WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co <LUV.N> was hopeful on Monday the government would not force it to ground planes over a maintenance issue, and shares lost nearly 4 percent. The Federal Aviation Administration was due on Tuesday to decide what steps Southwest should take to address the use of parts not approved by the government on more than 80 Boeing Co <BA.N> 737s, the agency said. The FAA last week permitted Southwest to fly planes with the unauthorized components for 10 days... Read Full Story
Small plane crashes
REDLANDS, Calif.—A small, single-engine airplane has crashed near the Redlands Municipal Airport, killing the two men on board.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the experimental plane crashed Wednesday afternoon in an orange grove about a mile away from the airport.
He says the plane, called a Quad City Challenger, was registered to a Carlsbad resident. It departed from French Valley and the pilot was planning to land at Redlands... Read Full Story
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a helicopter ride that a central Florida father arranged for his teenager's first day of school. According to a Lake County Sheriff's Office report, Bart Sutherin flew his 14-year-old son, Joseph, to his first day of classes at East Ridge High School in a rented blue-and-white Hughes 300 helicopter this week. Sutherin landed the helicopter safely behind some portable classrooms on the east side of the campus, but he didn't clear the flight... Read Full Story
Southwest Airlines Co. faces a deadline Tuesday for settling a dispute with regulators over the use of unapproved parts on more than 80 planes. Southwest says it has replaced the unapproved parts in more than 25 planes but needs more time to find parts for the remaining jets. Without an extension, the Federal Aviation Administration could force the airline to ground some planes. The airline said Monday it wants more time to continue replacing parts without disrupting service for customers... Read Full Story
Air traffic controllers in a major control center in California were reduced to using personal mobile phones to guide dozens of airplanes when the communications system crashed for several minutes Wednesday morning Controller Scott Conde said he was in front of a radar screen at the so-called Oakland Center in Fremont when half the facility lost landline and radio communications, which prevented him from talking directly to planes he was guiding to Fresno and Visalia. Conde said he was... Read Full Story
F/A-18s similar to accident aircraft. (Photo by Itzel Guillen for Velozia Air)
A Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas (Boeing) F/A-18 Hornet suffered a rough landing this past Saturday at Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) in Jacksonville, Florida. The incident, involving a crew of two, happened at 12:30 PM as the aircraft were arriving from Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Beaufort in Beaufort, South Carolina to perform a flyover during Sunday’s Jacksonville Jaguars vs. St. Louis Rams... Read Full Story
A Beech 1900D (not the same airline) similar to the one that crashed in Kenya. Photo by Wesisnay.
Two Blue Bird Aviation pilots were killed when their Beechcraft 1900D (registration 5Y-VVQ) crash landed at Wilson Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. The accident happened yesterday (November 9, 2009) sometime after 8:00 AM local time.
The cargo aircraft, carrying a hallucinogenic plant known as miraa that is banned here in the US, departed Wilson Airport (HKNW) for Mogadishu in Somalia at 6:30... Read Full Story
Federal officials are investigating whether Southwest Airlines Co. used unauthorized parts for repairs on some of its older jets. Southwest grounded more than 40 planes last Saturday, causing flight delays. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford says an inspector found problems with documentation of parts that deflect hot engine exhaust away from the wings on Boeing 737 jets. Lunsford says engineers determined that the use of the parts doesn't pose an immediate safety danger... Read Full Story
A Piper PA-32R similar to the accident aircraft. Photo by Adrian Pingstone.
In the last post at Velozia Air (which was something like ten days ago), I listed a quick summary regarding the Tulsa, Oklahoma crash of a Piper Cherokee Six/Saratoga (registration N1228H) into a radio tower and then into a park. The National Transportation and Safety Board’s (NTSB) preliminary report on the accident does not really give us any additional information than what we already know. Still, I can now... Read Full Story
Federal officials are giving Southwest Airlines until Dec. 24 to replace unapproved parts on about 50 airplanes. The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that the parts do not prevent safe operation of the planes. The jets' manufacturer, Boeing Co., had reached the same conclusion. The FAA will let Southwest fly the planes as long as they are inspected every seven days and the unapproved part on the wings is replaced by Dec. 24. The planes make up about 10 percent of Southwest's... Read Full Story
