodo.com/nepal-airline-blackbox-facebook-live-plane-crash-1849995200

Simon Hradecky - Thursday, Apr 7th 2022 18:32Z / Updated Friday, Apr 8th 2022 19:40Z

A DHL Aero Expreso Boeing 757-200, registration HP-2010DAE performing flight D0-7216 from San Jose (Costa Rica) to Guatemala City (Guatemala) with 2 crew, was climbing out of San Jose's runway 07 at about 09:40L (15:40Z) when the crew stopped the climb at about FL210 declaring Mayday due to a hydraulic failure. The aircraft entered a hold while the crew worked the related checklists. The aircraft subsequently returned for an approach to runway 07 about 45 minutes after departure. After touchdown at 10:24L (16:24Z) the crew lost control of the aircraft, which spun around and went off the runway causing the aircraft to break up into two parts, both main gear struts collapsed. The crew was able to exit the aircraft without serious injuries.

https://avherald.com/h?article=4f719c2d

Malek Fouda - 25/12/2024 8:53 GMT+1 / Updated 26/12/2024 1:42 GMT+1

According to Azerbaijan Airlines, 37 passengers were Azerbaijani citizens. There were also 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhstani and three Kyrgyzstani citizens.

An Azerbaijan Airlines crashed on Wednesday morning in the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 on board the Embraer 190, according to officials.

Euronews has obtained information from official sources linked to the crash investigation stating that while nearing the Russian city of Grozny — the flight’s destination — surviving passengers heard an explosion followed by what looked like shrapnel hitting the plane and damaging the fuselage.

The information obtained by Euronews corresponds with a news report from Azerbaijan-based international news channel AnewZ, which quotes a Russian military blogger who claims that “the damage to the aircraft suggests that plane may have been accidentally struck by an air-defence missile system”.

Grozny is heavily defended, as Chechnya and Ramzan Kadyrov’s fighters remain essential to the Kremlin in Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion of its western neighbour, making the Chechen capital a potential target for Ukraine's drones.

If confirmed, the incident would correlate with the 2014 downing of the MH17 airliner by Russian-backed forces in the Donbas, also with a surface-to-air missile.

https://www.euronews.com/2024/12/25/azerbaijani-passenger-plane-crashes-near-kazakh-city-of-aktau

Joshua Nelken-Zitser - Updated Thu, December 26, 2024 at 6:28 AM PST

The president of Azerbaijan Airlines praised the pilots of flight J2-8243 after the plane, carrying 67 people, crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Although both pilots were among the 38 fatalities reported by Kazakh authorities, nearly half the passengers— 29 people —survived.

Samir Rzayev, who heads up the airline, also known as AZAL, told reporters on Wednesday that the two pilot's “heroism will never be forgotten.”

“While this tragic accident brought a significant loss to our nation, the crew's valiant dedication to their duties until the last moment and their prioritization of human life have immortalized their names in history,” Rzayev said, according to the Azerbaijani news agency Report.

Rzayev said the pilots collectively had over 15,000 flight hours and that the plane had recently passed a technical inspection.

“Despite these measures, the causes of the incident are still under investigation,” Rzayev added.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/airline-praises-pilots-crash-landing-115957946.html

AnewZ - December 26, 2024 16:40

AnewZ has learned from Azerbaijani government sources that the preliminary results of the investigation revealed that an Azerbaijani Airlines plane traveling on the Baku-Grozny route was attacked on its approach to the city of Grozny by the Russian Pantsir-S air defense system.

Moreover, as a result of the use of electronic warfare systems by the Russian side, the communication system of the Azerbaijani aircraft was completely paralyzed. It was with this circumstance that the plane disappeared from radars in the Russian airspace, and was restored only in the area of the Caspian Sea.

It should be noted that according to Russian sources, at the time of the flight over the territory of Chechnya, Russian air defense forces tried to shoot down Ukrainian UAVs. Thus, the head of the Security Council of the Chechen Republic, Khamzat Kadyrov, confirmed the fact of a drone attack on Grozny on the morning of December 25, noting that there were no casualties or damage. In such a case, the Russian side was obliged to close its airspace to civilian aircraft, which, however, was not done.

As is known, the airport in Grozny did not give permission for the plane to land. Moreover, our flight was also not given permission to land at the airports in Makhachkala and Mineralnye Vody. The disoriented crew of the flight, which was subjected to air defense fire and electronic warfare systems, was recommended to land in the Kazakh city of Aktau. Presumably, this recommendation was given for one purpose: for the plane to fall into the Caspian Sea, all witnesses would be killed and the plane would sink.

https://anewz.tv/region/south-caucasus/1431/anewz-exclusive-preliminary-investigation-confirms-russian/news

Ukraine official also says crash caused by Russian air defence fire, while Russia plays down involvement

Ashifa Kassam, Pjotr Sauer and agencies - Thu 26 Dec 2024 12.23 EST

Russia and Kazakhstan have sought to play down speculation about the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, as a US official said there were early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the plane.

The assertion comes after a Ukrainian national security official and several sources in Azerbaijan claimed that the crash, which killed 38 people on Christmas Day, was caused by Russian air defence fire.

The plane, which was flying from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to the Russian city of Grozny in Chechnya, came down in a field near Aktau in Kazakhstan after veering hundreds of miles off its planned route. Twenty-nine people survived.

Video of the crash appeared to show the plane plummeting out of the sky and bursting into flames as it hit the ground, and thick, black plumes of smoke rising.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/26/russia-seeks-to-play-down-speculation-over-azerbaijan-airlines-crash

AEROXPLORER.COM STAFF - December 26, 2024

Azerbaijani government sources have confirmed that a Russian Pantir-S1 surface-to-air missile was the cause of the Embraer E190 crash on Christmas Day.

The aircraft, an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer E190, registered 4K-AZ65, was operating a scheduled passenger service from Baku to Grozny when it attempted to make an emergency landing near Aktau, Kazakhstan.

Video recorded by witnesses shows the aircraft crashing before it reached the airport. Of the 72 passengers and crew onboard, 38 were killed.

According to Euronews, a missile was fired at the aircraft during drone activity and exploded beside the aircraft. The explosion sent shrapnel into the aircraft, even impacting passengers and crew.

At the time, Russian air defense forces were attempting to shoot down Ukrainian UAVs in the area. AnewZ said that during operations such as this, Russian aviation authorities were required to close down airspace to civil aircraft. However, for unknown reasons, this was not done.

https://aeroxplorer.com/articles/missile-strike-confirmed-as-cause-of-azerbaijan-e190-crash.php

Airline suspends 5-times-a-week route; officials say Russian air defenses shot down Azerbaijan Airlines plane that diverted from an area frequently targeted by Ukrainian drones

Sharon Wrobel - 26 December 2024, 10:44 pm

Israel’s flagship carrier El Al said Thursday that it was suspending all of its flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow for the coming week, as Azeri officials said a passenger jet that crashed in Kazakhstan Wednesday had been downed by Russian air defenses.

The Kan public broadcaster said the decision also stemmed from Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian airports. Earlier on Wednesday, the Russian defense ministry had reported the downing of 59 Ukrainian drones over several regions, it said.

Citing “developments in Russia’s airspace,” El Al said it would assess over the next week whether to resume the route and would soon update passengers on developments.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/el-al-pausing-flights-to-moscow-for-a-week-after-passenger-jet-said-downed-by-russia/

Paul Kirby & Konul Khalilova - 27 December 2024

Azerbaijan's transport minister has said the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on 25 December was subjected to “external interference” and damaged inside and out, as it tried to land in Russia's southern republic of Chechnya.

“All [the survivors] without exception stated they heard three blast sounds when the aircraft was above Grozny,” said Rashad Nabiyev.

The plane is thought to have come under fire from Russian air defence systems before being diverted across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, where it crashed with the loss of 38 lives.

The Kremlin has refused to comment, but the head of Russia's civil aviation agency said the situation in Grozny was “very complicated” at the time and a closed-skies protocol had been put in place.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4717j21kko

Ju-min Park, Hongji Kim and Hyunsu Yim - December 29, 2024 12:46 PM PST

MUAN COUNTY, South Korea, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The deadliest air accident ever in South Korea killed 179 people on Sunday, when an airliner belly-landed and skidded off the end of the runway, erupting in a fireball as it slammed into a wall at Muan International Airport.

Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 175 passengers and six crew on board, was trying to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea's transport ministry said. Two crew members survived and were being treated for injuries.

The deadliest air accident on South Korean soil was also the worst involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades, the transport ministry said.

The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 was seen in local media video skidding down the runway with no visible landing gear before crashing into navigation equipment and a wall in an explosion of flames and debris.

“Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of (the plane) looks almost impossible to recognise,” Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a press briefing.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/plane-drives-off-runway-crashes-airport-south-korea-yonhap-reports-2024-12-29/

Posted by msmash on Monday December 30, 2024 12:18PM

South Korean officials said Monday they will conduct safety inspections of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country's airlines, as they struggle to determine what caused a plane crash that killed 179 people a day earlier. From a report:

Sunday's crash, the country's worst aviation disaster in decades, triggered an outpouring of national sympathy. Many people worry how effectively the South Korean government will handle the disaster as it grapples with a leadership vacuum following the recent successive impeachments of President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the country's top two officials, amid political tumult caused by Yoon's brief imposition of martial law earlier this month.

New acting President Choi Sang-mok on Monday presided over a task force meeting on the crash and instructed authorities to conduct an emergency review of the country's aircraft operation systems. “The essence of a responsible response would be renovating the aviation safety systems on the whole to prevent recurrences of similar incidents and building a safer Republic of South Korea,” said Choi, who is also deputy prime minister and finance minister.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/12/30/2018226/south-korea-to-inspect-boeing-aircraft-as-it-struggles-to-find-cause-of-plane-crash

Families will be taken to the site Wednesday to pay their respects.

Joohee Cho and Will Gretsky - December 31, 2024, 6:45 PM

As the investigation continues into the specific cause of the Jeju Air plane crash, authorities announced that all 179 of those who died have been identified as of Wednesday morning in South Korea.

Victims' families will, for the first time, be taken to the site to pay their respects later in the day.

In addition to South Korea's transportation department and other local authorities, the United States sent a team to aid in the investigation that includes advisers from the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and CFM International, a jet-engine maker.

