Welcome to the 23 new subscribers joining us this week!
Lots of late breaking aviation news in the past 48 hours so thought we’d send out a quick edition to make sure you’re all caught up. Let’s jump in👇🏼
NEWS
WHAT’S HAPPENING
United and their week from hell…
Can United catch a break?? Their week from hell continues with flight UA830 departing from Sydney, AUS on MAR 11. returning to the airport after (about 2Hrs Flight time) made a safe and un-eventful landing to the fanfare of ARFF trucks. Smoke was visible from on of the main gear wheels
You can check the flight logs here: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ua830#34507ade
and here is footage showing smoke on the gear during climb out and the subsequent return landing. :
As we report on this, the subsequent flight UA830 is currently over the pacific en route to SFO.
This event follows a spate of other incidents for United over the past week:
WHEEL FALLS OFF AT UNITED SFO ON CLIMBOUT
You can see it at 10:45 mark.
The wheel and tire combo weighs nearly 500lbs
RUNWAY EXCURSION IN HOUSTON United had a runway excursion in Houston. Watch the below video for an excellent breakdown. ATC specifically asking the pilots to keep their speed up and they don’t make the corner, running off the taxiway.
BOEING WHISTLER BLOWER FOUND DEAD It’s been widely reported in non-aviation media that a former Boeing QA Engineer turned whistleblower has been found dead just 1 day after testifying against Boeing.
ALASKA & BOEING & DOORS An Alaska Airlines flight from Los Cabos Mexico arrived in Portland, OR with it’s cargo door open. According to reports the cargo hold had several pets on board. Alaska is saying that the crew didn’t have any indication that the door was open in flight and only opened post landing. What is it with these two and doors? Speaking of open doors and pets going missing, be sure to read below about Aegean and a missing cat
An Alaska Airlines 737 upon arrival in Portland, OR
Cargo door can be seen ajar
CALL THE FA’S AND GET SOME COFFEE UP HERE! Two pilots reportedly both fell asleep in the cockpit on a Batik Air flight on Feb. 27. PIC requested a break and it was then the co-pilot that fell asleep while on watch. The flight flew off course and contact was tried by ATC and other pilots. Both pilots were asleep for about 28 minutes. When they awoke, they found themselves off course and they stated they had a comms failure. The flight continued and arrived safely at the destination airport Jakarta. Reportedly one of the pilots was up late the night before work caring for newborn twins. You can read more here
SNIPPETS
STUFF FROM AROUND THE WEB
ANYONE SEEN MY CAT? 🙀
The cat carrier in question
Greek flag carrier Aegen seems to have misplaced a cat that was aboard an Aegean Airlines flight. Upon passenger collecting her baggage she noticed it was missing a key item: her cat.
The pet carrier arrived minus the cat. Extensive searches haven’t turned up anything in either the departure or arrival airports.
Aegean has commented with this tweet:
BLUE JET 🛸👽
Check this out we saw on Instagram. I’ve never seen one like this before.
The comments section seems divided between it being a ‘blue jet’ or a ‘sprite’
What do you think?
NIMBY since 2015 Ronald Reagan Washington Airport received 8,760 noise complaints.
1 person has complained 6,852 times accounting for 78% of all complaints!
CRASH LANDING
ACCIDENT RECAP
We’re currently training an AI bot to read this section to you in Juan Browne’s voice
PARKING DOWN UNDER! Check out how they park in Australia. this Boeing Stearman crashed on landing at Shellharbour, NSW.
Relax. The pilot is alright… so the joke is ok.
RUSSIAN IL-76 A Russian IL-76 crashed last night after an engine fire on takeoff killing 15 people onboard. Pretty spectacular engine fire and later in the footage you can see the engine leave the airframe.
You can see the crash here and here
TECHNOLOGY
FLYING COMPUTERS
ARCHER and Falcon aviation have announced development of a vertiport network linking Abu Dhabi and Dubai. This will allow eVTOL aircraft— the Archer Midnight— to whisk passengers between the two cities in as little as 30 minutes. This is a big step in both VTOL and Electrified transportation.
Archer and Falcon Aviation will jointly develop a vertiport network in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, enabling flights between the two cities with Archer’s Midnight flying car while establishing a key operational development for Archer’s plans to launch across the Emirates in both cities as soon as 2025
We’ll be keeping an eye on Archer and following their progress in getting certification. You can read the full release here
BUSINESS
AVIATION INDUSTRY
UNITED TELLS BOEING TO STOP MAKING IT’S MAX 10’S
HIGHLIGHTS:
Planemaker has agreed to build Max 9s instead, CEO Kirby says
Airline confirms it’s in talks to substitute some Airbus A321s
Article excerpt:
United Airlines Holdings Inc. has told Boeing Co. to stop building 737 Max 10 jets for the carrier, opting to switch to a smaller variant and the rival Airbus SE A321 until the US planemaker can pull the stretched single-aisle through its long-delayed certification.
“We’ve asked Boeing to stop building Max 10s, which they’ve done, for us and start building Max 9s,” United Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said Tuesday at a JPMorgan investor conference. “It’s impossible to say when the Max 10 is going to get certified.”
Once the Max 10 gets clearance to operate, United will switch back to the Max 10, Kirby said. The United CEO confirmed earlier Bloomberg reports that the airline is looking to swap out some of its massive order for 277 of that variant to use the A321 instead, offering the European planemaker the rare opportunity to seize an important piece of business from its chief rival.
“We are in the market for A321s, and if we get a deal where the economics work, we’ll do something,” Kirby said. “If we don’t, we won’t and will wind up with more Max 9s.”
A Boeing spokesman had no immediate comment on Kirby’s remarks. Deliveries of 737 jets slowed to 17 in February from 25 in January, the planemaker said Tuesday.
Kirby has been one of Boeing’s most outspoken critics after a fuselage panel blew off of a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Air Group Inc. in early January. United, the biggest operator of the variant, temporarily took dozens of planes out of service while federal investigators probed the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board has found that workers at Boeing had failed to affix four bolts holding the door plug in place.
The bigger impact on United has been with the coming Max 10, for which it is the launch customer with 200 options in addition to the firm order. The plane’s certification, expected this year, has been pushed back indefinitely as Boeing addresses issues in its factory and contends with increased scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration and other US agencies.
Earlier this year, United removed the Max 10 from its fleet planning, saying the issues with Boeing will slow its growth in coming years. Delta Air Lines Inc. told Bloomberg on Sunday that its 737 Max 10s may not arrive until 2027.
While Boeing deliveries this year will be “way behind” what the planemaker originally forecast, Kirby said he’s “glad that’s the case.” Boeing executives have accepted that they need to make larger changes and go slow for now, in order to eventually ramp up output.
“This is not a 12 month issue, this is a two-decade issue,” Kirby said. “I’d rather Boeing do what they need to do, and they are now.”
WHY IT MATTERS As Boeing works out their kinks— and there are many— and airlines are scrambling to replace aging jets from their fleets, Airbus is looking like a good alternative with their 330-1000, 321NEO, and possibly 320s. The problem lies in that Airbus is booked out for nearly a decade with almost 5000 orders outstanding for the 321neo. Other models are facing similar 5+ year backlogs and with the Pratt & Whitney GTF issues still ongoing these lead times could still increase.
Not a good time to be in the market looking for jets!
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