Aircraft that had taken off from Newark hit the front landing gear three times with ‘abnormal force’, which caused damage to the crown of the upper fuselage, reported the NTSB. //

According to the NTSB, the Boeing 767-300 N671UA registration suffered three heavy hits on the front landing gear, with force equivalent to 1.4 g, 1.6 g and again 1.6 g when the widebody ended up bouncing during the braking attempt. //

“A preliminary review of the flight data recorder (FDR) revealed that after the initial touchdown on both main wheels, the airplane rolled to the left and right main gear lifted off the runway’s surface. Subsequently, the nose wheel touched down with a gravitational force equivalent (g) of about 1.4 g and bounced,” wrote the NTSB.

“The speed brakes deployed, and the nose wheel impacted the runway a second time with a force of about 1.6 g followed by another bounce. The right thrust reverser (TR) deployed, and the nose wheel impacted the runway again with a force of about 1.6 g followed by the deployment of the left TR.”

Israel’s national carrier El Al Airlines (LY/ELY) was established in 1948, the year the State of Israel itself was founded. El Al, which means “to the skies” or “upward” in Hebrew, has connected Israel to the world for 75 years, and has played its own part in the country’s security and politics since its inception. //

The introduction of the Boeing 707 in the early 1960s brought El Al into the jet age and cemented its place among the famous global flag carriers. The 707 connected Tel Aviv directly to New York, a route which was the longest commercial service in operation at the time. The 707 also marked the turning point for El Al’s fleet strategy, as the airline has only ordered Boeing aircraft since.

The Wright Brothers' first flight in 1903 was successfully captured in an iconic photograph by John T. Daniels.
The Hindenburg disaster in 1937 marked the end of the airship era, with Murray Becker's photograph capturing the tragic event.
Ensign John Gay's photograph of a US FA-18 Hornet jet flying past an aircraft carrier in 1999 won first prize in the World Press Photo 2000 contest.

Flying with other live aircraft and the accompanying radio chatter was an experience like no other. Sure, my feet never left terra firma, but my mind was really flying. The prep work to pass the final CAT flight was real, and using the correct phraseology on the radios and working through the three-dimensional problem-solving in real time to navigate the complex airspace of KSAN required my complete attention. The effort was real, even though the flight was virtual.

This is the value proposition provided by having a flight sim in your own home: You can focus on nearly any element of flying that you want to learn or practice and, by doing so, carve back some quality aviation time in your life. My goal has been to fly in my sim once or twice a week, usually starting at 10 p.m. to best minimize distractions.

Measuring 3-meters tall, the Schiphol Clock presents a fascinating 12-hour video of Baas using a paint roller to consistently create—and repeatedly erase—the hands of the clock minute by minute for 12 hours straight. To Baas, this tireless and tedious approach to time-telling is the heart of the piece, which he describes as a “hyper-realistic representation of time.” He explains: “Real time is a term that is used in the film industry. It means that the duration of a scene portrays exactly the same time as it took to film it. I play with that concept in my Real Time clocks by showing videos where the hands of time are literally moved in real time.”

In the video, Baas is dressed in a pair of blue coveralls. In his hands, he holds a bright red bucket and vivid yellow rag. Though this look is predominantly inspired by the “many faceless men who sweep, clean and work at an airport,” it is also based on less obvious muses: distinctive Dutch artists (and primary color enthusiasts) Piet Mondrian and Gerrit Rietveld.

he closure of Niger’s airspace dramatically widens the area over which most commercial flights between Europe and southern Africa cannot fly. Flights must already take a detour of sorts around Libya and Sudan.

Sudan’s current ban on flights went into effect in late July, but the airspace has been effectively closed since mid-April 2023 when two factions of the country’s military government escalated to armed conflict. Multiple European countries, including Germany, France, and the UK, as well as the US and Canada, prohibit their civil aircraft from operating in Libyan airspace (the Tripoli FIR).

With Niger’s airspace now off limits as well, airlines flying between Europe and southern Africa will need to reroute and add 1000 or more extra kilometers to their flights, increasing the amount of fuel each flight will need and the flight time.

What are the 9 freedoms of the air?
What are transit rights and traffic rights?
Why are they vital to commercial aviation?
The freedoms of the air are a set of internationally recognized rights or privileges that govern the operations of commercial air services between different countries. The freedoms were laid down in the Chicago Convention of 1944 and are essentially designed to facilitate the movement of people and goods across borders in aircraft.

