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United States aviation news

FAA Allowing Easy Attitude Indicator Upgrades

In a new policy statement, the FAA announced that electronically driven attitude indicators can directly replace vacuum-driven attitude indicators in aircraft flown under VFR and IFR. The installation can be done as a minor alteration. Under a strict interpretation of the applicable regulations, the previous policy sometimes required installation of an indepen...

NetJets, Pilot Union Near Tentative Labor Agreement

After more than two years of contentious contract negotiations, the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) and NetJets Aviation reached an “agreement in principle” on a new collective bargaining agreement late last week. The parties are now finalizing the negotiated language that will form the tentative agreement, which is expected to be released in the coming days...

Final US Airways Flight Completes Journey, Lands in Philly

The final US Airways flight has landed in Philadelphia, completing the last leg of its roundtrip journey. The Airbus A321 landed at Philadelphia International Airport at 5:54 a.m. Saturday after departing from San Francisco at 1:07 a.m. as a red-eye flight. The plane is Flight 1939, named for the airline's founding year. The flight departed from Philadelphia at 10:36 a.m. Fr...

"Electrical Smell" Forces Southwest Airlines Flight to Divert

A Southwest Airlines flight en route from Denver to Seattle had to be diverted Friday when the captain declared an emergency due to an "electrical smell in the cabin," according to a statement released by the airline. The pilot told air traffic controllers that flight attendants and passengers said they smelled burning rubber. The plane returned to Denver and Southwest Airli...

Boeing’s MOP bomb approaching second phase of redesign

Boeing can expect a sole-source contract for redesign, qualification and testing of the US Air Force’s largest non-nuclear penetrating bomb, the 13.6t GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). A redacted notice published by the air force this week says Boeing is being put on contract for the second phase of a classified MOP modification programme, called Enhanced Threat Reduction IV. T...

CEO Garrison leaving Bell for non-aerospace company

Bell Helicopter chief executive John Garrison is leaving the company to take over the top leadership post at a non-aerospace company, parent Textron announced on 15 October. Garrison will become the CEO of Terex, an industrial products company with annual revenues of more than $7 billion, Textron says. The former Textron and Enron executive joined Bell in 2009 at the depth of the company&rsq...

American Flight from Texas to Germany Delayed by Bees

Some unusual travelers caused a delay for one American Airlines flight. The travelers were hundreds of bees, found by a cargo crew under the right wing of a Boeing 767 that landed at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Wednesday. The plane had arrived from Las Vegas and was headed to Frankfurt, Germany. American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely (HEWG'-lee) said Thursday that a beekeeper and th...

Boeing Sees Significant Gain in China Traffic on Visa Changes

Boeing Co. is seeing a significant uptick in China traffic as the government eases travel restrictions and moves toward a service-based economy, even as the Chinese economy grows at its slowest pace in more than 20 years. "We see no slowdown in traffic domestically, traffic regionally, and actually see an uptick, significant internationally, especially as the Chinese government has changed...

Gulfstream passes 100-flight hour mark for G500

Gulfstream has added 40 flights and 85 flight hours to the G500 test campaign in the last two months, completing initial handling qualities tests and an attitude recovery stall system. The first of four G500 test aircraft now has flown 45 flights and logged 100 flight hours, including one 5h22min mission, altitudes up to 38,500ft and speeds up to Mach 0.80, Gulfstream says. The pace of testi...

Delta Is Bargain Hunting for Used Long-Haul Jets

Delta Air Lines Inc., known for snapping up bargain-priced single-aisle planes, is now shopping for used larger, long-haul jets. A glut of wide-body models coming off leases is creating an "aircraft bubble," Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said Wednesday. While no deal is imminent, he said Delta repeatedly gets offers to add twin-aisle jetliners such as Boeing Co.'s...

Jet Aborts Takeoff When Car Makes Wrong Turn onto Runway

Federal officials say a plane carrying 78 people was forced to abort a takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport when a car made a wrong turn onto a runway. The Federal Aviation Administration says the incident shortly before noon Tuesday involved a Compass Airlines twin-engine jet bound for Kansas City. The Los Angeles Times reports an alarm sounded in the control tower when a...

JetBlue Wants to Be the Only Airline with Free Wi-Fi on Every Flight

When JetBlue recently introduced checked baggage fees, it gave the title of Only Large U.S. Airline With Free Checked Bags to Southwest. (I just made that title up, but Southwest is very proud of the distinction.) But JetBlue might have a way to make it up to passengers. On Wednesday, the carrier announced progress in making free in-flight Wi-Fi -- the carrier calls its service Fly-Fi ...