The FAA published its final rule on an Airworthiness Directive requiring repetitive inspection and repairs, if necessary, for thousands of Cessna piston singles. The cost of the inspections should be minimal, according to FAA estimates, but repair costs, if cracks are found, would be in the many of thousands of dollars.
The Jet Pack was back, with an additional sighting of what pilots say is a person flying a jet pack near arriving traffic at LAX. Such a bad idea in every way. The feds, by the way, are on it. The alleged interloper was first seen by multiple airline pilots last month.
The bankruptcy proceedings of OneAviation, the maker of the Eclipse 550 very light jet, are nearing some kind of resolution, and it doesn’t look good for the New Mexico-based company’s future. OneAviation had hoped to reorganize under new ownership, but that deal fell through. The court is now proceeding with an asset liquidation bankruptcy. It’s not clear what that means for the future of the plane maker, or for owners of existing Eclipse jets, but it’s not good news. A good summary of what’s happening is here on Aviation International News online by reporter Rob Finfrock, who’s been covering the story.
The Gulf Coast was recovering from another storm, Hurricane Delta, which made landfall in Louisiana earlier this week, with drenching rains and strong winds further soaking areas damaged by Hurricane Laura, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm. Four other named storms have hit Louisiana this year, which hurricane forecasters ascribe to bad luck. With more than a month left in hurricane season, Gulf Coast residents are hoping their luck changes, and hundreds of plane owners have moved their aircraft to higher ground.
Ampaire completed a 290-nm flight of its Cessna 337 proof-of-concept aircraft outfitted with dual propulsion technology systems, conventional gas piston in back and electric in the front. The flight, Ampaire claims, showed the promise of such federated hybrid systems, the company said. The flight, from Bay Area Hayward Executive to L.A.-area Camarillo, took 2 hours and 35 minutes.
Boeing reported slow sales of its jets, with just 98 delivered in the first half of the year, while the United States was hit by World Trade Organization tariff ruling in response to what the WTO called subsidies provided to Boeing by the U.S. government. Last year the Trump Administration levied sanctions against EU nations in part over subsidies provided to Boeing rival Airbus. The EU tariffs are set to take effect later this month.
Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger told the Seattle Times that the Boeing 737 Max should get fixes in addition to those directly addressing the MCAS stability augmentation system that has been blamed for two crashes, one in 2018 and one in 2019, in which 346 people were killed. Sullenberger said that he’d like to see Boeing provide more redundancy to angle-of-attack and airspeed indication systems, as well as modifications to the stick shaker and warning systems.