Of the nine freedoms, the first five are classed as the main ‘freedoms of the air’, and the remaining four are referred to as ‘special freedoms’.

The NTSB has issued its final report on the incident, listing the probable cause as “the Hop-a-Jet flight crew taking off without a takeoff clearance which resulted in a conflict with a JetBlue flight that had been cleared to land on an intersecting runway.” The NTSB says the the aircraft were in closest proximity when the JetBlue flight was in its landing flare about 30 feet above ground level. //

The Hop-a-Jet crew correctly read back the controller’s instructions to Line Up and Wait (LUAW), but instead began their takeoff roll as they entered the runway. The image above is taken from a video recording made by the jump seat occupant on the JetBlue E190.

United Airlines’ oldest Boeing 767 is likely a write-off after the fuselage skin buckled and tore in a hard landing at Houston on July 29. The aircraft arrived from Newark at 10:34 a.m. with 193 passengers and 11 crew, none of whom were injured. Circumstances of the landing have not been released, but the crew taxied to the gate as normal after their rough arrival.

Ground crews found the damage and the plane remains in Houston. //

Tim S
August 3, 2023 At 1:13 pm
That airplane has had the same thing happen before, and United decided to repair it.

Apparently it’s the oldest 767 (and probably the oldest airframe period) United has, so they may decide it’s cheaper to just part it out than do that king of repair a second time.

“All liveries look the same nowadays” is a common lament amongst the world’s avgeeks. You may have noticed that most commercial aircraft feature predominantly white liveries with small areas of color, typically around the tail. It’s one of the reasons why special liveried aircraft are often amongst the most tracked on Flightradar24.
Why are aircraft predominantly white?

There are several reasons white is the preferred color for commercial aircraft. Let’s take a look at them. //

Breaking the mould completely, some operators have elected for a whole colour approach. Perhaps one of the most notable examples is Southwest Airlines (WN). The US low-cost carrier’s livery perhaps contains some of the lowest amount of white in the skies, showcasing the company’s blue, yellow and red brand colors across the entire fuselage.

In Europe, Icelandic carrier PLAY Airlines (OG) sports an all red/pink livery. Does this count as more white than Southwest? We’ll leave it to you to decide.

It is interesting to note that these liveries are more common amongst low-cost carriers, suggesting the value of showcasing a bold brand can outweigh the cost of more paint.

On Thursday, 6 July we tracked the highest number of commercial flights ever, following more than 134,000. We posted the map below the following day to illustrate the busy skies and we received numerous questions about the blank areas on the map. Why are there big holes in places around the world? //

Ukraine... //

On the map above, blue pins represent airports while the white and yellow lines represent available airways that aircraft can use to transit an area. Nearly all of Tibet is airway-free, but not because the terrain is too high to fly over. Even the tallest mountains in the world just to the southwest are easily traversed, however, safety is again the prime consideration. Aircraft operating at a normal cruising altitude of 35-40,000 feet are flying through air that is less dense and contains less oxygen than air lower in the atmosphere.

At cruising altitude there is only about a minute of useful oxygen available before Hypoxia can begin affecting the brain. This is why airplanes are equipped with oxygen masks and why aircraft descend to 10,000 feet or lower in the event of a depressurization. The problem in Tibet is that much of the plateau is at or above 10,000 feet above mean sea level, making it impossible to descend to a safe altitude. Aircraft that do operate in this area follow special procedures and carry extra equipment to mitigate an emergency situation. For nearly all others, flying around is the easiest thing to do.

In the early 1960s Soviet Union sold titanium to the US believing they needed it for Pizza Ovens but instead they used it to build the iconic SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3+ spy plane

After all, they fraudulently possibly told their comrades that the United States was a lazy country that probably couldn’t even cook for itself. //

Titanium procurement during the Cold War was so vital to the US’ goal of defeating the Soviet Union that it had to secretly buy the metal from the very country it sought to vanquish. It was 1960 and Washington needed spy planes that could avoid detection in Soviet airspace by flying to the heavens. To make what would become the vaunted SR-71 Blackbird, Lockheed knew it had to build a light plane, but one that was strong enough to hold extra fuel to give it expansive range. The only metal that would do the job was titanium. The only place to get titanium in the needed quantities was the Soviet Union.

