Tailwind and poor braking present before ERJ-145 excursion

Preliminary indications suggest the Envoy Air Embraer ERJ-145 which suffered a runway excursion at Chicago O'Hare had landed with a tailwind in gusting conditions. (www.flightglobal.com) More...

Qantas gears up for the second "Project Sunrise" research flight

Sydney, Australia - The Australian flag carrier Qantas will fly a nearly empty a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from London Heathrow to Sydney as part of “Project Sunrise”. The 787-9 registered VH-ZNJ will take off from Heathrow and fly directly to Sydney with no paying passengers onboard. (airlinerwatch.com) More...

Union president recommends Southwest to buy planes from another company

The union that represents Southwest Airlines pilots thinks that Boeing may be rushing the return of the 737 MAX back into service. The union of pilots also said Southwest should not rely on Boeing's planes only. The union president, Jon Weaks, says Boeing is raising the threat of shutting down the 737 MAX assembly line to pressure regulators to let the plane fly again soon and force airlines to resume making payments on their 737 MAX jets and absorb some costs of getting the planes back in… (airlinerwatch.com) More...

German air force rejects delivery of two Airbus planes

German air force rejects delivery of two Airbus planes (www.spacedaily.com) More...

Overweight Cat Causes Aeroflot To Strip Member Of Air Miles

Aeroflot has stripped a passenger of no less than 400,000 miles because his cat was too fat to fly. Passenger Mikhail Galin was unwilling to place voluptuous Viktor in the hold, and instead devised a fur-midable plan to get the fat feline past security. But bragging on Facebook turned out to be a cat-astrophe. Here’s how it went down. (simpleflying.com) More...

IATA Set To Combat Greta Thunberg’s Flight Shaming Movement

The aviation industry is set to launch a campaign to combat the growing flight shaming movement led by Greta Thunberg. The campaign comes as weakened demand has been reported in Europe. (simpleflying.com) More...

Mooney Ceasing Production. Closes Kerrville Plant, furloughs hundreds of employees

The Kerrville Daily Times is reporting that Mooney International has ceased manufacturing operations at its Kerrville Airport factory at Kerrville Municipal Airport (KERV), Texas. In the move, a company spokesman said, the company laid off 229 employees, bringing Mooney employment down to around 90 workers. None will be producing aircraft parts, however, which is certain to concern Mooney owners. (www.planeandpilotmag.com) More...

F-117 Stealth Fighter arrives at Reagan Library

The F-117 will join an F-14 Tomcat, a VC-137 "Air Force One", and a VH-3 "Marine One" helicopter that are already on display at the Reagan Presidential Library. Article has photos of the F-117 wing section details. (www.thedrive.com) More...

Are Passenger Jet Engines Hitting Their Technical Limits?

The high-pressure turbine blades in a Trent 1000 passenger jet engine have to withstand temperatures far above the melting point of the nickel alloy from which they’re made. It’s a fiendish technical challenge for the engine’s British manufacturer, Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc — comparable to trying to stop an ice cube melting inside a kitchen oven on full blast. The solution found by the company’s engineers was to blow cool air through tiny holes in the blades. Unfortunately this clever approach… (finance.yahoo.com) More...