It also includes three representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Some will be posted on-site while others consult remotely.

“Additional NTSB investigative staff are standing by to assist if needed, including specialists in recorders, powerplants, and survival factors, among other specialties,” the NTSB said in a statement.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/179-victims-died-jeju-air-plane-crash-identified/story?id=117242487

David Mercer, BBC News - 31 December 2024

Aviation experts have raised questions about an “unusual” concrete wall near the runway and its role in the South Korea plane crash that killed 179 people.

Footage shows the Jeju Air plane coming off the runway before colliding with the wall and bursting into flames at Muan International Airport on Sunday.

Authorities investigating the cause of South Korea's worst-ever plane crash are considering the significance of the concrete wall's location about 250m (820ft) off the end of the runway.

Air safety expert David Learmount said that, had the “obstruction” not been there, the plane “would have come to rest with most - possibly all - those on board still alive”.

The pilot reported that the plane had struck a bird and then aborted the original landing and requested permission to land from the opposite direction.

The plane came down some distance along the 2,800m runway and appeared to land without using its wheels or any other landing gear.

Mr Learmount said the landing was “as good as a flapless/gearless touchdown could be: wings level, nose not too high to avoid breaking the tail” and the plane had not sustained substantial damage as it slid along the runway.

“The reason so many people died was not the landing as such, but the fact that the aircraft collided with a very hard obstruction just beyond the runway end,” he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mvynnxzzmo

Michael Luciano - Jan 29th, 2025, 9:34 pm

A passenger jet heading inbound from Wichita, Kansas collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter midair near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in northern Virginia on Wednesday night.

Flights at the airport have been halted while search and rescue teams survey the area for survivors in the Potomac River. CNN reported that there were 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the plane, which is at least partially submerged. Fox News reported that there were three soldiers aboard the helicopter.

Officials say at least 18 bodies have been recovered.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, preliminary indications are that the plane involved was a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet. PSA is a regional carrier that operates flights for American Airlines.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/breaking-commercial-jet-collides-with-police-chopper-near-reagan-airport/

Lex Harvey, CNN - Updated 12:21 AM EST, Thu January 30, 2025

A frantic search for survivors is underway after a passenger plane collided with a US Army helicopter midair near Reagan National Airport outside of Washington, DC Wednesday night.

Emergency personnel are conducting search and rescue efforts in the freezing Potomac River, where the plane crashed. A law enforcement source said there have been confirmed fatalities, but did not specify how many. There were 64 people on board the plane and the three soldiers in the Army helicopter, according to American Airlines and a US defense official.

Here’s what we know about the crash, which experts warn could be the deadliest air disaster involving a US passenger plane in decades.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/29/us/plane-crash-potomac-river-dc-hnk

Trump provided no evidence and said it was “common sense” the crash was caused by diversity in hiring.

Matt Novak - January 30, 2025

President Donald Trump held a rambling, unhinged press conference Thursday about the midair collision between a commercial plane and military helicopter in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night that killed 67 people. The entire press conference was a long series of excuses about why Trump’s administration wasn’t to blame for the crash and the president repeatedly said “diversity” in hiring of air traffic controllers was to blame.

“The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website. Can you imagine?” Trump said.

Trump said the Democratic presidents that preceded him were to blame for the crash because they instituted policies that hired people who were unqualified to be air traffic controllers.

“You had a helicopter and a plane. That shouldn’t have happened,” Trump said. “And we’ll see. We’re going to look into that and we’re going to see. But certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. Somebody that’s psychologically superior. And that’s what we’re going to have.”

https://gizmodo.com/trump-blames-dei-for-plane-crash-that-killed-67-in-ridiculous-press-conference-2000557005

Dylan Stableford, Yahoo News Staff - Updated Fri, January 31, 2025 at 1:49 PM PST

An American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, killing 67 people. It was the deadliest air disaster in the United States since 2001.

The commercial flight from Wichita, Kan., carrying 60 passengers and four crew members was preparing to land at Reagan National Airport around 9 p.m. ET. At the same time, a Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers as part of a training mission was flying nearby, according to the Defense Department.

Both aircraft collided in midair before plummeting into the frigid river below. There were no survivors, officials said. More than 40 bodies have been recovered from the water, the Associated Press reported.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/live/dc-plane-crash-live-updates-2-black-boxes-found-67-dead-after-american-airlines-jet-collides-with-military-helicopter-133227364.html

Gary Leff - January 30, 2025

After last night’s horrific collision of an American Eagle jet and a Black Hawk helicopter, there’s been a rush to pushing pet agendas.

Some people want to shut down Washington’s National airport, or curtail flights. This is especially true for those who were against adding a mere 5 new slots there as part of FAA Reauthorization (flights that haven’t started yet, by the way). It’s at least as good a question what purpose having so many military aircraft operating inside the approach path of that airport serves.

Others (on the left) are quick to blame President Trump, because the FAA Administrator chose not to serve into Trump’s second term and – a mere 10 days into the new administration – there’s not yet a new, permanent, Senate-confirmed leader at the agency.

While a pet issue on the right points to diversity hiring of air traffic controllers as an issue, when there are much bigger issues with air traffic control in the U.S. and the individuals hired by the FAA were qualified.

Mostly, though, we don’t have a sufficient understanding of the causes of the incident yet to jump on a pet horse. Be very skeptical of anyone pushing solutions of laying blame at this stages.

https://viewfromthewing.com/collision-on-final-approach-sparks-dei-blame-game-the-faas-real-air-traffic-control-crisis-runs-much-deeper/

“Right now, we're just asking for prayers,” Mayor Cherelle Parker said. She urged residents to stay away from the scene.

6abc Digital Staff Image - Saturday, February 1, 2025 9:40AM

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) – At least seven people are dead and another 19 are injured after a plane crash and massive explosion in Northeast Philadelphia on Friday.

Those killed include six people on the medical transport jet, including a child, and a person on the ground who was inside a vehicle.

At least 19 others were injured, Mayor Cherelle Parker said during a briefing Saturday morning.

Officials did not specify the extent of those injuries but did say the injury and death toll could change, adding that it could be days or more before we know the totals for sure.

Jefferson Health told Action News that they provided care for 15 individuals, and 12 have since been discharged. Two people have been admitted for further care and one patient was transferred to another hospital.

Temple University Hospital said Saturday morning that six patients were treated and released from the Jeanes Campus. One person is hospitalized at Main Campus and is listed in fair condition.

https://6abc.com/post/northeast-philadelphia-small-plane-crash-cottman-Roosevelt-Boulevard/15852260/

The medical transport jet crash on Jan. 31 killed seven, including a child.

Jack Moore and Bill Hutchinson - February 2, 2025, 4:05 PM

Investigators have located the engines and cockpit voice recorder from the small medical transport jet that crashed in Philadelphia Friday evening, killing seven people.

The jet, which was carrying a child and her mother along with four other people, was in the air for less than a minute after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport before coming down in a fiery “high-impact” crash.

The Learjet 55, operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, took off at 6:06 p.m. Friday, climbed to about 1,500 feet and then rapidly descended, according to National Transportation Safety Board investigator Bill Hicks.

“The entire flight lasted less than a minute,” Hicks said.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/medical-transport-jet-air-minute-crash-philadelphia-ntsb/story?id=118349323

Isaac Avilucea, Kristen Hinman, & Mike D'Onofrio - Updated 2 February 2025

Investigators continue combing through the wreckage of the small jet crash that rocked Northeast Philadelphia Friday night, leaving a gaping hole in the ground — and through the heart of residents still reeling from the tragedy.

The big picture: The plane crash followed the country's deadliest aviation disaster in more than 20 years, when an American Airlines passenger jet carrying 64 people collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers on Wednesday night outside of D.C.

The latest: At least 22 people were injured in the Philly crash, including five who remained hospitalized — three of them in critical condition, Mayor Cherelle Parker said Sunday morning. City officials declined to confirm the names of the victims.

At least 11 homes were damaged, but the city isn't sure how many people have been displaced, the city's Managing Director Adam Thiel said Sunday.

https://www.axios.com/local/philadelphia/2025/02/01/plane-crash-northeast-philly

Heroic work to recover and repair a CVR.

Nate Anderson – Mar 12, 2025 2:39 PM

Cottman Avenue in northern Philadelphia is a busy but slightly down-on-its-luck urban thoroughfare that has had a strange couple of years.

You might remember the truly bizarre 2020 press conference held—for no discernible reason—at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a half block off Cottman Avenue, where a not-yet-disbarred Rudy Giuliani led an farcical ensemble of characters in an event so weird it has been immortalized in its own, quite lengthy, Wikipedia article.

Then in 2023, a truck carrying gasoline caught fire just a block away, right where Cottman passes under I-95. The resulting fire damaged I-95 in both directions, bringing down several lanes and closing I-95 completely for some time. (This also generated a Wikipedia article.)

This year, on January 31, a little further west on Cottman, a Learjet 55 medevac flight crashed one minute after takeoff from Northeast Philadelphia Airport. The plane, fully loaded with fuel for a trip to Springfield, Missouri, came down near a local mall, clipped a commercial sign, and exploded in a fireball when it hit the ground. The crash generated a debris field 1,410 feet long and 840 feet wide, according to the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB), and it killed six people on the plane and one person on the ground.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/cockpit-voice-recorder-survived-fiery-philly-crash-but-stopped-taping-years-ago/

Chris Nesi and Caitlin McCormack - Feb. 17, 2025 / Updated Feb. 17, 2025, 6:14 p.m. ET

A Delta Air Lines plane crash-landed and flipped upside-down on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday — and miraculously everyone on board escaped the wreck without critical injuries, officials said.

Seventeen people were hurt, though none of them were believed to have been badly injured, when Delta Flight 4819 crashed on landing at the snowy runway in Canada’s largest city, Toronto Pearson CEO Deborah Flint said at a press conference on Monday evening.

Paramedics had previously said that 18 people were injured with three in critical condition, including a child before Flint shared the update.

All 80 people made it off the plane before it burst into flames.

The flight, operated by the airline’s subsidiary Endeavor Air, took off from Minneapolis about 11:47 a.m. and crashed at about 2:15 p.m.

