News and notes from around the interweb:
- Oh, come on. The federal government was primarily responsible for this. The Black Hawk helicopter shouldn’t have been in the approach path. Maybe you want to apportion some blame to the air traffic control system. But scheduling flights to DC is not negligent. Meanwhile, American’s response to the tragedy has been genuinely exemplary.
The Defendants knew, or should have known, that AE 5342 was transiting one of the busiest airspaces in the United States, and they knew, or should have known, that the airport approaches presented certain safety risks, specifically including the possibility of a midair collision
The legal theory here would suggest New York airspace is too dangerous for commercial flight, and New York LaGuardia has short runways, water at both ends, and heavy traffic density! And what about Dutch Harbor, Alaska or Aspen?
The family of a man killed in January’s midair collision near Washington, DC, is suing American Airlines, regional jet operator PSA Airlines, and the federal government, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Rachel Crafton, whose husband Casey was on the passenger plane, filed… pic.twitter.com/LziPR0xRzx
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) September 24, 2025
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- American Airlines fails to get injunction against Chicago O’Hare gate re-allocation. I believe their case is strong on the merits but an injunction didn’t make sense – the harms from proceeding are not irreparable, and they aren’t uncompensable. Re-allocated gates can be… re-allocated. And harms can be compensated. The bar for an injunction here was pretty high. The case goes to trial next month.
- Lufthansa’s Project Fox to fix its emotionless premium product included concepts like upgraded caviar, tailored stemware and boarding straight from your driveway. It’s now coming to fruition. The ‘Future Onboard eXperience’ is so far fairly non-specific but the sentiment seems right.
- Massive Sinkhole Opens Up in Middle of Busy Bangkok Street
Bangkok this morning pic.twitter.com/JRPcDga70N
— naiive (@naiivememe) September 24, 2025
- Dallas McKinney airport expects to start offering commercial service this year and will get a customs facility to enable international flights.
Credit: McKinney Airport - United will put newer aircraft with updated interiors into Guam. I’d love to know what’s behind this – perhaps just a desire for fewer remote maintenance issues, but higher-cost aircraft vs. depreciated birds usually go to more premium destinations. So perhaps the newer intra-Asia services are doing quite well, and perhaps we’ll see more of them?
These will be 16/150 and will undoubtedly have Starlink pretty quickly, which will be pretty darn nice.
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 6:25 PM
actually….. let me retract that part about having starlink pretty quickly– not so sure about that.
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 10:30 PM
- Delta is partnering with YouTube to push YouTube Premium subscriptions and feature YouTube content onboard. It is likely no coincidence that American Express is also partnering with YouTube with its Digital Entertainment Credit for Platinum.
I’m with you, Gary, but, also, I hope the victims succeed one way, or another. No, it won’t bring back their relatives, but it helps them with recovery.
To be clear, the US government absolutely should compensate these victims families. However, in these cases, plaintiffs pretty much have to sue everyone to start, including the airline, on whatever basis, because they may have a portion of the blame, even if small, then airline can recover from the government. Deep and deeper pockets. Wish we wouldn’t delay or deny the victims their closure, though.
Regarding McKinney National Airport, call me dubious, I find it very hard to believe that they will siphon off anywhere near 1 out every 8 passengers currently using DFW or DAL. It’s at the extreme edge of the Metroplex, 35 miles North-East of DFW, and nowhere near as close as DAL is for those looking for a budget option to DFW (that would be DAL). In rush hour, it would be about an hour to/from DFW, and $ 3-figures each way by Uber. The Dallas Morning News Article that Gary kindly linked breathlessly said this: “International arrivals at McKinney have spiked more than 40%”. The data behind that figure ? Traffic “increased from 127 in 2023 to [an expected] 180 by the end of this fiscal year”. That tells you all that you need to know.
I get that families are hurt and want someone’s pound of flesh. But it’s not on AA. My assumption is that AA will settle and some seedy lawyer knows that.
Holy cow Gary, that was some video. A flowing water pipe isn’t going to help stabilize things either.
Whatever happens, I hope the families can find peace and closure one way or another. Sometimes I can’t believe it hasn’t even been a year yet. Still surreal, still harrowing.
@1990: The name of the game is to find someone with deep pockets that you can somehow pin a sliver of blame on and then collect the whole judgment from. The airline isn’t going to be able to collect from the government any more than the family can.