Flight Safety Information - February 11, 2025 No. 030 In This Issue : Incident: ANA B78X near Naha on Feb 5th 2025, engine oil problem : Accident: Urga AN26 at Ndele on Feb 10th 2025, left main gear collapse and runway excursion : Incident: Swiss A20N near Athens on Feb 6th 2025, power bank malfunctioned : Incident: Southwest B737 at Sacramento on Feb 8th 2025, engine issue : 10 February 2025 - Chromed In Hollywood Inc Learjet 35A accident 1 dead : A passenger was accused of assaulting a flight attendant, opening a door, and jumping from a plane heading to the runway : Instructor, Student Pilot Both at Fault in $10 Million Helicopter Crash : How the XB-1 aircraft went supersonic without a sonic boom : ACSF To Host SMS Workshops with Symposium : House Committee to Examine Secret Navy Effort on Pilot Brain Injuries : Trump tariffs set up potential ‘nightmare’ scenario for aircraft manufacturing : Aircraft lessors settle insurance disputes over Russia-stranded jets : Passengers, crews evacuated as smoke grounds Hawaiian Airlines plane : Raising ATC Retirement Age Not an ‘Effective Solution’ to Shortages, Union Says : Calendar of Events Incident: ANA B78X near Naha on Feb 5th 2025, engine oil problem An ANA All Nippon Airways Boeing 787-10, registration JA901A performing flight NH-892 from Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) to Tokyo Haneda (Japan) with 244 passengers and 11 crew, was enroute at FL370 about 60nm northeast of Naha (Japan) when the crew decided to turn around and divert to Naha due to a low engine (Trent 1000) oil quantity indication. The aircraft landed safely on Naha's runway 36L about 35 minutes later. The remainder of the flight was cancelled. The airline reported the passengers were rebooked onto 7 domestic flights. The occurrence aircraft positioned to Tokyo after about 38.5 hours on the ground. https://avherald.com/h?article=523ecbf0&opt=0 Accident: Urga AN26 at Ndele on Feb 10th 2025, left main gear collapse and runway excursion An Air Urga Antonov AN-26 on behalf of United Nations, registration UR-EL? performing a flight from an unknown origin to Ndele (Central African Republic), landed on Ndele's runway but veered off the runway. The aircraft came to a stop with a collapsed left main gear. Two crew received injuries. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. https://avherald.com/h?article=523ec753&opt=0 Incident: Swiss A20N near Athens on Feb 6th 2025, power bank malfunctioned A Swiss International Airlines Airbus A320-200N, registration HB-JDH performing flight LX-252 from Zurich (Switzerland) to Tel Aviv (Israel), was enroute at FL370 about 80nm northeast of Athens (Greece) when the crew initiated a diversion to Athens after a passenger's power bank had malfunctioned. Cabin crew secured the power bank. The aircraft landed safely on Athens' runway 03R about 25 minutes later. The fire proof bag with the power bank was handed to emergency services. The aircraft departed Athens after about one hour on the ground and reached Tel Aviv with a delay of about 1:45 hours. https://avherald.com/h?article=523ec3d3&opt=0 Incident: Southwest B737 at Sacramento on Feb 8th 2025, engine issue A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, registration N288WN performing flight WN-2301 from Sacramento,CA to Denver,CO (USA), was climbing out of Sacramento's runway 35L when the crew requested to level off at 4000 feet advising they were looking at something. After levelling off at 4000 feet the crew advised about a minute later, that they needed to return to Sacramento, they had a possible engine (CFM56) issue. The aircraft landed safely on Sacramento's runway 35L about 18 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-700 registration N416WN reached Denver with a delay of about 2:10 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Sacramento about 19.5 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=523eb568&opt=0 10 February 2025 - Chromed In Hollywood Inc Learjet 35A accident 1 dead Date: Monday 10 February 2025 Time: c. 14:38 LT Type: Learjet 35A Owner/operator: Chromed In Hollywood Inc Registration: N81VN MSN: 652 Year of manufacture: 1989 Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 4 Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Substantial Category: Accident Location: Scottsdale Airport (SDL/KSDL), Scottsdale, AZ - United States of America Phase: Landing Nature: Unknown Departure airport: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, TX (AUS/KAUS) Destination airport: Phoenix-Scottsdale Municipal Airport, AZ (SCF/KSDL) Investigating agency: NTSB Confidence Rating: Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources Narrative: The Learjet 35A veered off the runway 21 and struck a parked Gulfstream 200 (N199DF). The pilot died in the crash, two occupants were seriously injured, another sustained