All Ops & safety articles
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In depthMaterial failure involved in more than half of serious Osprey safety incidents since 2021
A multi-year review conducted the US military’s airworthiness authority for the V-22 tiltrotor found that out of 12 Class A mishaps in recent years, seven featured material failure as a causal or contributing factor.
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NewsAirbus details next round of fuel-saving fello’fly tests following GEESE success
Airbus will next year launch a further round of flight tests under its fello’fly initiative as it bids to bring the fuel-saving Wake Energy Retrieval (WER) concept into commercial service in the first half of next decade.
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NewsJetBlue A320 crew startled by encounter with ‘unseen’ military tanker north of Venezuela
A JetBlue Airbus A320 crew reported a close encounter with a US Air Force tanker aircraft operating without an active transponder during climb-out from Curacao on 12 December, forcing the commercial flight to halt its ascent.
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NewsVueling flight data supports validation of European gate-to-gate emissions model
Flight-data monitoring from Spanish carrier Vueling has been used to validate a European methodology for calculating carbon emissions based on fuel burn for gate-to-gate scenarios. Pan-European air navigation service Eurocontrol developed the estimation methodology – which uses radar and aircraft performance data – and has published results since 2019. Under ...
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NewsAerosucre 727 freighter damaged on landing after main-gear problem
Colombian investigators are probing a landing accident involving an Aerosucre Boeing 727-200 freighter at Barranquilla. The aircraft had departed Barranquilla on 12 December but returned after “experiencing a failure” in its left-hand main landing-gear, according to the Colombian regulator Aerocivil. Some 70min after take-off, much of it spent in a ...
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NewsCues missed before Southwest 737 began take-off roll on parallel Orlando taxiway
US investigators state that a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 captain did not adhere to runway-verification procedures before the jet commenced its take-off roll from a parallel taxiway at Orlando earlier this year. The aircraft, bound for Albany on 20 March, had been cleared to taxi from its Airside 2 apron ...
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NewsUS military helicopter ADS-B exemption sparks safety backlash
Safety investigators and lawmakers are opposing provisions in the US defence spending bill that would exempt some military helicopters from aircraft-tracking requirements, citing risks highlighted by January’s fatal Potomac River collision.
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OpinionWhy US Congress should give ATC privatisation another look
Recent fatal accidents, system outages and government shutdown expose fundamental flaws in the US air traffic control system that privatisation could address, industry expert says.
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NewsTractor pushed 737 into Stansted blast fence as driver focused on instructing trainee
UK investigators believe a tow-tractor instructor was focused on training another driver when the vehicle pushed a Boeing 737-800 into the blast fence at London Stansted. The Malta Air aircraft – before engine start – was undergoing a long pushback from stand 63R, to the end of a cul-de-sac abeam ...
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NewsAir France A350 crippled by collapsed radome after bird-strike damage undetected
French investigators believe inadequate maintenance checks on an Air France Airbus A350-900’s radome led to its collapsing during a turnback to Osaka. The inquiry found that a bird-strike a month earlier had probably debonded the inner surface of the radome. But French investigation authority BEA says this surface had not ...
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NewsAzul E195 landed on wrong Rio runway after parallel’s lights were switched off
Brazilian investigators have been unable to determine precisely why runway lights at Rio de Janeiro’s Santos Dumont airport were switched off for several minutes, during which time an Azul Embraer 195 inadvertently landed on the illuminated parallel runway. The incident occurred at night as the twinjet, inbound from Sao Paulo ...
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NewsGovernment to open IndiGo probe as it eases new rules to resolve flight chaos
India’s civil aviation ministry has suspended the country’s new flight-duty time limit directive in a bid to ease the severe disruption to budget carrier IndiGo’s services. The airline has been experiencing particularly serious problems with flight operations as a result of new criteria, and the government intends to carry out ...
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NewsQantas 737 took off with wrong weight data after passengers listed as offloaded
Australian investigators have determined that a Qantas Boeing 737-800 departed Canberra with incorrect take-off performance data, after more than 50 passengers were erroneously listed as no longer on board. While the airline’s load-control personnel were suspicious about the data while compiling the aircraft’s loadsheet, it was nevertheless handed to the ...
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NewsThunderbirds F-16 crashes during California training flight
A Lockheed Martin F-16 from the US Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team has crashed during a training flight in California, with the pilot ejecting safely and remaining in stable condition.
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NewsInquiry traces ANZ A320neo shutdown and similar incidents to fire-button pin flaw
New Zealand investigators probing an in-flight engine shutdown involving an Airbus A320neo believe the event is linked to overhead fire-control panel damage which could result in uncommanded activation of an engine-fire switch. The inquiry into the Air New Zealand incident, on 1 December last year, has highlighted five other similar ...
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NewsDeep-sea hunt for wreckage of MH370 to restart at year-end: ministry
Malaysia’s government has disclosed that the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER will resume at the end of this year. The ministry of transport states that US specialist Ocean Infinity has “confirmed” it will “recommence seabed search operations” on 30 December. This latest effort will last a total ...
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NewsEmergency flight-control modifications complete on vast majority of A320-family jets
Precautionary rectification of a suspected vulnerability on some 6,000 Airbus A320- and A320neo-family jets have largely been completed. Airbus states that fewer than 100 affected aircraft remain from the global fleet. The airframer had already indicated that most of the airframes would only require a relatively quick change of flight-control ...
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NewsA320 grounding linked to software update designed to protect against in-flight loss of control
Investigations into an October in-flight upset involving a JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 have yet to reach any firm conclusions, but suspicions of a solar particle strike have proven sufficient to order an extraordinary temporary grounding of half the world’s A320-family fleet. Remedial work ordered by safety regulators – notably the ...
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NewsUrgent A320 directive drawn up as solar radiation incident reveals flight-control vulnerability
European safety regulators have issued an emergency directive after flight-control data on Airbus A320-family jets was found to be vulnerable to high levels of solar radiation. Airbus says the determination follows analysis of a recent event involving the single-aisle type. While Airbus has not detailed the occurrence, FlightGlobal understands that ...
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NewsNorwegian investigators flag suspected maintenance issue for in-flight engine shutdown on Bristow S-92
Norwegian investigators believe an unspecified maintenance issue was the likely cause of an in-flight engine failure on a Sikorsky S-92 heavy-twin shortly after take-off from an oil platform.