It was not immediately clear what caused the plane to go belly-up. The mangled airliner smoldering was left on the snowy runway as dazed passengers scrambled out.

https://nypost.com/2025/02/17/world-news/delta-airlines-flight-upside-down-after-crash-at-toronto-pearson-international-airport/

Stephen Swanson - Mon, February 17, 2025 at 6:30 PM PST

At least 17 people are injured after a Delta Air Lines plane flipped upside down while landing amid wintry conditions Monday at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration says 80 people were aboard Flight 4819, which originated from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

According to Deborah Flint, president and CEO of Toronto Pearson International Airport, the plane was carrying four crew and 76 passengers, among them, 22 Canadians. The other passengers were multinational.

“Airport emergency workers mounted a textbook response, reaching the site within minutes and quickly evacuating the passengers,” Flint said during a news conference Monday night.

She added that 17 passengers have been taken to local area hospitals.

Peel Regional Paramedic Services initially classified two adults and one child as being in critical condition. The Hospital for Sick Children said a pediatric patient it received is now in good condition. The rest of the injuries are minor to moderate, officials said.

The critically injured adults — a woman in her 40s and a man in his 60s — were airlifted to the hospital, according to air ambulance service officials.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/plane-reportedly-crashes-while-arriving-202716109.html

At least 18 people have been taken to hospitals, airport officials said.

Emily Shapiro, Meredith Deliso, Will Gretsky, Sam Sweeney, Ayesha Ali, and Clara McMichael - February 17, 2025, 5:50 PM

A Delta flight crashed while landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday and the plane was seen upside-down on the snow-covered ground.

At least 18 passengers have been taken to hospitals, airport officials said in an update Monday evening.

Peel Regional Paramedic Services said none of the injuries were considered to be life-threatening.

Three people suffered critical injuries – one child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s – according to Ornge, which provides medical transport. The child was transported to the Hospital for Sick Children and is listed in good condition, the hospital said Monday evening.

Among the others, 12 people have mild injuries, Peel Regional Paramedics Services said.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/delta-flight-incident-arrival-toronto-airport-passengers-crew/story?id=118903345

Aircraft didn't even get its wheels up before sinking into suburban area

Iain Thomson - Thu 12 Jun 2025 20:02 UTC

A Boeing 787 flying from India to London's Gatwick airport has crashed, leaving one reported survivor among the 242 people aboard.

Air India Flight 171 took off from Ahmedabad in western India around 1:38 pm local time. Flightradar data shows it climbed to just 625 feet, then began losing altitude at around 500 feet per minute. The aircraft reportedly went down in the Meghani Nagar neighborhood near the airport, hitting a hostel at B.J. Medical College, along with nearby homes and businesses. Air India 787 crash

Many more thought to be dead or injured on the ground. Source: The Indian Central Industrial Security Force.

Air India confirmed the crash and offered some details in a statement.

“The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 1338 hrs, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft,” it said. “Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals.”

Grainy video footage of the incident appears to show the aircraft losing power within seconds of takeoff. The landing gear had not even been retracted before it began to sink to the ground and it looks as though the aircraft's flaps, used to provide extra lift, were not deployed.

Remarkably, it appears that one passenger survived the crash. British Indian Vishwashkumar Ramesh, 40, was flying with his brother to London when the plane crashed. From his boarding card, Ramesh was in seat 11A, which the seat map for this kind of aircraft shows was the economy row next to one of the emergency exits.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/12/air_india_787_crash/

Thursday’s crash is the first time a Boeing Dreamliner has been involved in a major accident.

Matt Novak - June 12, 2025

A London-bound plane carrying 242 people crashed in Ahmedabad, India, shortly after takeoff on Thursday. Air India flight 171 crashed into B.J. Medical College, where early reports suggest dozens more have been killed on the ground, according to the New Indian Express. There was one survivor from the plane, according to the BBC.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh survived the crash, according to the Hindustan Times and the BBC, which cites Ahmedabad’s police chief GS Malik as a source. The man, a 40-year-old British national, is quoted as saying, “30 seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly. When I got up, there were bodies all around me.”

A photo purporting to show the survivor’s Air India plane ticket, seat 11A, has gone viral. Local officials initially reported that no passengers aboard the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 had survived. But video from the scene shows one man walking away.

First responders on the ground have reportedly recovered 204 bodies, according to the BBC. But that leaves 38 people unaccounted for, though Ahmedabad’s police chief, GS Malik, told the British broadcaster that 41 people were injured. Part of the confusion seems to be the fact that a number of people had been killed and injured on the ground when the plane crashed into the medical college.

The majority of the passengers on the flight were Indian nationals, with 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals, and 1 Canadian national, according to Australia’s ABC News.

https://gizmodo.com/one-survivor-walks-away-from-air-india-plane-crash-that-killed-241-report-2000614968

ET Online - Updated Jun 12, 2025, 02:11:00 PM IST

A plane has crashed near Ahmedabad Airport on Thursday. Smoke billows is seen emanating from Adani airport premises near Meghaninagar .

More details awaited.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/plane-crashes-near-ahmedabad-airport-smoke-seen-emanating-from-adani-airport-premises/articleshow/121798578.cms

Ajit Solanki and RAJESH ROY - Updated 3:53 PM PDT, June 12, 2025

AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — An Air India plane bound for London crashed in a residential area of Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff Thursday, killing 241 people on board, the airline said. One passenger who was thrown from the plane survived.

At least five medical students in a college hostel were killed when the plane hit the building and burst into flames, according to a medical association officer.

“Most of the bodies have been charred beyond recognition,” said Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer in the city in northwestern India.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah confirmed that he met the sole survivor at the hospital. A doctor said he had examined the survivor, whom he identified as Vishwashkumar Ramesh.

“He was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body,” Dr. Dhaval Gameti told The Associated Press. “But he seems to be out of danger.”

https://apnews.com/article/india-plane-crash-cad8dad5cd0e92795b03d357404af5f8

Google's disclaimer says AI “may include mistakes,” which is an understatement.

Ryan Whitwam – Jun 12, 2025 11:25 AM

When major events occur, most people rush to Google to find information. Increasingly, the first thing they see is an AI Overview, a feature that already has a reputation for making glaring mistakes. In the wake of a tragic plane crash in India, Google's AI search results are spreading misinformation claiming the incident involved an Airbus plane—it was actually a Boeing 787.

Travelers are more attuned to the airliner models these days after a spate of crashes involving Boeing's 737 lineup several years ago. Searches for airline disasters are sure to skyrocket in the coming days, with reports that more than 200 passengers and crew lost their lives in the Air India Flight 171 crash. The way generative AI operates means some people searching for details may get the wrong impression from Google's results page.

Not all searches get AI answers, but Google has been steadily expanding this feature since it debuted last year. One searcher on Reddit spotted a troubling confabulation when searching for crashes involving Airbus planes. AI Overviews, apparently overwhelmed with results reporting on the Air India crash, stated confidently (and incorrectly) that it was an Airbus A330 that fell out of the sky shortly after takeoff. We've run a few similar searches—some of the AI results say Boeing, some say Airbus, and some include a strange mashup blaming both Airbus and Boeing. It's a mess.

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/google-ai-mistakenly-says-fatal-air-india-crash-involved-airbus-instead-of-boeing/

Hafsa Khalil, BBC News - 12 June 2025

The British man who was the sole survivor of Thursday's Air India plane crash said he managed to escape the wreckage through an opening in the fuselage.

“I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out,” Vishwashkumar Ramesh told Indian state media DD News.

Mr Ramesh, 40, was in seat 11A on the London-bound Boeing 787 flight when it went down shortly after take off in Ahmedabad, western India on Thursday.

Air India said all other passengers and crew were killed - including 169 Indian nationals and 52 British nationals. More than 200 bodies have been recovered so far, though it is unclear how many were passengers and how many were from the ground.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Ramesh said the lights inside the aircraft “started flickering” moments after take off.

Within five to 10 seconds, it felt like the plane was “stuck in the air”, he said.

“The lights started flickering green and white…suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.”

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a building used as accommodation for doctors at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd901xn4001o

Posted by msmash on Wednesday June 18, 2025 @11:41AM

Investigators believe Air India Flight 171 had an emergency-power generator operating when it crashed last week, raising questions about whether the plane's engines functioned properly during takeoff. WSJ:

The preliminary finding [non-paywalled source], according to people familiar with the probe, gives investigators a new line of inquiry as they study a crash that killed all but one of the plane's passengers. In all, at least 270 people died following the crash, including some on the ground in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

The emergency system is known as a ram air turbine. It is a small propeller that drops from the bottom of the 787 Dreamliner's fuselage to serve as a backup generator. Engines normally produce electricity for an aircraft and help run its flight-control systems. The power generated by the RAT can enable crucial aircraft components to function. The system can deploy automatically in flight if both engines have failed or if all three hydraulic system pressures are low, according to an airline's Boeing 787 manual reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

It can also deploy if cockpit instruments lose power or problems emerge with the aircraft's electric motor pumps. Pilots can manually deploy the RAT if needed. The most common occurrence is when a pilot thinks that both engines failed, according to Anthony Brickhouse, a U.S.-based aerospace safety consultant. Engine failures can result from a variety of causes, including bird strikes or problems with fuel.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/06/18/1759205/boeing-787s-emergency-power-system-likely-active-before-air-india-crash

Scott Hamilton - June 15, 2025

The Paris Air Show was supposed to be another step, however small, in Boeing’s way back from six years from crisis after crisis, safety and quality concerns, criminal investigations, Congressional hearings and existential threats following two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boeing wasn’t bringing any MAXes, 777X or 787s to the air show. There would be no awe-inspiring flight displays. The cost wasn’t worth it given Boeing’s billions of dollars in losses in recent years.

Nevertheless, Boeing planned low-key executive appearances and media events.

And then, four days before the show was to officially begin tomorrow, Air India flight 171 crashed, killing 241 of 242 people on board and at least three dozen on the ground where the 14-year-old 787-8 pancaked in to a densely packed residential and educational area only two kilometers from the airport.