moderate injuries. https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/476486 A passenger was accused of assaulting a flight attendant, opening a door, and jumping from a plane heading to the runway A passenger was accused of opening a door and jumping off an Iberia flight while it was preparing to take off. The incident, which was said to have occurred Friday, was first described by Airlive.net. Iberia said it could "confirm the information" in the report but did not comment further. A passenger was accused of assaulting a flight attendant and opening an emergency exit before jumping onto the taxiway while a flight was preparing to take off. Airlive.net first described the incident involving an Airbus A320neo operated by the Spanish airline Iberia, which was about to depart Paris Orly Airport for Madrid on Friday. An Iberia spokesperson told Business Insider the airline could "confirm the information" in the report but did not comment further. The plane was about to turn onto the runway when passengers heard a loud sound, Airlive.net reported. In a video obtained by the outlet that appeared to have been taken by another passenger, emergency vehicles can be seen surrounding the aircraft. Passengers deplaned after two hours and were sent to nearby hotels, per the report. Flight IB578 took off from Paris five hours later than scheduled, according to data from Flightradar24. Aéroports de Paris, which administers Orly Airport, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI. In January, a similar incident occurred on a JetBlue flight that was about to take off from Boston. The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was on a taxiway when a passenger opened an emergency exit, causing the slide to deploy. Last August, a passenger in Australia opened an emergency exit when his plane had just arrived at the gate, getting out and walking along one of the jet's wings. In 2023, a Southwest Airlines passenger caused panic after jumping out of an emergency exit and running across the tarmac before attempting to steal a truck. https://www.yahoo.com/news/passenger-hit-flight-attendant-opened-115738851.html Instructor, Student Pilot Both at Fault in $10 Million Helicopter Crash A helicopter instructor pilot failed to take sufficient corrective action in time to fix the mistakes of a student pilot taking off from a slope, resulting in a rollover that caused nearly $11 million in damages to a TH-1H chopper last spring. A new Air Force Accident Investigation Board report released Feb. 6 faulted pilot error on the part of both the teacher and the trainee. The mishap took place April 3, 2024, at Skelly Stagefield Army Heliport, Ala., during a training flight for the 23rd Flying Training Squadron—the Air Force’s main unit for training helicopter pilots. During the flight, the instructor pilot was evaluating three student pilots after they each had flown three sorties in the TH-1H, a trainer version of the UH-1H Huey. Nearly an hour and a half into the flight, one of the student pilots was working on taking off and landing on slopes. After one successful landing and takeoff on an incline, the helicopter was on a grassy 5-degree slope, with the right skid higher than the left. When it came time to take off again, the student pilot used the “cyclic”—a stick used to control directional thrust—and the “collective”—a lever to control overall vertical lift—to raise the lower left skid off the ground. However, the trainee went too far. While he thought the aircraft was level, it wound up in a slight right bank of a few degrees. Then, the student became disoriented and though the right skid was slipping and sending the aircraft sliding left. Using the cyclic to push the aircraft further right, the student had the helicopter in a 6-to-10 degree bank. Combined with the upward lift from the collective, the bank caused the chopper to roll onto its right side and the main rotor blade hit the ground. The whole incident took only a few seconds, but the report noted “significant damage” to the helicopter’s nose, cabin, mast, and main rotor head and tail rotor assemblies. The costs were estimated at $10.8 million. Investigators noted that during the mishap, the instructor pilot only verbalized that there was a problem once, when the student was applying “right cyclic.” As the aircraft passed beyond a level attitude, the instructor said “no, no, no,” while attempting to apply “left cyclic.” The corrective maneuver wasn’t enough to counter the student’s mistake, however, and the instructor never attempted to lower the collective—a costly error. “Reduction of collective is most effective in controlling rolling motions and is the recommended procedure to prevent a dynamic rollover event,” the report states. The student, meanwhile, was faulted in the report for misjudging the aircraft as level and becoming