Category Archives for Aircraft.
The Trump 757, once owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, made an emergency landing last week, diverting while the candidate was enroute to a fundraiser. The campaign now continues on a Gulfstream G550.
There’s video that’s gone viral of President Biden, appearing to be confused, trying to board the wrong plane. The assertion is that he thought the small jet was Air Force One and he was getting on by mistake.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House and speaks to Congress this week. His travel to the U.S. is on board Wing Of Zion, Israel’s Air Force One. And this is the first trip abroad using the reconfigured aircraft. Here’s a first look inside while the plane is in its intended operational service.
The new long range Airbus A321XLR received its Type Certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. It’s been certified with CFM LEAP-1A, and a Pratt & Whitney version is expected to be certified later this year. The first plane is expected to enter service later this summer, and over 500 XLRs have been ordered to date.
The pilot of British Airways flight 501 from Lisbon to London Heathrow reports being struck by lightning while on approach to the airport on Sunday.
He describes lightning having “entered [the aircraft] just underneath the flight deck” and says that it left via the aircraft’s tail. “We saw it shoot through the cabin” – something he’d only heard about in stories and never seen before “in real life.”
Probably the most misunderstood thing in all of aviation is speed tape. Passengers see what looks like ‘duct tape’ on their plane, and they worry whether it will hold together. The plane doesn’t look safe and first impressions over safety matter right now with aviation safety top of mind given the issues we’ve seen with the Boeing 737 MAX 9 door plug, air traffic control mishaps, and pilot error over the past year and a half.
Three years ago American Airlines promoted a hypothetical maybe order for electric aircraft using taxpayer bailout funds. Now they’re promoting a hypothetical maybe order for hydrogen-fueled aircraft while positioning themselves as unable to afford higher wages for flight attendants.
The group Just Stop Oil promoted themselves vandalizing Stonehenge – and then the next day, going after Taylor Swift’s private jet at London’s Stansted airport. But – whoops – they went to the wrong London airport.
A new whistleblower was identified in advance of Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun’s testimony today. A Renton, Washington quality assurance inspector says that the planemaker “improperly tracked and stored faulty parts, and that those parts were likely installed on airplanes including the 737 Max,.”
Furthermore, he claims that supervisors instructed him “to conceal evidence from the FAA,” and that he has faced retaliation. Boeing offered to fly the whistleblower to D.C. on a 737 MAX 9.
After a number of high profile incidents, the FAA has been auditing safety practices at United Airlines. They’ve been unable to open up flights to new cities or add new delivery aircraft to their fleet, and they have had to defer already-announced service.
There was some worry that this could drag on as the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General announced an audit of the FAA’s audit.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
