Posts with the tag ‘certification’


A Decade in Aviation Departs Leaving Challenges in Its Wake

December 31, 2019

The request for an email interview arrived in my inbox from Namibia shortly after Christmas. The journalist wanted my thoughts about, what else, the Boeing 737 Max. The October 2018 and March 2019 crashes of two of Boeing’s newest jetliners and the subsequent grounding of the fleet for an unprecedented 9 months (and counting) is the aviation story of the decade. Like a pebble tossed into a pond, the ripples continue to radiate outward, making the Max debacle a story of global significance. Norway, Indonesia, Argentina, China, Mauritania, Iceland, Morocco, airlines in these and other nations have been impacted by decisions made at Boeing and… Read More…


AvGeek in Phoenix Gets Lucky With Tour of Global 7500’s Final Test Flights

March 26, 2019

When aspiring aviation photographer and full-fledged aviation geek, Chris Swallow tossed his step ladder into the back of his SUV and headed for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport on Saturday he had more in mind than just seeing what interesting airplanes he might photograph. Swallow, who has lived in Phoenix’s East Valley area for the past two years, knows he is likely to encounter something noteworthy. In the past, he’s photographed Air Force T-45s, T-38 Talons, the T-6 (that’s his photo of the Texans below) along with the AV-8B Harrier and the V-22 Osprey. Gateway Airport occupies some of the land that until 1993 was Williams Air… Read More…


NTSB Questions if Tests of 20-Year Old Jet Engine are Sufficient

November 14, 2018

The death of Southwest Airlines passenger Jennifer Riordan was as horrific as it was surprising. The 43-year-old executive from Albuquerque was partially sucked out of the window of a Boeing 737 on a flight to Dallas in April when one of the plane’s engines came apart and pieces penetrated the passenger cabin. On Wednesday, at a hearing before the National Transportation Safety Board which is investigating the accident, a representative for the Federal Aviation Administration admitted that the way the engine came apart, damaging the airplane and triggering the decompression that pulled Riordan through a broken window, should not have happened under engine certification requirements…. Read More…


Enter to Win

Want to receive some free swag from Christine? Sign up for the mailing list!