disoriented, thinking that the helicopter was sliding when it was “actually stationary over the surface of the ground.” Both pilots’ mistakes caused the crash, and no other factors contributed to it, the investigation found. The instructor was a highly experienced helicopter pilot, with more than 1,800 flight hours in a TH-1H and 5,200 hours of flight time overall. In the 30 days preceding the accident, he had flown more than 12 hours over the course of 9 sorties. The student, by comparison, had just 4.5 hours in three sorties in the TH-1H and was “not qualified to accomplish anything unsupervised,” the report noted. The incident marks a rare mishap for the Air Force’s helicopter fleet, particularly the venerable but aging H-1. According to service statistics, the H-1 had just one “Class A” mishap in the prior decade. Class A mishaps involve either a death or more than $2.5 million in damage. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/new-report-instructor-student-helicopter-crash/ How the XB-1 aircraft went supersonic without a sonic boom When the experimental XB-1 aircraft achieved supersonic speeds on a test flight, it did not create a disruptive sonic boom – thanks to a physics phenomenon called the Mach cutoff When the experimental XB-1 aircraft broke the sound barrier three times during its first supersonic flight on 28 January, it did not produce a sonic boom audible from the ground, according to US company Boom Supersonic. “This confirms what we’ve long believed: supersonic travel can be affordable, sustainable and friendly to those onboard and on the ground,” said Blake Scholl, Founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, in a press release. As an aircraft pushes through the atmosphere at high speeds, it changes the air pressure around it, creating sound waves. And when a supersonic flight surpasses the speed of sound – Mach 1, or about 1224 kilometres per hour – these sound waves combine to form a shock wave that spreads away from the flight path. This sonic boom can travel far enough to reach the ground, where it produces an extremely loud noise, rattles buildings and even breaks glass. Sonic booms over land are so disruptive that they contributed to the retirement of fabled commercial airliner Concorde in 2003 and spurred many countries to prohibit commercial supersonic aircraft. Since then, aerospace engineers have been trying to develop aircraft designs that can go supersonic without the boom. In this case, the XB-1 took advantage of a physics phenomenon called the Mach cutoff. Because sound moves more slowly at higher altitudes, an aircraft breaching the sound barrier at those heights will produce a boom that cannot reach the ground – if the boom moves downward, the increasing speed of sound will deflect it, pushing its shockwaves upward instead. The trick is that temperature and wind also affect sound speeds, so the ideal altitude and speed for the supersonic aircraft will depend on atmospheric conditions. “The actual challenge is getting very accurate atmospheric forecasts on temperature and on wind – computing the practical Mach-cutoff flight speed is pretty straightforward from there,” says Bernd Liebhardt at the German Aerospace Center in Germany. Boom Supersonic says that XB-1’s most recent and final test flight, on 10 February, also reached supersonic speeds without the boom. Now the company is using what it learned from the test flights to help its future commercial airliner, called Overture, achieve the same feat. Supersonic overland flights would be up to 50 per cent faster than today’s commercial airliners. That could make the travel time from New York to Los Angeles 90 minutes shorter. Flying at supersonic speeds during shorter overland routes could also burn less fuel than flying at the “aerodynamically worst speed” – right below the sound barrier – says Liebhardt. But he cautioned that taking advantage of Mach cutoff is probably more of a niche use case for “supersonic business jet users”. It would deliver less of an economic payoff for a commercial airline service. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2467745-how-the-xb-1-aircraft-went-supersonic-without-a-sonic-boom/ ACSF To Host SMS Workshops with Symposium Workshops will delve into regulatory requirements, managing risk, and using data ACSF Safety Symposium is returning to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) has scheduled a series of safety management system workshops that will be held in tandem with its Safety Symposium planned in April at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach, Florida campus. Opening on April 7, the symposium will start with a panel about business aviation careers and run through April 9. Speakers include Convergent Performance CEO Tony Kern, NTSB member Michael Graham, Valor Partners chair and CEO Al Gorthy, and others from