Videos of the event showed the 787 using up almost all of the 11,500 ft runway to take off in a cloud of dust (presumably the overrun area), barely climbing a few hundred feet, dipping and climbing slightly again before smoothly descending into an explosive ball of smoke and flame on impact out of view of the cameras.

https://leehamnews.com/2025/06/15/five-for-five-air-india-crash-points-to-systemic-problems-at-boeing-ceo-ortberg-must-fix/

Mihir Mishra, Bloomberg - 2 July 2025

More than two weeks after the deadly crash of an Air India plane that killed all but one of the 242 people on board, investigators and the airline are studying possible dual engine failure as a scenario that prevented the Boeing Co. 787 jet from staying airborne.

Pilots from the airline reenacted the doomed aircraft's parameters in a flight simulator, including with the landing gear deployed and the wing flaps retracted, and found those settings alone didn't cause a crash, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The result, alongside the previous discovery that an emergency-power turbine deployed seconds before impact, has reinforced the focus on a technical failure as one possible cause, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public deliberations.

The simulated flight was conducted separately from the official probe being led by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, or AAIB, and was done to explore possible scenarios, one of the people said.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/india/simulation-of-crashed-air-india-jet-puts-focus-on-technical-flaw/ar-AA1HNIg5

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday July 06, 2025 04:36PM

Investigators of a deadly Boeing 787 crash “are studying possible dual engine failure as a scenario that prevented the Boeing Co. 787 jet from staying airborne,” reports Bloomberg:

Pilots from the airline reenacted the doomed aircraft's parameters in a flight simulator, including with the landing gear deployed and the wing flaps retracted, and found those settings alone didn't cause a crash, according to people familiar with the investigation. [Also, analysis of the wreckage “suggests the wing flaps and slats, which help an aircraft increase lift during takeoff, were extended correctly.”]

The result, alongside the previous discovery that an emergency-power turbine deployed seconds before impact, has reinforced the focus on a technical failure as one possible cause, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing nonpublic deliberations… [The turbine deploys “in the case of electrical failure,” the article points out, and “was activated before the plane crashed, according to previous findings. That fan helps provide the aircraft with vital power, though it's far too small to generate any lift.”]

Pilots who reviewed the footage have pointed to the fact that the landing gear was already partially tilted forward, suggesting the cockpit crew had initiated the retraction sequence of the wheels. At the same time, the landing-gear doors had not opened, which pilots say might mean that the aircraft experienced a loss of power or a hydraulic failure — again pointing to possible issues with the engines that provide the aircraft's electricity.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/06/2334202/simulation-of-crashed-boeing-787-put-focus-on-a-technical-flaw

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday July 12, 2025 @07:34AM

Slashdot reader hcs_$reboot shared this report from NPR:

A pair of switches that control the fuel supply to the engines were set to “cutoff” moments before the crash of Air India Flight 171, according to a preliminary report from India's Air Accident Investigation Bureau released early Saturday in India… Indian investigators determined the jet was properly configured and lifted off normally. But three seconds after takeoff, the engines' fuel switches were cut off. It's not clear why.

According to the report, data from the flight recorders show that the two fuel control switches were switched from the “run” position to “cutoff” shortly after takeoff. In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots can be heard asking the other “why did he cutoff,” the report says, while “the other pilot responded that he did not do so.” Moments later, the report says, the fuel switches were returned to the “run” position. But by then, the plane had begun to lose thrust and altitude. Both the engines appeared to relight, according to investigators, but only one of them was able to begin generating thrust.

The report does not draw any further conclusions about why the switches were flipped, but it does suggest that investigators are focused on the actions of the plane's pilots. The report does not present any evidence of mechanical failures or of a possible bird strike, which could have incapacitated both engines at the same time.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/12/0326234/before-air-india-boeing-787-crash-fuel-switches-were-cut-off-preliminary-report-says

Posted by msmash on Monday July 14, 2025 11:10AM

Air India's chief executive urged staff to avoid drawing premature conclusions about what caused one of the airline's Boeing triangle jets to crash last month, after a preliminary investigation ruled out mechanical or maintenance issues, turning attention to the pilots' actions. WSJ:

Campbell Wilson told staff that the probe into the crash was “far from over,” according to an internal memo, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, in which he set out some of the findings of a report issued by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau at the end of last week.

Wilson's memo didn't mention one of the AAIB's findings: that the airplane's fuel-control switches had been turned off one by one, seconds after takeoff, starving both engines of fuel. The switches, which sit between the two seats in the cockpit, were turned back on about 10 seconds later, but the engines apparently couldn't fully restart and gain thrust fast enough, the report said.

The crash of the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner killed all but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board, as well as 19 people on the ground, when the plane slammed into a residential area beyond the airport in the Indian city of Ahmedabad. In the memo, Wilson said “over the past 30 days, we've seen an ongoing cycle of theories, allegations, rumours and sensational headlines, many of which have later been disproven.”

https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/07/14/187209/air-india-chief-says-preliminary-crash-report-raises-fresh-questions

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday July 19, 2025 11:34AM

ABC News reports:

Dialogue heard on a cockpit voice recording indicates that the captain of the Air India flight that crashed in June, killing 260 people, may have turned off the fuel just after takeoff, prompting the first officer to panic, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited sources familiar with U.S. official's early assessment… The president of the Federation of Indian Pilots condemned the Wall Street Journal report, saying, “The preliminary report nowhere states that the pilots have moved the fuel control switches, and this has been corroborated by the CVR [cockpit voice recorder] recording.”

But meanwhile “India on Monday ordered its airlines to examine fuel switches on several Boeing aircraft models,” reports Reuters, “while South Korea ordered a similar measure on Tuesday, as scrutiny intensified of fuel switch locks at the centre of an investigation into a deadly Air India crash.”

The precautionary moves by the two countries and airlines in several others came despite the planemaker and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration assuring airlines and regulators in recent days that the fuel switch locks on Boeing jets are safe… [The preliminary report] noted a 2018 advisory from the FAA, which recommended, but did not mandate, operators of several Boeing models, including the 787, to inspect the locking feature of fuel cutoff switches to ensure they could not be moved accidentally… Some airlines around the world told Reuters they had been checking relevant switches since 2018 in accordance with the FAA advisory, including Australia's Qantas Airways. Others said they had made additional or new checks since the release of the preliminary report into the Air India crash.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/19/168254/boeing-fuel-switches-checked-as-critic-cites-a-similar-fuel-switch-cutoff-in-2019

Main points from the preliminary report on the 12 June crash in which 260 people died

Jane Clinton and Gwyn Topham - Sat 12 Jul 2025 08.31 EDT

A preliminary report from investigators looking at the Air India flight 171 crash, which killed 260 people on 12 June, has been published.

1. What has the report found?

Seconds after takeoff, both of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s fuel-control switches moved to the “cutoff” position. This starved the engines of fuel, and they began to lose power. The report says: “In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other: why did he cut off? The other pilot responded that he did not do so.”

It did not identify who said what.

Turning off the fuel requires the operation of two switches, centrally located on the flight deck – neither of which are the kind of simple push-button that could be brushed against accidentally or moved without force.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/12/why-did-he-cut-off-what-has-the-report-on-air-india-flight-171-found

Colleagues remember dedicated pilot who showed few signs of reported mental health struggles

Samaan Lateef - 18 July 2025 5:44pm BST

Sumeet Sabharwal was either a “sad sack” or a “hero”, depending on who you asked…

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/07/18/air-india-pilot-sumeet-sabharwal-crash/

Soutik Biswas, India correspondent - 21 July 2025

When the preliminary report into the crash of Air India Flight 171 - which killed 260 people in June - was released, many hoped it would bring some measure of closure.

Instead, the 15-page report further stoked speculation. For, despite the measured tone of the report, one detail continues to haunt investigators, aviation analysts and the public alike.

Seconds after take-off, both fuel-control switches on the 12-year-old Boeing 787 abruptly moved to “cut-off”, cutting fuel to the engines and causing total power loss - a step normally done only after landing.

The cockpit voice recording captures one pilot asking the other why “did he cut-off”, to which the person replies that he didn't. The recording doesn't clarify who said what. At the time of take-off, the co-pilot was flying the aircraft while the captain was monitoring.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9yw0rljwvo

Kiki Intarasuwan, Kerry Breen - Updated November 5, 2025 3:24 PM EST

At least nine people were killed and more than a dozen others injured after a UPS plane crashed shortly after takeoff near the Louisville International Airport on Tuesday, officials said. The National Transportation Safety Board has begun an investigation into the crash, and said Wednesday afternoon it has recovered the black boxes that record plane data.
The death toll rose on Wednesday morning, as Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg said on social media that first responders had located nine victims at the crash site. Officials had previously said the death toll was at least seven.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed the increased death toll in a post on social media and said there is “the possibility of more” fatalities. He said during a Wednesday morning news briefing that there should be a solid grasp on the death toll by the afternoon. He declared a state of emergency on Wednesday.

None of the victims have been identified, officials said on Wednesday afternoon. Greenberg said the Jefferson County Coroner has been at the scene and will make identifications. Greenberg said Tuesday night that at least four people had been killed on the ground. UPS said the plane had a crew of three.

Beshear wrote on Wednesday that 16 families have reported loved ones who are unaccounted for. Search and rescue operations began overnight and are continuing this morning, he said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ups-plane-crash-louisville-kentucky/

Simon Hradecky - Wednesday, Nov 5th 2025 07:11Z / Updated Wednesday, Nov 5th 2025 20:24Z

A UPS United Parcel Service McDonnell Douglas MD-11, registration N259UP performing flight 5X-2976 from Louisville,KY to Honolulu,HI (USA) with 3 crew, was accelerating for takeoff from Louisville's runway 17R at 17:13L (22:13Z) when the aircraft impacted ground and came to a rest at approximate position N38.146 W85.734 about 0.57nm past the runway end and about 0.09nm to the left of the extended runway centerline bursting into flames. All three on board perished, 4 fatalities on the ground are confirmed and 11 injuries on the ground reported, too.

The aircraft had already been handed off to departure frequency but did not report on departure frequency anymore.

According to ADS-B data the aircraft achieved 185 knots over ground near the aiming markers runway 35L still on the runway centerline but never became airborne.

According to pictorial evidence engine #1 (left hand engine, CF6) separated the airframe during rotation for takeoff, the departure of that engine may also have failed the center engine #2.

