October 24, 2022 – This post has been updated to include statements from Delta A Federal Judge in Texas stated the obvious late Friday when he ruled that the families of people killed on Boeing 737 Max aircraft were victims of crimes Boeing has acknowledged committing during the design of the airplane. In 2018 and 2019, 346 people died in two separate crashes; one in Indonesia and the other in Ethiopia which largely were the result of Boeing’s intentional actions. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, however, has taken the position that the government, not the families of the dead, was Boeing’s victim. This is more… Read More…

One has to wonder just how much longer Delta Air Lines wants to screw around with Karlene Petitt. Last winter, after five years of testimony and legal arguments, Administrative Law Judge Scott Morris found the airline had mistreated the veteran pilot by retaliating against her when she reported safety violations. In the judge’s word, the airline “weaponized” its right to order pilots to undergo psychiatric examination by sending Petitt to a company-selected psychiatrist who gave her a career-ending diagnosis that was not accurate. There’s a lot to unpack in the case, but for purposes of Delta’s latest shenanigan, let’s just say that when Judge Morris… Read More…

Long before the pandemic made flying a horror show for passengers and crew, the US Congress acknowledged that flight attendant rest time was insufficient. But like a bad dream from which they could not awake, these essential airline safety workers have waited 4 years to see new rules guaranteeing a minimum of 10 hours rest between shifts. The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to announce them shortly. The change increases present rest time for flight attendants by one to two hours depending on circumstances, and makes the 10 hours mandatory. “Ten hours and not a minute less,” became a rallying call for flight attendants and… Read More…

It wasn’t long after the advent of controlled flight that people began to worry about the use of the technology for ill. It was a well-founded concern. This is why the celebration at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario lifts the spirit like a strong headwind. This year the museum celebrates the birthday of one of two dozen bush planes in its collection; the DHC-2 Beaver. When I visited earlier in the month, (having been escorted to its front door by Mary Kane Boushie, a helpful local I met on the bike trail) I must confess I knew nothing about bush… Read More…

The subject of Jim and Patty Doyles’ late-night photography session was supposed to be May’s lunar eclipse. Because, as the world was told, this wasn’t just the earth casting its shadow on the moon, it was a total eclipse of a blood moon. Well in advance of the start time in Connecticut, where the Doyles live, they were setting up their equipment. “I had the tripod set and was getting the light just right when I saw something flicker,” Mr. Doyle said. On impulse, he clicked the shutter, capturing an airliner, perfectly silhouetted against the moon’s still pale yellow orb.  “As soon as I got… Read More…

For people in the northern hemisphere, summertime brings excitement, nostalgia, and sometimes both. It is the season young people join the world of work and those already steeped in that world may recall their anticipation as the journey started. For American Airlines mechanic Azriel (Al) Blackman, who this summer will have spent 80 years at the airline where he started his career, July 18 is not a work anniversary but a celebration of doing the thing he loves for so long. “If you like what you do, it’s not work,” he told a reporter a decade ago. That was the year American brought a DC-3… Read More…

American Airlines announced today that it would put $1 million in pilot academy scholarships to honor Elise Eberwein, a much-loved executive who retires at the end of June from her position as executive vice president of People and Global Engagement. Despite the awkward title, Eberwein is known for her straightforward style and her rise to the C-Suite from humble beginnings as a flight attendant, where she began her career at TWA in 1986. American Airlines, as I reported recently for The New York Times, has joined airlines from around the world in opening its own pilot training academy. There are several reasons for this, the… Read More…

In the next 30 days, Delta Air Lines must notify 13-thousand pilots of its misbehavior,  in the case of the whistleblower pilot it punished for reporting safety violations. A psychiatrist hired by Delta declared first officer Karlene Petitt, bipolar in a diagnosis that left her grounded until it was disputed by a number of other psychiatrists. Without further delay, the details of the case should be emailed and posted at flight stations for 60 days, under the ruling by Administrative Law Judge Scott Morris. Several years earlier Judge Morris had warned Delta to settle with Petitt. You must decide if “you want all this laundry… Read More…

  Frances’s air accident investigation office has opened a probe into Tuesday’s near-disaster of an Air France flight from New York to Paris.  Flight 11, a Boeing 777 was on final approach and descending when air traffic control heard a transmission from the cockpit of human grunting and alarms. The controller repeated the runway clearance information several times before the crew answered. Controllers saw that as the plane continued its descent it veered off the flight path and to the left. At this point, the pilots initiated a go-around. In the ATC tape of the episode which can be heard via the Airlive YouTube channel… Read More…

This post has been modified to reflect a wise reader’s observation that the age of plane is less relevant than the age and most recent maintenance of the PW4000 engines, which this person believes must be considerably younger. I do not have this information as Pratt & Whitney and United declined to answer questions. Passengers boarding United’s Sunday flight from Newark to Zurich had to be pleasantly surprised to discover the cabin was only half full.  That is unusual as airlines struggle to keep up with post-pandemic passenger demand. But the good news stopped before the Boeing 767-300 had even crossed the Atlantic, as the… Read More…