companies such as GE Aerospace, FlightSafety International, Hop-A-Jet, and RBAVLaw. The workshops will include a session entitled “ACSF Lite, Part 5, and the Declaration Letter” run by John Cox, CEO of Safety Operating Systems and co-founder of Aviation Safety Compliance, and Jim Hosey, CEO and president of Aviation Consulting/Auditing and president and co-founder of Aviation Safety Compliance. This session will provide an overview of upcoming SMS requirements, including options for small operators. Another workshop, “Turning SMS Data into Safety Insights” run by Aviation Safety Solutions CEO Amanda Ferraro, will instruct on how to effectively analyze and leverage SMS data to identify trends, assess risks, and drive proactive safety improvements. A third workshop, “Safety Management, Airworthiness, Quality Escapes; Victim or Enabler,” will be held by AeroTechna Solutions managing director Leonard Beauchemin and delve into the foundation of airworthiness, risk management, and compliance management. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2025-01-24/acsf-host-sms-workshops-symposium House Committee to Examine Secret Navy Effort on Pilot Brain Injuries The Navy quietly started screening elite fighter pilots for signs of brain injuries caused by flying, a risk it officially denies exists. The Navy’s elite TOPGUN pilot school quietly undertook an effort called Project Odin’s Eye in the fall of 2024 to try to detect and treat brain injuries in fighter crew members, and leaders kept it so confidential that not even the broader Navy knew about it. Now, the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is demanding to learn about the project, and what the Navy knows about the risk that high-performance jets pose to the brains of the crew members who fly in them. “It is imperative to ensure the warfighter has full and accurate information about health risks and the tools, both mental and physical, to safeguard their health,” the chairman of the committee, Representative James Comer of Kentucky, said in a letter sent on Thursday to the acting secretary of the Navy. The letter cited a report by The New York Times published in December that detailed how a number of F/A-18 Super Hornet crew members, after years of catapult takeoffs from aircraft carriers and dogfighting training under crushing G-forces, experienced sudden and unexplained mental health problems. The problems included insomnia, anxiety, depression and PTSD-like symptoms — all of which can be caused by repeated sub-concussive brain injuries. Many of the problems started when the aviators were in their 40s, near the end of their careers, but those affected often kept their struggles hidden, even after leaving the Navy, so that they could continue to fly. The Navy tells its pilots that it has no evidence that flying poses a risk of brain injury. That remained the official line even after three pilots with symptoms consistent with brain injuries died by suicide in a span of 12 months. But in November, leaders at TOPGUN — where the Navy’s best fighter pilots learn aerial dogfighting — quietly adopted Odin’s Eye, a brain injury program that has been used by some Navy SEALs. The move allowed TOPGUN to use its own budget to screen pilots and sidestep the sometimes sluggish Navy bureaucracy. The letter from Congress demands that the Navy share what it knows about possible brain injuries in aircrew members, including all studies and communications about the issue, as well as data on the number of aviators injured over the last 10 years. It also asks why Odin’s Eye was created in secrecy. It “is concerning that Navy command may not be fully aware of its existence,” the letter says, adding that the situation “raises additional questions about the Navy’s knowledge of potential issues and whether it is acting to mitigate these issues in a comprehensive and effective manner.” “Our Navy invests a lot in these pilots to make sure they are the best, and we expect the best, but we also want to make sure they are being taken care of,” Mr. Comer said in an interview. The problem may be difficult to see clearly, even with the power of an influential House committee. Brain injury symptoms often resemble those of unrelated psychological disorders, and many aviators who experienced them said they had never been assessed for a brain injury by the Navy, so data on the injuries’ prevalence may not exist. Even so, retired pilots suggest that the problem is not new and has been crippling high-performing pilots for decades. Capt. Frederic G. Ludwig Jr., known as Wigs, commanded TOPGUN in the late 1980s, when the blockbuster movie carrying the same name was released. Public interest in Navy pilots was so strong that crowds would sometimes roll out a red carpet for him when he got out of his jet, according to his son, Eric Ludwig. But a few years later, after 