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Air New Zealand is set to resume its seasonal service between Auckland and Seoul, starting on October 28, 2024. The airline plans to operate three flights per week in each direction until March 29, 2025, providing nearly 40,000 seats over the season.
Cathay Pacific, the flagship carrier for Hong Kong, has grounded its fleet of Airbus A350-1000s for inspection after identifying faulty engine components in 15 out of 18 aircraft. According to a report on September 3 by Channel News Asia, Cathay Pacific Flight CX383 departed from Hong Kong en route to Zurich, Switzerland but returned shortly after takeoff due to a failure in an unspecified component of one of its Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines. The twin-aisle Airbus landed safely 75 minutes after takeoff following two holding circuits to burn fuel.
Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., visited Aims Community College’s Flight Training campus at Northern Colorado Regional Airport (KFNL) in Loveland on September 3. The college offers two-year degrees in professional pilot careers, air traffic control, and unmanned aircraft systems. It plans to add a degree program in airframe and powerplant maintenance, with classes set to start in 2026 at a new Aircraft Maintenance Training Center.
When it leaves the International Space Station next Friday, Boeing's troubled Starliner crew capsule may not be going quietly into the night. The spacecraft started making a noise on Saturday shortly after it was announced that Boeing would attempt to return the vehicle autonomously to Earth on Sept. 6. Astronaut Butch Wilmore, who rode Starliner to the ISS three months ago on an eight-day mission with Suni Williams, heard a strange pulsing noise coming through a speaker that he played for mission control.
The prototype of the future Loyal Wingman uncrewed fighter flew for the first time last week with test pilot Brian Maisler at the controls. The Scaled Composites Model 437 Vanguard took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California for a local flight, and Maisler did not report any issues.
Air traffic controllers reported on social media that radar screens in Philadelphia covering Newark Airport "went blank for five minutes" on Labor Day. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) subsequently ordered a ground stop at Newark and reduced incoming traffic. Some international flights were diverted, while others were delayed at departure airports nationwide. As of late Monday, FlightAware indicated departure delays of up to 89 minutes and arrival delays of 61 minutes. A ground stop was also implemented at Teterboro.
An Army investigation has revealed that an F-35 pilot with no prior experience in the Apache attack helicopter was at the controls when it crashed at a base in Utah last February. According to KUTV, which obtained a copy of the report, the pilot, a colonel, had only 35 minutes of simulator time in the Apache before embarking on an orientation flight with a Master Warrant Officer qualified in the type.
One of the enduring mysteries of the summer aviation news cycle was how the world's largest flying boat would reach one of the country's most land-locked museums. The team responsible for maintaining the A-26K "Special Kay" announced on Facebook that the massive Philippine Mars, which lacks landing gear, will be flown from its current base on Sproat Lake on Canada's Vancouver Island to Lake Roosevelt, Arizona's largest body of water. From there, it will be dismantled and trucked 150 miles to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, where it will join about 400 other...
I promised my private pilot student, Ned, a surprise for today's dual cross-country. He did not expect it to be a journey back to the time of flying dinosaurs.
In space, no one can hear Starliner pulse anymore. The cause of the strange pulsing noise in one of the speakers on the Boeing crew capsule, reported by astronaut Butch Wilmore on Saturday, has been identified and resolved. "The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner," NASA stated in a post on X. "The speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, Sept. 6."
The U.S. government has seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's Dassault 900 EX for alleged sanctions violations. The business jet, reportedly used by Maduro as his version of Air Force One, was flown by American officials from the Dominican Republic to Fort Lauderdale.
California is on the brink of banning leaded aviation gasoline statewide, pending Governor Gavin Newsom's signature. Politico Pro reports that the California state Senate passed a bill on Thursday to outlaw the fuel starting in 2031. This move makes California the first state to pass such a ban, with several other states considering similar legislation.
Air New Zealand has released its financial results for the 2024 fiscal year, reporting earnings before taxation of $222 million, a decrease from the previous year's $574 million. The net profit after taxation was $146 million. The decline in earnings was anticipated following the reopening of New Zealand's border last year, which had resulted in one of the airline's highest performances.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a new safety alert for multi-engine pilots dealing with partial engine failures. The alert highlights the necessity of promptly feathering the affected engine’s propeller before its rpm drops below the critical threshold where start locks engage.
Boom Supersonic's XB-1 prototype aircraft successfully completed its second test flight at the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California, on Aug. 26.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a preliminary report on the July 26 fatal Pilatus PC12-47E accident in Wyoming. The report corroborates earlier findings that the single-engine turboprop, with seven individuals on board including the owner-pilot, crashed following an apparent loss of autopilot function and subsequent loss of control.
Wreckage and human remains from a plane crash that occurred 17 years ago were discovered in Lake Huron earlier this month, according to Michigan State Police.
A Ukrainian air force F-16 fighter jet was destroyed in a crash on Monday, just weeks after the country received the American-made aircraft, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its final report today on the fatal crash of a Vietnam War-era Bell UH-1B helicopter in West Virginia on June 22, 2022. The report attributes the accident to inadequate inspection procedures by the operator, Marpat Aviation, and insufficient oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The crash resulted in the deaths of all six occupants when the UH-1B “Huey” struck power lines during an attempted forced landing following a loss of engine power.
SpaceX planned to launch two rockets with internet satellite payloads this morning from sites in Florida and California. The California launch was postponed after the first stage from the Florida launch broke apart on landing on a SpaceX droneship several hundred miles northeast of the Cape Canaveral launch site. However, the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket successfully transported the 21 satellites into orbit.