The US worked through Third World countries and fake companies and finally was able to ship the ore to the US to build the SR-71. //

“The airplane is 92% titanium inside and out. Back when they were building the airplane the United States didn’t have the ore supplies – an ore called rutile ore. It’s a very sandy soil and it’s only found in very few parts of the world. The major supplier of the ore was the USSR. Working through Third World countries and bogus operations, they were able to get the rutile ore shipped to the United States to build the SR-71,” famous former SR-71 pilot Colonel Rich Graham said in an interesting article appeared on BBC.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20130701-tales-from-the-blackbird-cockpit

According to ShortFinals.org, in 1941, in Trafford Park, Manchester, Ford UK had two assembly plants where they were told to build Rolls-Royce Merlins – lots of them! At the time, this engine was in the vast majority of British fighters and bombers, including the two which had just won the Battle of Britain, the Supermarine Spitfire and the Hawker Hurricane.

In his book Not Much Of An Engineer, Rolls Royce supercharger designer Stanley Hooker states that Ford UK looked at the Merlin engine drawings and said “we can’t build an engine to those tolerances.” Hooker said loftily (his words) “I suppose the tolerances are too tight for you?” ” No, they are much too loose – we use much tighter tolerances for car engines so all the parts are truly interchangeable without any hand adjustment needed.”

Ford re-drew the blue-prints for the Merlin, making it more suitable for mass production, and by 1944, over 400 engines a week were flowing out of the plants.

The first Merlin engine developed 880hp but by the time the last mark of Merlin was produced the power output was 2030hp.

The Merlin engine was then enlarged still further and named the Griffon. Aircraft which were powered by the Merlin engine include the Lancaster, Spitfire, Halifax, Hurricane, Battle, Defiant, Whitley, Mosquito, Hornet, York, Lincoln and North American Mustang.

The movie star reportedly owns at least seven jets along with other smaller aircraft.

John Travolta is much more than just a Hollywood star. The actor is known for his love of aviation and has several jets in his private portfolio. Travolta is certified to fly 11 different aircraft and owns a number of planes himself. //

Perhaps the actor's most prized possession was the Boeing 707-138B that he picked up over 20 years ago. Travolta initially acquired the 707 from Qantas on a rental agreement before the airline handed him the jet as part of his brand ambassador role.

The 150-seater former Qantas jet was revamped to carry just 15 guests and boasted two bedrooms and a full-size bathroom.

The flight turned around somewhere over Bristol, descended to 17,000 feet, and returned to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, where it landed safely.

You might wonder why the aircraft returned all the way to Amsterdam when it could have diverted to a number of closer airports in England. The answer is three-fold. First, there were logistical concerns. KLM’s base is at AMS and it is from there KLM can best repair aircraft, obtain replacement aircraft, and offer other flight options to passengers. Second, and even more importantly, the lack of emergency landing demonstrates how safe the flight crew felt operating wtih only one engine. Yes, a plane can operate (and indeed, operate a great distance) on only one engine. Continuing to São Paulo would have been foolish, but the risk of losing the second engine was deemed low enough that the captain chose to go back. Finally, the aircraft had to dump fuel before landing, which took time.

The long rap sheet only tells part of the tale.
By Martha Lunken

ATLANTA—A CFM Leap-1B engine made out of Lego bricks is making its worldwide public debut on April 18 at Lufthansa Technik’s booth (#1421) at MRO Americas.

The engine, built at 60% of the powerplant's actual size, is made of some 400,000 Lego pieces and weighs 450 kg (992 lb.). It measures 105.6 cm by 1.88 cm by 145 cm.

The idea came from a Lufthansa Technik employee who likes to build things out of Lego and his son, “who built the first Lego engines at a smaller scale for giveaways,” says Derrick Siebert, Lufthansa Technik’s VP of commercial engine services. “These were very well received from customers, and that is where the idea generated,” he adds.

While engine failures in all phases of flight are not very common among aircraft today, they were a fairly frequent occurrence, according to SKYbrary, an electronic aviation safety knowledge repository. The source also noted that statistics from the 1960s indicate that failures resulting in inflight shutdowns occurred at an approximate rate of 40 per 100,000 flight hours, equivalent to 1 per 2,500 flight hours, or every engine failing once per year. Today, the failure rate of the engines installed on current-generation aircraft is reportedly less than 1 per 100,000 flight hours.