20 years of flying and 1,200 carrier landings, Captain Ludwig started to unravel, his son said. He had panic attacks in the cockpit and had to stop flying single-seat aircraft. While commanding a carrier air group, he had a mental breakdown, escaped a locked psychiatric hospital in Singapore through a window and was missing for days. The Navy gave him electroshock therapy and quietly retired him in 1995, but his problems grew worse, with moods that swung between reckless confidence and inconsolable sorrow. His ability to plan and finish projects deserted him. In his flying career, he never had an accident, but as a civilian he became so uncoordinated and distracted that he repeatedly got into fender benders. He was never assessed for a brain injury. He died in 2023, at age 78, of a brain bleed. “It’s so tragic,” his son said in an interview. “He tried and tried and tried for decades to get better, but he never could.” Neil Sullivan, known as Sully, who trained under Captain Ludwig at TOPGUN, had similar problems after flying Navy fighters for 14 years and airliners for another 10. At age 48, he suddenly started waking up soaked in sweat and developed crippling anxiety. “I tried to John-Wayne it for six months, but eventually it got so bad that I had to stop flying,” he said in an interview. He divorced, turned to alcohol and then hard drugs, and felt unable to work. “My life completely fell apart, and I could never understand why,” said Mr. Sullivan, who eventually went into rehab for alcohol and drug abuse. “For decades, I was trying to treat what I thought was a psychiatric disorder, but there’s a very good chance I’ve had hundreds of small brain injuries.” He added: “There must be a lot of us out there; you just don’t see us. They never make a movie about this part of the story.” Pinning down the causes of the problem and its scope will not be simple. There are no brain scans or blood tests that can detect the unique pattern of microscopic damage caused by repeated sub-concussive blows in a living brain. It can be seen only post-mortem. Capt. William Catlett, a rear admiral’s son who went by the nickname Chance, was in the very first TOPGUN class in the late 1960s and flew for 24 years. In his 40s he developed anxiety and depression, and those often kept him from being able to leave the house, his daughter Mallory Catlett said. She saw similar problems in other pilots of his generation, including a friend of the family — another highly decorated test pilot whose father was a rear admiral — who, she said, died by suicide shortly after retiring. “These dads were all kind of crazy, and we never really understood why,” she said. “But certainly, if you look at it in terms of brain injury, it makes sense.” Her father continued to struggle with mood swings and deteriorating brain function for decades, and died in December. His family donated his brain to the Defense Department’s brain tissue repository, an advanced laboratory that studies military-related brain injuries, but that has only one fighter pilot’s brain in its collection, in part because the risk of brain injury in aircrew members has largely gone unacknowledged. “My father and grandfather gave their lives to the Navy,” Ms. Catlett said. “We wanted to give back. Maybe his brain can provide some understanding.” If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/us/topgun-navy-pilot-brain-injury.html Trump tariffs set up potential ‘nightmare’ scenario for aircraft manufacturing As the global supply chain prepares to grapple with new and impending U.S. tariffs, one analyst is reviewing the implications for how increased costs will affect aircraft manufacturing—and what parts might be most impacted. Manufacturers are somewhat tense following this week’s talk of tariffs, according to Phillip Gulley, chief strategy officer and co-founder of the supply chain execution platform Cofactr. This Week in Tariffs On Saturday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, and 10 percent tariffs on goods from China. A detailed breakdown of what goods might be affected by the tariffs can be found here. While these tariffs were originally thought to go into effect on Tuesday, leaders from Mexico and Canada met with Trump on Monday and made agreements that would offset tariffs on their countries’ imports by another month. Per their respective agreements, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau each committed to sending around 10,000 military personnel to police their borders with the U.S. It’s currently unclear if these tariffs will continue to be used as a negotiating tool for international policy change come March, or if they will be enforced as planned. The tariffs on China, however, did go into effect starting Tuesday. With the full impact of tariffs on America’s third-largest trading partner yet to be seen, analysts and