The FAA reported: “UPS Flight 2976 crashed around 5:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Nov. 4, after departing from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky. The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 was headed to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. The FAA and NTSB will investigate.”

https://avherald.com/h?article=52f5748f

BRUCE SCHREINER, HALLIE GOLDEN and DYLAN LOVAN - Tue, November 4, 2025 at 9:43 PM PST

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A UPS cargo plane’s left wing caught fire and an engine fell off just before it crashed and exploded after takeoff in Kentucky, a federal investigator said Wednesday, offering the first official details about a disaster that killed at least nine people.

First responders, meanwhile, searched for more victims, a day after the crash at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub in Louisville. It created an inferno that consumed the enormous aircraft and spread to nearby businesses.

After being cleared for takeoff, a large fire developed in the left wing, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

The plane gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of the runway before crashing off airport property, Inman told reporters.

Airport security video “shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll,” he said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/massive-fireball-erupts-ups-plane-054332903.html

Dana Sullivan Kilroy - Wed, November 12, 2025 at 3:17 PM PST

A Louisville resident and several local businesses filed a federal class-action lawsuit against United Parcel Service (UPS) and two major aerospace manufacturers following a deadly cargo plane crash that killed at least 13 people, including the UPS crew of three, and injured several others on November 3.

The crash of a UPS cargo jet at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport unleashed a fiery explosion, destroying nearby buildings and leaving residents struggling with smoke, soot, and chemical contamination.

A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) described the crash in detail during a press conference following the crash.

The lawsuit, filed Nov. 7 in U.S. District Court, alleges that UPS, Boeing, and General Electric acted negligently and recklessly in operating and maintaining the aircraft.

Plaintiffs say the crash “upended the lives and livelihoods” of people and businesses in the surrounding community.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ups-faces-class-action-lawsuit-231700213.html

November 4, 2025, 17:14 Local

McDonnell Douglas MD-11F

Flight Conducted Under: Part 121: Air carrier - Non-scheduled

On November 4, 2025, about 1714 eastern standard time (EST), United Parcel Service (UPS) flight 2976, a Boeing (McDonnell-Douglas) MD-11F airplane, N259UP, was destroyed after it impacted the ground shortly after takeoff from runway 17R at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF), Louisville, Kentucky. The 3 crewmembers aboard the airplane and 11 people on the ground were fatally injured. There were 23 others on the ground who were injured. Flight 2976 was a domestic cargo flight operating under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121 from SDF to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), Honolulu, Hawaii.

In response to the accident, the NTSB traveled to SDF on November 5, 2025, and started the process of documenting the accident site, and collecting the perishable data necessary for the investigation. As part of the investigative process, the NTSB invited qualified parties to participate in the investigation. These included the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), UPS, The Boeing Company, Independent Pilots Association (IPA), General Electric (GE) Aerospace, and Teamsters Airline Division.

https://www.ntsb.gov/Documents/Prelimiary%20Report%20DCA26MA024.pdf

Maisie Lillywhite - 4 December 2025

A plane crashed after a 3D-printed part softened and collapsed, causing its engine to lose power, a report has found.

The Cozy Mk IV light aircraft was destroyed after its plastic air induction elbow, bought at an air show in North America, collapsed.

The aircraft crashed into a landing aid system at Gloucestershire Airport in Staverton on 18 March at 13:04 GMT, after its engine lost power. The sole occupant was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said in a report that the induction elbow was made of “inappropriate material” and safety actions will be taken in future regarding 3D printed parts.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1w932vqye0o

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday December 04, 2025 03:23PM

A light aircraft crashed in Gloucestershire after a 3D-printed plastic air-induction elbow softened from engine heat and collapsed, cutting power during final approach and causing the plane to undershoot the runway. Investigators say the part was made from “inappropriate material” and safety actions will be taken in the future regarding 3D printed parts. The BBC reports:

Following an “uneventful local flight”, the AAIB report said the pilot advanced the throttle on the final approach to the runway, and realized the engine had suffered a complete loss of power. “He managed to fly over a road and a line of bushes on the airfield boundary, but landed short and struck the instrument landing system before coming to rest at the side of the structure,” the report read.

It was revealed the part had been installed during a modification to the fuel system and collapsed due to its 3D-printed plastic material softening when exposed to heat from the engine. The Light Aircraft Association (LAA) said it now intends to take safety actions in response to the accident, including a “LAA Alert” regarding the use of 3D-printed parts that will be sent to inspectors.

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/12/04/2125206/plane-crashed-after-3d-printed-part-collapsed

Editor’s note: The Port of Seattle initially sent KOIN 6 News surveillance video of the wrong employee. We contacted the Port of Seattle about the error after hearing from Richard Russell’s family, saying the man in the video wasn’t him. The Port of Seattle looked into the issue, realized its staff sent KOIN 6 News the wrong video and has now provided us the correct video showing Russell reporting for work and then exiting employee security screening about five hours before the FBI says he stole a plane from SeaTac Airport.

Dan Tilkin - Jul 5, 2022 03:00 PM PDT / Updated: Jul 6, 2022 03:46 PM PDT

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Nearly 4 years after a Horizon Airlines baggage handler casually stole a passenger plane from SeaTac before intentionally crashing on a small island, KOIN 6 News obtained surveillance video that shows how he managed to do it without anyone noticing.

Richard Russell stole the empty 76-seat turboprop on August 10, 2018 from SeaTac Airport, taking off and doing large loops and other dangerous maneuvers.

Russell had no flying experience. While in constant communication with air traffic control, the 28-year-old described himself as “just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it till now.”

https://www.koin.com/news/special-reports/gonna-be-crazy-inside-the-2018-seatac-plane-theft/

Patrick Reilly - August 9, 2022 8:36pm

A small plane made a dramatic crash landing on a California highway on Tuesday, hitting a truck full of people before bursting into flames.

The plane crashed into the eastbound lanes of the freeway of the 91 Freeway in Riverside County near Lincoln Avenue just after 12:30 p.m., the California Highway Patrol told KTLA.

Heart-stopping footage obtained by the outlet shows the plane drop out of the sky and touch down in the middle of traffic before skidding off towards the shoulder, leaving behind a trail of burning jet fuel.

The pilot and passenger onboard were both able to get themselves out of the plane safely CHP said. The plane also crashed into a truck with three people inside, who were also fortunately unharmed.

https://nypost.com/2022/08/09/plane-makes-dramatic-crash-landing-on-california-highway-before-bursting-into-flames/

Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY - Wed, August 10, 2022 at 8:23 AM

A single-engine plane carrying a pilot and one passenger crash-landed on California's 91 Freeway after an engine malfunction, striking a truck and igniting into flames, according to authorities.

The two people inside the plane were unharmed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The incident occurred on the highway 45 minutes east of downtown Los Angeles.

According to the Corona Fire Department, which promptly arrived on the scene, the plane broke apart after clipping the truck and ignited on impact around 12:30 p.m. Video footage shared by the department showed firefighters quickly put out the flames. Dashcam video footage, obtained by USA TODAY, circulated on social media captured the moment when the small aircraft weaved in between cars to land.

The pilot, Andrew Cho, told Los Angeles television station KTLA his training allowed him to land semi-successfully in traffic.

https://news.yahoo.com/california-plane-lands-busy-freeway-141549536.html

Victor Oquendo - Friday, September 2, 2022 5:31PM

ORLANDO, Fla. – A close call between a small jet and a passenger plane was caught on video.

The near miss comes as pilots take to the picket line on the busy Labor Day weekend.

The video is from inside a single-engine Cessna, which had to take quick, evasive action, avoiding a disaster with a Delta 757 taking off nearby.

“I knew that this didn't look right, so immediately, I turned right and I climbed as steeply as I could because the Boeing 757 from Delta has a much higher climb rate than the aircraft that I was flying,” said Malik Clarke, the Cessna pilot.

https://abc7chicago.com/cessna-delta-757-close-call/12190880/

Phil Helsel and Tim Stelloh and Joe Studley and Elisha Fieldstadt - Fri, August 19, 2022 at 10:34 AM

Three people were killed after two planes collided over an airport on California’s central coast Thursday, authorities said.

Michelle Pulido, a spokeswoman for the city of Watsonville, said the planes crashed at Watsonville Municipal Airport just before 3 p.m. as they were trying to land.

The Federal Aviation Administration described the planes in a statement as a twin-engine Cessna 340 with two people on board and a single-engine Cessna 152 with one person aboard. They were on their final approaches when they collided, the agency said.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office said Friday that all three people aboard the two planes had died. They have not been identified.

No one on the ground was hurt, according to the FAA.

https://news.yahoo.com/multiple-people-dead-two-planes-233039805.html

There's an idiotic stunt, then there's obstructing a federal investigation

Richard Currie - Tue 5 Dec 2023 18:43 UTC

Of all the idiotic things people have done for views on YouTube, few are so reckless as deliberately crashing an airplane. Now, instead of sponsorship cash, Trevor Jacob has earned six months in prison for the stunt.

Professional snowboarder Jacob represented the US at the 2014 Winter Olympics. He also built a presence on the video sharing platform from 2012 with content revolving around extreme sports and aviation.

On December 24, 2021, Jacob uploaded a video to his YouTube channel titled “I Crashed My Airplane.” In it, Jacob claims to be flying his dilapidated Taylorcraft BL-65 in order to spread the ashes of a friend over a mountainous region of Southern California.

Less than a minute into the video, cameras fitted to the airplane exterior capture what appears to be the engine failing over Los Padres National Forest. Conveniently, Jacob was already wearing a parachute and skydived from the falling aircraft – selfie stick in hand.

Jacob, now 30, survived the incident with minor injuries. Though his plane was obliterated, cameras caught the descent in all its cinematic glory.

As designed, of course.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/05/youtuber_jailed_plane_crash/

Lee Brown - June 15, 2022 2:33pm

Luckily, he nailed his landing to a tee.

The pilot of a small plane was forced into an above-par emergency landing this week — safely coming down on a Colorado golf course.

Wild images show the twin-engine Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam P206T parked on the Fox Hollow Golf Course in Lakewood — luckily just off the edge of the green.

The emergency was watched by around 150 kids between ages 8 and 17 who were getting lessons at the time, KDVR said — but with no one getting injured thanks to the unidentified pilot being such an ace.