stakeholders mostly appear to be in wait-and-see mode—while some suggest tariffs could cause a shift in global supply chains. Understanding Aviation’s Supply Chain Challenges Import tariffs have a wide range of impacts on various goods and their components. Aircraft builders are known to source a variety of materials and products from all over the world in complex, interconnected supply chains. A 2024 congressional report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed supply chain challenges facing commercial aviation manufacturers. “Thousands of manufacturers and raw material suppliers make up the global aviation manufacturing supply chain,” the report stated. “The United States is a net exporter of aerospace products, and most U.S. imports of aviation products come from five countries: France, Canada, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom.” The 45-page report outlined that American aviation manufacturer Boeing sources approximately 700 suppliers to support its 737 aircraft, which are each composed of about 2 million separate parts. “Fifteen of the 17 [aviation component] manufacturers we spoke with stated that the difficulty that they or their suppliers had in procuring raw materials or components affected their ability to meet demand,” the report stated. “These manufacturers reported shortages or delays in obtaining a broad range of items, ranging from castings and forgings to engines and semiconductors…” Analyst Weighs In FLYING spoke with Gulley, who has analyzed how tariffs are affecting the supply chains of manufacturers that build everything from rocket ships and satellites to drones and autonomous vehicles, about the key parts affected. “Things are super in flux right now,” Gulley said. “I think this is one of the really unnerving things. And if I were to explain the temperature of the room conversations that our team members are having with primes, whether that’s defense or commercial prime manufacturers, it’s a lot of waiting and holding their breath.” While defense contractors in particular have already diversified their direct supply chains “as much as they can away from China,” Gulley said the idea that Canada and Mexico might also be brought into a trade war with the U.S. could mean a “ridiculously expensive” process change. “…You’re looking at decades of relationships of moving materials cross-border in a very friendly way,” he said. “And a shift of any kind that inhibits that relationship—and the potential of having compounding tariffs as you move those materials between facilities or through your tiered manufacturing processes—that process change outside of the cost [of just moving things across the border]?” He added that tariffs will ultimately cause an increase in the cost of manufacturing, especially in the nearshore environment. Parts Affected Where aircraft manufacturing might really end up hurting, however, involves tariffs on imported electronic components. “If you look at an airplane, a commercial airline, probably 20-30 percent of the cost is going to actually be electronics,” Gulley said. “Because there’s so many systems in there.…I can’t talk about a lot of our customers specifically, but I can tell you in the tiered supplier relationship, if I look at our customers’ materials, probably [for] a third of their materials, the country of origin is still China.” He said that tariffs would have a “huge impact” on a third of that tiered supply of electronics going into about a third of the cost of an airplane “That’s 10 percent of the materials and the value right through every tiered supplier,” Gulley said. “That’s a huge impact just right there.…That means that you’ve probably got at least single digits increase in just the absolute cost of an airplane.” On the other two potential tariffs, Gulley said that subassembly manufacturers for key components—like Rolls-Royce engines—are in Canada and could see a premium on imports. “And then you’ve got the same thing with ice protection systems, with landing gear systems [and] with environmental controls,” he said. “You can look at these supply chains that go into Airbus and Boeing, and tons of them have manufacturing facilities in China, in Mexico, [and] in other countries.” While the direct results of enacted tariffs have yet to be seen, Gulley highlighted some of the big questions for manufacturers that remain up in the air. “If you’ve been buying your subassemblies from [facilities located in tariffed countries], are those facilities open?” he said. “Is there going to be the same demand? Are the tariffs going to mean that you have to move that manufacturing back onshore? And then there’s the threat of possible retaliatory tariffs, which could shake up things even further. “We don’t know what those retaliatory moves are going to be,” Gulley said. “So people are holding their breath knowing that either process change or supply chain manufacturing facilities are going to have to shift. And we don’t even know what that is. So there’s this huge cost.…There’s this nightmare, and things are still too much in flux to even be able to act.” https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/trump-tariffs-set-potential-nightmare-170000214.html Aircraft lessors settle insurance disputes over Russia-stranded jets Aircraft lessors Avolon and BOC Aviation have settled lawsuits in the High Court against insurers over jets stranded in Russia after Western sanctions in 2022, the companies announced on February 7. According to REUTERS, the trial, which began last June, involved approximately US$2.7 billion in insurance claims. SMBC Aviation Capital, another major lessor, confirmed it had also reached settlements with Swiss Re and Scor Europe. These are two of the 18 insurers it is suing as part of a broader lawsuit brought by six lessors in the Irish High Court, which continued on Friday, February 7. Aircraft lessors are seeking compensation from multiple insurers worldwide over losses exceeding US$8.3 billion. More than 400 aircraft were left in Russia after sanctions against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine forced the cancellation of lease agreements. Avolon and BOC said they had dropped their Irish lawsuits after reaching commercial settlements with their insurers. Both companies, along with lessor SMBC—declined to disclose settlement terms due to confidentiality agreements. Representatives for CDB Aviation, Nordic Aviation Capital and Hermes Aircraft, the three other lessors involved in the Irish legal action, did not comment. BOC, headquartered in Singapore, said it would continue pursuing a separate claim against insurers in London's High Court, where another trial involving aircraft lessors began last year. Dublin-based lessor Avolon recorded a US$304 million impairment in 2022 to cover losses from ten of its aircraft stranded in Russia. BOC took a US$804 million write-down the same year for 17 aircraft. The Irish lawsuit targeted over a dozen insurers, including Lloyd's of London, Chubb and Fidelis. Since the legal action began—some cases are also set to be heard in the United States—lessors have secured more than US$2.5 billion in settlements with Russia for over 100 aircraft, transferring ownership to Russian airlines. With more than 60% of the world's leased aircraft owned or managed in Ireland, the ongoing Dublin trial is the largest in the country's history by the number of legal representatives involved. https://avitrader.com/2025/02/10/aircraft-lessors-settle-insurance-disputes-over-russia-stranded-jets/ Passengers, crews evacuated as smoke grounds Hawaiian Airlines plane Hawaiian Airline’s flight 22 had to evacuate 273 passengers and staff after smoke was seen billowing out of the plane’s left engine around 2 p.m. Sunday. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Seattle-bound Hawaiian Airlines flight was grounded shortly after taking off from Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International airport on Sunday. Hawaiian Airline’s flight 22 had to evacuate 273 passengers and staff after smoke was seen billowing out of the plane’s left engine around 2 p.m. Sunday. The plane returned to Honolulu’s airport and passengers were later loaded onto another plane which arrived in Washington at approximately 3 a.m. Monday. In a statement, a Hawaiian Airline’s spokesperson said: “Safety is our priority and we apologize to guests impacted by this event and thank our crew for their professionalism.” https://news.google.com/search?q=airlines&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen Raising ATC Retirement Age Not an ‘Effective Solution’ to Shortages, Union Says National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) disagrees with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s plan to allow controllers to stay longer. Control tower staffing levels are below the FAA’s target at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA), the site of a fatal midair collision in January. [Courtesy: Shutterstock/TJ Brown] The union representing America’s air traffic controllers does not believe Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s proposal to alleviate widespread shortages is an “effective solution.” The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) told FLYING that Duffy—who last week suggested allowing controllers to stay on past the mandatory retirement age of 56 during an interview on Fox News—is missing the mark. “The solution to the ATC staffing crisis is a long-term commitment to hiring and training and the retention of the experience of all the highly skilled, highly trained air traffic controllers,” the union said in a statement. “NATCA will continue to advocate for practical, effective solutions