“This was unusual today, to have a plane go down,” Fox Hollow’s assistant golf professional Paula Bauer told 9 News of the emergency landing, believed to have been caused by mechanical failure.

https://nypost.com/2022/06/15/pilot-makes-emergency-landing-on-colorado-golf-course/

Russ Niles - July 10, 2022

The pilot of an Aero Commander 100 did a particularly nice job of setting his faltering aircraft down on Highway 74 near Sandlin Bridge, North Carolina, on July 3. The aircraft, one of just 150 singles with the Mooney-like forward canted tail built in the late 1960s, reportedly had engine problems and five lanes of asphalt was below. A wing-mounted camera captured the story the uninjured pilot, Vincent Fraser, and his passenger will tell for the rest of their lives.

After committing to the highway landing, a curve in the road looms within the touchdown area and a set of power lines complicates the calculation. The pilot elects to duck under the wires, which gives him some extra speed. The pilot still manages to touch down in the center left turn lane while in a right turn but strays briefly into the oncoming lanes. The driver of an approaching pickup plays a part in the successful outcome by getting out of the way as the pilot hits the brakes to squeal the tires and slow down. Under control and out of danger, the pilot spots a turnoff and clears the highway with no damage and minimal disruption. The plane was fixed and took off from the highway a couple of days later.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/wing-camera-catches-complex-highway-landing/

Brian Reese - Jun 20, 2022 / 08:12 AM EDT / Updated: Jun 20, 2022 / 08:14 AM EDT

CURRITUCK, N.C. (WAVY) — No injuries were reported after a plane’s landing gear failed on touchdown Friday in Currituck County.

It happened around 11:30 a.m. and the Crawford Township Volunteer Fire Department and Currituck County Fire & EMS responded.

Air bags and blocks were used to lift the plane off the ground so it could be moved, Crawford said on Facebook.

Photos provided show no significant damage to the body of the plane.

https://www.wavy.com/news/north-carolina/obx/planes-landing-gear-fails-after-touchdown-in-currituck/

Joelle Jones - Aug 21, 2022 04:17 PM PDT / Updated: Aug 21, 2022 10:10 PM PDT

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The 78-year-old pilot of an experimental aircraft died in a crash that critically injured his wife Sunday afternoon near Scio, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office said.

Neighbors in the area of Richardson Gap Road saw the crash around 2 p.m. and rushed to the scene immediately, officials said. Deputies arrived soon and found the pilot, Dennis Jackson, had already died. His wife, Amy Jackson, was airlifted to Salem Memorial Hospital, officials said.

The Jacksons lived in Independence, investigators said.

The “Dennis Jackson RV-8” was a single-engine plane built in 2004 and is listed with the FAA as an Experimental Amateur Built Aircraft. It was a 2-seater fixed wing plane.

https://www.koin.com/news/crashes/aircraft-crash-scio-oregon-08212022/

When Interfaces Kill: What Really Happened to John Denver

Ask Tog, June, 1999

On October 12, 1997, John Denver, popular folk singer and amateur pilot, at the controls of a newly-purchased experimental aircraft, died after crashing into Monterey Bay, in California. He died in an aircraft that had already done its best to kill two previous pilots, an aircraft with a human interface flaw so fundamental, so profound, that it finally managed to kill.

The Long EZ is a kit aircraft designed by Burt Rutan, one of the world's greatest aerospace designers. Rutan was responsible for the Voyager, the first aircraft to circumnavigate the globe without refueling. He is currently working on a reusable spacecraft for commercial and tourist operations that can fly into space in the morning, be checked out and refueled over lunch, and fly again that very afternoon. One of his Long EZ planes, similar to John Denver's, holds the altitude record for conventional aircraft. It is a brilliant design, and is well respected in the aviation community.

Experimental aircraft kits, however, need not be built as the designer intended. Indeed, the flaws that led to Denver's death were the work of the builder, and had nothing to do with Burt Rutan. These flaws led from the builder's sincere desire to improve on Rutan's work, a goal that could actually be said to have been accomplished from an engineering perspective, even if it did kill the pilot.

https://www.asktog.com/columns/027InterfacesThatKill.html

Ever wonder what airplane is flying overhead? Wait no longer with this easy to build RaspberryPi Groundstation to track overhead flights.

Published 4 November 2020 - By Brian Christner

Let me start by saying I love airplanes. Since a little boy, I always stared at the sky in amazement and spent every waking minute researching everything about airplanes. Fast forward to 1996, I joined the US Air Force…as an electrician on you guessed it…Airplanes (F-15's to be exact).

My passion for airplanes oozes from my pores so much so that my young son is now just as enthused as I am and can call out planes now by sound. Recently, we witnessed the giant Russian Antonov land at a small airfield by our house in Switzerland.

https://brianchristner.io/monitor-airplane-traffic-with-a-raspberry-pi/

Jon Kraft - Dec 29, 2023

This is the first video in a new 5 part series where I will show you how to build and program your own radar. At the end, we'll use it to locate a small drone. Each video will start with basic radar concepts that I will first explain and then demonstrate. Over the course of the videos, the radar will grow until we have a more complete radar that can generate the classic range doppler plots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igrN_wd_g74

An adorable side project featuring SwiftUI, MapKit, and open-source APIs

Jacob Bartlett - Nov 27, 2023

This is a tale of inspiration, of a vision taking shape, and of rapid feedback from that most discerning of customers: a 2-year-old girl.

Keen to skip ahead to the final product? Go ahead and download Aviator — Radar on your Phone from the App Store now!

https://jacobbartlett.substack.com/p/my-toddler-loves-planes-so-i-built

An adorable set of release notes

Jacob Bartlett - Jan 22, 2024

This is part indie dev story, part release notes, and part technical documentation as I detail the long-awaited upgrade to Aviator — Radar on your Phone! (https://apps.apple.com/app/aviator-radar-on-your-phone/id6469189335)

My best ever story

My Toddler Loves Planes, So I Built Her A Radar was by far the best thing I’ve written. I managed to hit that sweet spot of wholesome and technical, and my sheer enjoyment of the project shined through in my narrative.

https://jacobbartlett.substack.com/p/my-toddler-still-loves-planes-so

FAA is getting one enormously consequential thing right

Eli Dourado - Oct 23, 2023

Aviation is a poster child for economic stagnation. Yes, airline travel has gotten cheaper and safer—great. But every other aspect of aviation has struggled or even regressed. As I’ve noted many times, we had supersonic travel across the Atlantic from 1976 to 2003. Today, not even the world’s richest travelers can fly that fast.

Another part of aviation that has suffered over the last half-century is general aviation, particularly its low-end segment, personal aviation, in which people fly themselves to their destinations instead of hiring a private pilot to do it. Aviation is simply not practical personal transportation today. Where, one might ask, is my flying car?

https://www.elidourado.com/p/personal-aviation

Kirsten Korosec - 8 January 2024

Pivotal, the Palo Alto, California-based company backed by Larry Page, kicked off online sales Monday night at CES 2024 for Helix, a lightweight electric personal aircraft that doesn’t require a pilot’s license to fly.

Helix marks an evolution for Pivotal, a company previously known as Opener that has been working on lightweight electric vertical and takeoff aircraft for more than a decade. The company first gained attention for BlackFly, a personal single-seat aircraft with tilt-aircraft architecture. The Helix, first revealed in October, reflects the maturity of the company’s tech and is the first one designed to be produced in larger volumes.

Deliveries for the Helix, which will only be sold in the United States, begin June 10, 2024. Prospective U.S. buyers need only time for the training and at least $190,000 (before taxes). And Pivotal CEO Ken Karklin says the “market is ready for the wonder of aerial recreation and short-hop eVTOL travel.”

https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/08/pivotal-kicks-off-u-s-sales-of-its-lightweight-electric-personal-aircraft/

Pilot Institute - December 14, 2022

Share

Flying is expensive and cost-prohibitive for most people who are not willing or unable to invest the time and money into obtaining a pilot’s license. However, there are still some options available to those who want to experience the thrill of flying without having to go through the long and expensive process of obtaining a license.

Aircraft under the FAA’s 14 CFR Part 103 ultralight category does not require a pilot’s license to fly. There are helicopters, fixed-wing planes, and gliders that fall under this category that can be flown without a license, but you will require additional training to fly them safely. A pilot’s license is necessary to fly larger aircraft.

Let’s explore how you can take to the skies without a pilot’s license for a fraction of the cost!

https://pilotinstitute.com/flying-without-a-license/

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday April 24, 2022 04:30PM

Streaming right now on Hulu: a three-hour live special in which two members of something called the “Red Bull Air Force” try to make aviation history, reports People:

On Sunday, April 24, Aikins and Farrington will try to switch planes mid-air in a stunt at Sawtooth Airport in Eloy, Arizona, that can be seen exclusively on Hulu, according to a press release from Red Bull. The planes will be “completely empty” and facing the ground when Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington attempt the daring switch, which will air during a three-hour livestream event.

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/22/04/24/238208/two-skydiving-pilots-try-to-change-planes-in-mid-air

Abhimanyu Ghoshal - February 05, 2025

This is just all kinds of outrageous. Last November, a skydiver jumped out of a helicopter, glided down into the Grand Canyon wearing a wingsuit, turned around to face the sky, and hooked up to a plane flying above him so it could tow him up and away into the air.

That's the world's first mid-air plane hook maneuver – and a testament to skydiver Max Manow's ambition to push the boundaries of extreme aerial sports.

You can watch the stunt below in a freshly minted video, and get a glimpse behind the scenes at the meticulous preparation and planning that went into putting the project together.

https://newatlas.com/sports/plane-mid-air-first-time-max-manow-red-bull/

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday December 26, 2020 11:44AM

America's Federal Aviation Agency signed an agreement with the state of Kansas's department of transportation to establish a 770-nautical mile Kansas Supersonic Transportation Corridor for testing aircraft up to Mach 3, reports Aviation International News:

The agreement would provide a critical testing site for the emerging group of supersonic aircraft as civil supersonic flight remains banned over land. Flight testing for models such as Aerion's AS2 and Boom's Overture is expected this decade, while NASA noise trials with the Lockheed Martin X-59 demonstrator are anticipated by 2024. “This year marks 73 years since Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, and with this supersonic flight corridor Kansas will have a unique role in the next generation of supersonic transportation,” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) in the announcement of the agreement…

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/12/26/0535214/america-creates-a-770-mile-corridor-for-testing-supersonic-aircraft-up-to-mach-3

Posted by BeauHD on Saturday April 03, 2021 12:00AM

CNN has an exclusive look at the supersonic presidential jet currently being developed by a California startup and U.S Air Force. From the report:

It's a 31-passenger derivative of Exosonic's 70-passenger commercial airliner concept and is the ultimate in business jets – luxury leather, oak and quartz fittings, private suites for work and rest, and all at cruise times twice that of existing aircraft. The functions of presidential craft varies according to need, but this plane might primarily be used as Air Force Two, which is the call sign for jets carrying the US vice president.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/04/02/2110234/exclusive-look-inside-the-us-supersonic-presidential-jet

“Overture would offer the valuable advantage of time.”

Eric Berger - 1/26/2022, 1:24 PM

The US military has indicated its interest in commercial supersonic flight by granting as much as $60 million to Boom Supersonic for its airliner development efforts.

The Colorado-based company has announced that the Air Force awarded a three-year contract to Boom to accelerate research and development of its Overture airliner. Separately this week, Boom selected Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, as the site of its first full-scale manufacturing facility. There, Boom plans to begin production in 2024, with the first Overture aircraft slated to roll out in 2025, fly in 2026, and carry its first passengers by 2029.

Boom is designing Overture to carry between 65 and 88 passengers at subsonic speeds over land and supersonic speeds over water—more than twice as fast as current commercial aircraft. The aircraft is designed to operate on 100 percent “sustainable” fuels, and the company says the vehicle will be net-zero carbon from day one.

The Air Force is interested in the technology for rapid global travel and logistics, with potential applications such as executive transport, special operations, and reconnaissance. The Air Force is making this investment through its AFWERX program, which seeks to foster innovation within the military and bring commercial technologies to operational status more quickly. The funding for Boom, known as a Strategic Funding Increase (or STRATFI), represents a sizable bet on supersonic aviation.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/us-air-force-spends-60-million-on-supersonic-commercial-airliner/

Construction on the facility will start later this year.

Igor Bonifacic - January 26th, 2022

Transporation startup Boom is one step closer to bringing back supersonic passenger flight. On Wednesday, the company announced plans to build a manufacturing facility at Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina. Once complete, “The Overture Superfactory” will employ approximately 1,750 workers by 2030 and produce the company’s upcoming Overture supersonic jet, which Boom hopes will start flying passengers in 2029. Construction on the facility is expected to start later this year, with production to follow in 2024. The first jet will roll out in 2025 and then fly in 2026.

The 400,000 square foot facility will eventually produce aircraft for carriers like Japan Airlines and United Airlines. In 2021, the latter announced it would purchase 15 Overture jets once the plane met its safety and operating requirements. The agreement includes an option for United to buy an additional 35 aircraft, for a total of 50 jets.

https://www.engadget.com/boom-supersonic-jet-factory-north-carolina-announcement-192553128.html

Igor Bonifacic11:59 AM PST•January 26, 2022

Transporation startup Boom is one step closer to bringing back supersonic passenger flight. On Wednesday, the company announced plans to build a manufacturing facility at Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina. Once complete, “The Overture Superfactory” will employ approximately 1,750 workers by 2030 and produce the company’s upcoming Overture supersonic jet, which Boom hopes will start flying passengers in 2029. Construction on the facility is expected to start later this year, with production to follow in 2024. The first jet will roll out in 2025 and then fly in 2026.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/26/boom-will-build-a-supersonic-jet-factory-in-north-carolina/

Boom Supersonic's experimental aircraft made its first flight above California, as the company aims to develop a greener successor to the Concorde.

Isaac Schultz - 25 March 2024

Private aerospace company Boom Supersonic got its XB-1 demonstrator aircraft in the air and back down again last week, completing the carbon fiber plane’s first successful flight. It hasn’t broken the sound barrier yet, but the new plane is notable for setting the stage for a fuel-efficient supersonic passenger airliner Boom is hoping to launch in the future.

With a conventional jet engine, carbon fiber composites, and an augmented reality heads-up display in the cockpit for its human pilot, the aircraft took to the skies from the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California, on Friday. The historic Bell X-1—the Jetsons-looking aircraft in which Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947—made its first supersonic flight just down the road, above Rogers Dry Lake.

https://gizmodo.com/boom-supersonic-plane-xb1-first-flight-video-overture-1851362559

Boom Supersonic's XB-1 test vehicle is scheduled to lift off today (Jan. 28) at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT).

Mike Wall - 27 January 2025

Boom Supersonic plans to break the sound barrier during a test flight this morning (Jan. 28). This would mark the first time the company achieves the feat, and you can watch the historic action live.

Colorado-based Boom's XB-1 test vehicle is scheduled to lift off on its 12th test flight from California's Mojave Air & Space Port today at around 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT; 8 a.m. local California time). If all goes well, the piloted demonstrator craft will exceed Mach 1 — the speed of sound — about 25 minutes later.

The XB-1 is a subscale pathfinder vehicle, designed to demonstrate technologies and capabilities that Boom plans to employ a few years from now on a commercial jet called Overture.

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/tech/boom-supersonic-to-break-sound-barrier-during-historic-test-flight-today-watch-live

Sean O'Kane - 9:04 AM PST January 28, 2025

Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator plane just went supersonic in the skies over California’s Mojave desert, making it the first civil aircraft to break the sound barrier.

The American startup’s plane notched the historic achievement in its twelfth test flight. It cleared Mach 1 and stayed supersonic for around four minutes, reaching Mach 1.1. Test pilot Tristan Brandenburg broke the sound barrier two more times before receiving the call to bring the XB-1 back to the Mojave Air & Space Port.

The supersonic flight comes eight years after Boom first revealed the XB-1. It’s a small, roughly one-third scale version of the 64-passenger airliner Boom eventually wants to build, which it calls Overture.

Boom CEO Blake Scholl wrote in a post on X over the weekend that “[m]uch work remains to scale up to Overture.” That includes firing up the Overture’s engine for the first time, which Boom hopes to do later this year.

If and when the company can build it, Overture already has customers in waiting: American, and Japan Airlines have all placed orders for the proposed supersonic aircraft.

Brandenburg landed the XB-1 safely just before 12PM ET. Boom has said that a second supersonic test flight could happen in the next week or two.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/28/booms-xb-1-becomes-first-civil-aircraft-to-go-supersonic/

It’s the first time a civilian aircraft has crossed the sound barrier over the US.

Daniel Cooper - Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 8:49 AM PST

Boom, the startup developing a new generation of supersonic aircraft, has achieved a major milestone after its test plane broke the sound barrier for the first time. The XB-1 “Baby Boom” piloted by Tristan “Gepetto” Brandenburg, flew through the Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor over the Mojave Desert. XB-1 reached a speed of Mach 1.1 at an altitude of 35,000 feet for a few minutes before running out of airspace authorized for supersonic travel. The plane would go on to break the sound barrier a total of three times before it returned to base. It’s the first time a civilian aircraft has broken the sound barrier while flying over the United States.

Engadget covered Boom in an extensive profile back in 2020, where the company was gearing up to unveil XB-1 and make preparations for test flights. Since then, it has been undergoing a barrage of tests, with a series of subsonic test flights starting from March 2024 through the end of the year. In the background, the company has been signing deals with major airlines including United and American, to supply passenger jets for civilian service. This craft, dubbed Overture, has a planned top speed of Mach 1.7 — equivalent of 1,305 miles per hour — which would cut existing travel times in half. At least, for the folks who could afford a ticket.

https://www.engadget.com/transportation/booms-xb-1-jet-breaks-the-sound-barrier-for-the-first-time-164930546.html

There appears to be plenty of demand in the commercial air travel industry.

Eric Berger – Jan 28, 2025 11:47 AM

High above a barren California desert on Tuesday, a privately developed aircraft broke the sound barrier for the first time when Boom Supersonic's XB-1 demonstrator reached Mach 1.122.

Piloted by a former US Navy aviator, Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, the XB-1 vehicle broke the supersonic barrier on three separate occasions before safely landing back at Mojave Air & Space Port, where it had taken off half an hour earlier. It marked a triumphant moment for Boom, which was founded a decade ago to commercialize supersonic air travel.

“A small band of talented and dedicated engineers has accomplished what previously took governments and billions of dollars,” said Boom Supersonic's founder and chief executive, Blake Scholl, in a statement.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/for-the-first-time-a-privately-developed-aircraft-has-flown-faster-than-sound/

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday January 28, 2025 03:02PM

The XB-1, a civilian supersonic jet developed by Boom Supersonic, successfully broke the sound barrier during a test flight over the Mojave Desert. It reached an altitude of 35,290 feet before accelerating to Mach 1.22, the company said in a press release. CBS News reports:

It marks the first time an independently developed jet has broken the sound barrier, Boom Supersonic said, and the plane is the “first supersonic jet made in America.” The sound barrier was broken for the first time in 1947, when Air Force pilot Capt. Chuck Yeager flew a rocket-propelled experimental aircraft across the Mojave Desert – taking off from the Mojave Air and Space Port just as the XB-1 did. […]

The company will next focus its attention on Overture, a supersonic airliner that will ultimately “bring the benefits of supersonic flight to everyone,” Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl said in a statement. The XB-1 jet will be the foundation for Overture, Boom Supersonic said, and many features present on the jet will also be incorporated into the supersonic airliner. The airliner will also use Boom Supersonic's bespoke propulsion system, Symphony, to run on “up to 100% sustainable aviation fuel.”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/01/28/2146222/boom-supersonic-xb-1-breaks-sound-barrier-during-historic-test-flight

US civil sector boldly goes where Concorde has gone before

Richard Speed - Wed 29 Jan 2025 17:05 UTC

The US civilian aviation sector has achieved what Concorde managed half a century ago – piloted supersonic flight in a domestically built jet.

More than 20 years since the supersonic airliner last flew, Boom Supersonic took its XB-1 demonstrator aircraft to Mach 1.122 in the same airspace where US pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time in 1947.

According to the company, “XB-1's supersonic flight marks the first time an independently developed jet has broken the sound barrier.”

Boom Supersonic (or just “Boom”) adopted a systematic approach to testing, taking the XB-1 through subsonic, transonic, and eventually supersonic speeds. Control and stability issues were resolved during the test program, leading to the successful flight on January 28 by Chief Test Pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg.