that ensure safety, protect the workforce, and restore stability to the system.” The air traffic control system has come under increased scrutiny in the wake of last month’s fatal midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA)—the first major U.S. commercial aviation accident in more than a decade. The collision between a passenger jet and U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter killed all 67 occupants of both aircraft. According to a recent FAA report, as of September 2023, there were about 10,600 certified professional controllers (CPCs) working at U.S. airport terminals and en route facilities. That’s about 2,000 short of the FAA’s 2024 staffing standards target and more than 4,000 shy of the target set by the Collaborative Resource Workgroup (CRWG)—a joint entity comprising FAA and NATCA personnel. The union believes the CRWG is the more effective staffing model. Counting developmental controllers who recently graduated from the FAA’s academy in Oklahoma City, as well as CPCs in training (CPC-ITs)—controllers learning the ropes of a new facility after working elsewhere—U.S. airports had 13,448 total ATC employees. The FAA and NATCA wanted 14,633 CPCs alone in 2024. But despite efforts to boost hiring, the agency netted only 36 new controllers in fiscal year 2024, The Air Current reported. The FAA last week revealed there are 25 CPCs and three CPC-ITs staffing the control tower at KDCA, shy of its target of 28. At the time of the collision, one controller was reportedly handling the work of two personnel. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has yet to indicate whether that played a role in the accident. Allowing controllers to continue working past the mandatory retirement age of 56, Duffy said, could “make the system safer” and “alleviate the pressure” on controllers. But it won’t be enough to move the needle. “In the next 12 months, we anticipate 49 ATCs across 35 facilities will reach age 56,” NATCA said. “This is not enough to address the nationwide staffing shortage.” President Donald Trump has vowed to tackle the chronic shortage. After some initial confusion, Duffy last week clarified that controllers are exempt from the federal hiring freeze and buyout offer announced after Trump took office. NATCA has clashed with some of the Trump administration’s other proposals, such as allowing a group of inexperienced engineers associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to “plug in” and make “rapid safety upgrades” to the nation’s ATC system, in Duffy and Musk’s words. Nick Daniels, president of NATCA, has publicly defended the union's members after Trump suggested, without evidence, that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices were producing unqualified controllers. “The standards to achieve certification are not based on race or gender,” Daniels said in a statement. “The proud men and women that comprise the nation’s aviation safety professionals bear the immense responsibility of ensuring the safety and efficiency of the national airspace system while working short-staffed, often six days a week, and in facilities long overdue for modernization.” NATCA told FLYING that the Trump administration should focus on ATC hiring and training rather than retaining aging controllers. Retired controller Stephen Abraham—better known as “Kennedy Steve” in ATC circles, where he’s a bit of a celebrity—told Vulture the current retirement age is “absolutely appropriate.” “I never thought that until I was probably 52 or 53, because the job was always easy,” Abraham said. “And then the last three years of my career, I’m like, ‘Wow, I got to think a lot harder to do this.’” https://www.flyingmag.com/raising-atc-retirement-age-not-an-effective-solution-to-shortages-union-says/ CALENDAR OF EVENTS • · Sponsor the 2025 Fuzion Safety Conference! March 4 & 5, 2025 (Orlando) • · "Automation in Transportation: Lessons for Safe Implementation," on March 11-12, 2025, in Washington, DC. • · Annual Women in Aviation International Conference, Gaylord Rockies Resort & Conference Center | Denver Colorado, March 27-29, 2025 • · 59th Annual SMU Air Law Symposium is scheduled March 31 - April 2, 2025 • · Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) Safety Symposium April 7-9, 2025 • · AIA Conference: The Aviation Insurance Association's annual conference in Orlando, Florida from April 25–28, 2025 • · Sixth Edition of International Accident Investigation Forum, 21 to 23 May 2025, Singapore • Flight Safety Foundation - Aviation Safety Forum June 5-6, 2025 - Brussels • · The 9th Shanghai International Aerospace Technology and Equipment Exposition 2025; June 11 to 13, 2025 • ISASI ANNUAL SEMINAR 2025'September 29, 2025 – October 3, 2025, DENVER, COLORADO • CHC Safety & Quality Summit, 11th – 13th November 2025, Vancouver, BC Canada Curt Lewis