Brandenburg said: “Our discipline and methodical approach to this flight test program created the safety culture that made a safe and successful first supersonic flight possible. With the lessons learned from XB-1, we can continue to build the future of supersonic travel.”

https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/29/boom_xb1_supersonic/

Boom Supersonic - 28 January 2025

Happening Now. Watch XB-1's supersonic test flight in real-time. Join us and see XB-1 break the sound barrier from the viewpoint of our chase aircraft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qisIViAHwI

When a 1960s dream ran headlong into economic reality

Richard Speed - Tue 24 Oct 2023 17:30 UTC

Today marks 20 years since the final commercial flight of the iconic supersonic airliner, Concorde.

Concorde was born of studies in the 1950s and 1960s, eventually resulting in the delta-winged airliner, powered to supersonic speeds by four Olympus engines and featuring a nose that could be lowered for landing visibility.

Only 20 of the aircraft were built, of which 18 remain. Various factors prevented any more from being made, ranging from concerns about noise from the sonic booms over ground to fuel efficiency compared to the alternatives. There were also allegations of protectionism from some quarters. While the Soviet Union had its version in the form of the Tupolev Tu-144, the US had no comparable aircraft following the cancellation of the Boeing 2707 in 1971.

Subsonic aircraft such as the Boeing 747 were considerably more fuel efficient than Concorde. As ticket prices were driven down and fuel costs increased, airlines stayed away in droves, leaving just Air France and BOAC – succeeded by British Airways – as the recipients of the airliners produced during the short production run.

Still, Concorde was an impressive piece of engineering. The narrow body could only accommodate four passengers abreast, but it introduced multiple innovations, including an analog fly-by-wire system, as well as halving the time to make a transatlantic flight.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/24/20_years_concorde/

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday December 03, 2023 01:59PM

Today is the 20th anniversary of its last flight of the supersonic Concorde aircraft. It was faster than the speed of sound, travelling at speeds of 1,350 mph (2,170 km/h).

Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 shared an article from the Telegraph:

As the space race raged and dominated headlines, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were equally competitive about being the first post-war superpower to create a commercial jetliner that could travel faster than the speed of sound.“ Both started work on secret projects, at the same time that Britain and France — who were less hell-bent on imprinting their superiority on geopolitics, but blessed with many of the world's finest engineering minds — were in pursuit of the same goal.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/12/03/2059201/how-the-concorde-plans-were-secretly-given-to-the-russians

Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) - 4:26 AM · Jan 11, 2024

Its cockpit was regarded as being very different to anything otherwise flying at the time. While other large airliners had similar elements to the flight controls, Concorde's was rather more complex, with additional features not seen on any other commercial aircraft.

One of main differences that instantly stands out is the additional bank of control panels on the right-hand side. Concorde required a minimum flight crew of three, with a flight engineer working alongside the two pilots.

This was not uncommon at the time - the Boeing 707, 727, and 747 were all designed for a three-person crew.

It was also a very packed in flight deck compared to other passenger jets. Due to the streamlined front end of Concorde, the aircraft had a narrower cockpit than most planes, with less headroom above. That meant buttons, dials and switches had to be packed in much more tightly, adding to the sense of a crowded, confined space.

The four engines had added afterburners, which required additional control and monitoring options. Aerodynamic features, especially the moveable nose, likewise brought more into the cockpit. The Mach meter added extra information, with two orange colored 'bugs' that identified the range of Mach numbers available at the current center of gravity.

Fuel management, too, was more complex with Concorde. It had multiple fuel tanks, with fuel moved around during flights and requiring monitoring and control. The bulk of the fuel was stored in the wings, but there were tanks forward and behind to enable vital control of the aircraft's center of gravity during supersonic flight.

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1745421959989457206

Matt Growcoot - Jan 25, 2025

The Concorde was the fastest commercial airliner in history with an astonishing cruising speed of roughly 1,354 miles per hour otherwise known as Mach 2.04.

Being the iconic airplane that it was, picture desks around the world wanted a photo of Concorde traveling at Mach 2 — twice the speed of sound.

But the only aircraft capable of reaching those speeds was also a Concorde which is not an aircraft you can commandeere solely for the purpose of taking a photo.

So in April 1985, a Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado jet rendezvoused with a Concorde above the Irish Sea and Adrian Meredith was able to capture a photo of the airplane traveling at supersonic speed. But it wasn’t straightforward.

https://petapixel.com/2025/01/25/photo-concorde-supersonic-speed-mach-2/

After decades of silence, Concorde is on track to become the world’s leading supersonic passenger aircraft once again.

Kevin Derby - June 26, 2025

WASHINGTON- The iconic Concorde is preparing to return to commercial skies by 2026, marking 50 years since its first historic flight.

Fly-Concorde Limited aims to relaunch supersonic passenger service from the United States under a groundbreaking aviation policy shift.

On June 6, 2025, at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), U.S. President Donald J. Trump signed the “Concorde Bill,” lifting the long-standing ban on supersonic flight over land. This regulatory reversal unlocks a new era of innovation in high-speed, sustainable air travel.

https://aviationa2z.com/index.php/2025/06/26/concorde-supersonic-passenger-aircraft-to-return-in-2026/

Connie Loizos - 8:20 AM PDT · May 14, 2025

U.S. lawmakers introduced Wednesday the Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act in a bid to revise the FAA’s 52-year ban on supersonic flight over U.S. soil. The bipartisan legislation — introduced by Senator Ted Budd (R-NC), Aviation Subcommittee Chair Troy Nehls (R-TX), and Representative Sharice Davids (D-KS) — would allow supersonic travel, provided no audible sonic boom reaches the ground.

Dubbed the “Boom” bill, the move comes as Colorado-based Boom Supersonic makes progress in developing next-generation supersonic aircraft. Boom’s XB-1 demonstrator aircraft made history in January when it became the first privately developed civil aircraft to break the sound barrier over the continental United States.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/14/a-new-bipartisan-bill-aims-to-lift-the-52-year-ban-on-supersonic-flight/

As long as you're quiet about it

Iain Thomson - Sat 17 May 2025 11:02 UTC

Feature This week, a bipartisan bill was introduced that would allow supersonic flight over the continental US for the first time in 52 years, as long as they're quiet.

The Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act would allow America's aviation watchdog to issue licenses allowing flights over land “at a Mach number greater than one so long as the aircraft is operated in such a manner that no sonic boom reaches the ground in the United States,” the legislation states [PDF].

In February, Trump advisor and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk named it as one of the federal regulations he wanted to do away with. Now, a group of Republican politicians has taken up the cause.

The bill was introduced to the Senate by Senators Ted Budd (R-NC), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Tim Sheehy (R-MT); and to the House of Representatives by Troy Nehls (R-TX), and Representative Sharice Davids (D-KS). If successful, it'll give the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) a year to comply and allow the next generation of supersonic commercial aircraft into American skies once again.

The backing of Budd and Tillis for the legislation is understandable. Boom Supersonic, which is building an 80-person commercial supersonic passenger jet, chose the US state the two senators represent, North Carolina, to build the Overture Superfactory it'll use to manufacture the aircraft. In January, Boom's single-seat XB-1 test aircraft, piloted by Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, broke the sound barrier six times without a noticeable sonic boom. Boom boasts a number of big-name VCs and tech luminaries as funders, including AI poster child Sam Altman and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/17/faa_supersonic_law/

It's boom time for the next generation of fast travel

Iain Thomson - Sat 7 Jun 2025 07:06 UTC

On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order telling the FAA to lift its 52-year ban on supersonic flight over the US and told the FAA to devise a scheme to limit noise pollution from such aircraft.

Supersonic flight has been banned over the US for civilian aircraft since 1973 after testing showed the noise it created was too disruptive, breaking windows in some cases. Since then, NASA and private startups have developed ways to reduce the sound of sonic booms from faster-than-Mach 1 flight, and there's currently legislation before Congress to allow these high-tech aircraft to fly over the US, potentially halving the flight time between New York and Los Angeles.

Now the president has issued an order that does basically what the legislation, sponsored by four Republican senators, asked for. The FAA has also been instructed to devise a system to regulate such aircraft's noise levels in conjunction with “community acceptability, economic reasonableness, and technological feasibility,” to allow flights over the homeland.

“This Order removes regulatory barriers so that US companies can dominate supersonic flight once again,” the White House fact sheet reads. “By removing decades-old regulatory barriers and promoting cutting-edge supersonic technology, President Trump is Making Aviation Great Again.”

Startups like the aptly named Boom Supersonic have been developing high-altitude aircraft that can break the sound barrier without causing booms by using innovative airframe design such as longer noses to cause less drag, mounting engines on the top of the aircraft rather than the bottom, and using temperature gradients in the Earth's atmosphere to deflect sound waves. Test flights in January proved out the concept, and there are plans for an 80-passenger aircraft by the biz, which is backed by OpenAI cofounder Sam Altman and LinkedIn impresario Reid Hoffman, among others.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/07/trump_supersonic_flight/

Passenger aircraft could fly from New York to Los Angeles in around two hours, but there are still challenges that stand in the way.

Passant Rabie - June 10, 2025

It’s been 22 years since the last flight of the Concorde, a now-retired supersonic airliner that flew at a maximum speed of 1,345 miles per hour (2,179 kilometers per hour). At those speeds, you could fly from London to New York City in around three hours. A long-held U.S. ban on supersonic flight over land limited Concorde’s routes and continues to restrict commercial aircraft from flying faster than sound over land. Today, those super speedy—and super loud—flights could be making a comeback.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to reverse the 1973 ban on civilian supersonic flights, instructing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish a standard for supersonic aircraft noise certification. The decision would make way for faster routes, if companies can figure out ways to make their aircraft quieter and more affordable.

When planes fly faster than the speed of sound, Mach 1, or about 767 miles per hour (1,234 kilometers per hour), they create a loud, explosive noise due to the shock waves created by the extreme speeds. It sounds like loud thunder and it would startle people living in cities where supersonic jets fly overhead. As a result, the FAA prohibited supersonic flights of non-military aircraft over land, enacting the measure on April 27, 1973. At the time, aerospace technology wasn’t advanced enough to resolve the noise issue; since then, however, research has shown ways to soften the sounds of supersonic flights.

https://gizmodo.com/what-ending-the-u-s-ban-on-supersonic-flight-means-for-the-future-travel-2000613108