StoleIt

At the bro level, we have been talking a lot about what could replace the C-40 and C-32 as they start to get long in the tooth. Apparently, Boeing originally had an idea for a 787-300 that the Japanese wanted for short dense inter-island flying and it would have been the basis for the 787 BBJ as well. The real big issue is the foot print of a 787, be it a fictional -3 or a real -8/9/10, is way bigger than a 757 or 737. We are talking an extra 70 feet of wing let alone PCN issues. Airport flexibility goes way down, hell, we already sank a C-32 into the pavement at MDW because of a PCN being wrong in the Giant. A 787 wouldn't even be able to land at MDW, let alone park. I fear the MAX9 or 10 is really the only replacement for the C-32 and it simplifies crewing because it's a shared type. But it will come with a performance and capability hit. Best to bring it online right as we change administrations so there isn't any growing pain...like that'll ever happen.

There should be no keeping it. That is simply insane to me.

Edit:

In case anyone has forgotten who the bad guys are: https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/30/europe/ukrainian-journalist-russia-torture-intl

Ice Age. Now you've triggered the climate change crowd...jeez.

I loved her in The Fifth Element!

Where in the video did he say both A & B? The video you posted above the guy basically starts immediately and says Sys B was switched off and then around at 2 minutes he talks only about Sys B again...and again at 5:26 in the video he says Sys B. If the incident Captain turned off FOUR switches trying to turn on the TWO anti-ice switches...then he really needs to be drug tested.

More meat into the grinder. https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-ordered-conscript-160000-more-russians-army-spring/

I've momentarily turned Sys B off when I meant for the Anti-Ice. The master caution light comes on for HYD, you say I'm dumb, and turn it back on. From your text, Sys A never got turned off, otherwise it would be really weird for the PM to flip 4 switches when he meant to do 2. New copilot and a weak Captain didn't help this error train, but I will say, from a human factors perspective, that having white colored tips or the same shape for all those switches isn't a great idea.

Based on the poster...they dropped MIG-25s too!

If Boeing's past performance is an indicator of future performance...this will definitely be on time and under budget. /sarcasm

You forgot: 1a. Manipulate slides to make it look like everything is green by lying/changing denominator to get boss promoted

Restarting the KC-135 line was never going to happen. Little known fact, outside of the tanker TOAD community, is the -135 isn't even a 707 airframe. It's the 367-80 (B-717/720), which shares very little in common with the 707 besides general appearance. Completely different fuselage and wing.

NTSB Released today: Read the Investigation Preliminary report. Read the NTSB's urgent recommendation report on mitigating the risk of midair collisions at DCA. Some highlights that popped out to me: At 2047:40, the crew of flight 5342 received an automated traffic advisory from the airplane’s traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) system stating, “Traffic, Traffic.” At this time, the aircraft were about 0.95 nm apart, as shown in Figure 3. At 2045:30, PAT25 passed over the Memorial Bridge. CVR data revealed that the IP told the pilot that they were at 300 ft and needed to descend. The pilot said that they would descend to 200 ft. The PAT25 FDR indicated that the radio altitude of the helicopter at the time of the collision was 278 ft and had been steady for the previous 5 seconds. At 2047:58, or 1 second before impact, flight 5342 began to increase its pitch. FDR data showed the airplane’s elevators were deflected near their maximum nose up travel. And the airplane rolled about 450°, impacting the water in an approximate 45° nose- low attitude with a left roll about 90°. PAT was at least 60 feet high...not sure if those helicopter routes are supposed to be AGL or MSL, but DCA is only 14 ft field elevation but either way they were high. The CRJ must have seen the PAT too late and applied full deflection. How terrible that must have been for the passengers and crew before impact.

The "Zelensky is a dictator/wont hold an election" talking point is taken in such bad faith. It's in their constitution. Also, how does one hold a free and fair election while a significant amount of their population/territory is occupied? How do you account for citizens of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson? I'd imagine they are all voting pro-Putin right now. Not saying there isn't a lot of valid criticism you can throw at this conflict, our involvement, and Zelensky...but "he is a dictator because he suspended elections" is one of the more idiotic talking points.

Classic Boeing: https://www.twz.com/air/cracks-in-kc-46-pegusus-tankers-halt-all-deliveries

Fine, but I'd also like to Q3 the requirements branch that bought the R model engines without flat bottoms. The AF decided it was cheaper to Q3 people than add some breathing room to landing a, looks at calendar, 80 year old airplane. So if we hold the pilots responsible than I also want everyone else in the stupidity tree to be held to the same standard.

I think AA is actually doing pretty good financially. They are paying down their higher rate debt extremely aggressively which is causing their profits to be much lower compared to their peers. Their revenue, $54B, is slightly behind DAL ($61B) and UAL ($57B), but not enough for me to be alarmed. Granted, I do think AA has a much larger middle management group of do-nothings (inherited from all the mergers) that neither UAL or DAL have AND AA is much more unionized compared to DAL. Long term, AA doesn't really prioritize long haul widebody flying. We have the least numbers of WBs on property and the smallest on order (but at least we have more than SWA/B6/F9/etc...suckers). Oh and we turned down the cheapest A350 order on the planet...but that dude at least got fired 2 years later. Granted, we have some of the newest 777-300s (2013's) BUT some of the oldest 777-200s (1999's). But with the recent interior refresh of the -200s those will be around for at least another decade...which is good because there are only about 30 more 787s on order with nothing after that. Unless a miracle, or tragedy, happens I imagine AA will be a 787 WB only airline in the future when they start to park the trips. That being said, the average fleet age of AA is 13.8 years old which is younger than DAL (14.9) and UAL (15.9). **All this was written by an airline pilot so don't take this as sound financial information.**

Chang's return must have rattled JQP out of his retirement, because Tony Carr has a new article: https://radarblog.substack.com/p/rise-of-the-gutless-air-force-colonel

Don't forget, at least he was the second highest compensated airline CEO. Now he can afford more turtle necks.

Text book go-around. Great job on the SWA crew. Listening to the audio and the biz jet definitely was at fault. Dude had no SA on what runway he was blowing through. SWA2504 landing 31C, FLEXJET560 did the incursion. ATC audio (fast forward to 12 minutes): https://archive.liveatc.net/kmdw/KMDW-Gnd-Twr-Feb-25-2025-1430Z.mp3 Textual synopsis: https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1iy89dc/audio_and_transcript_from_this_mornings_runway/

AA traditionally shuts down the school house during peak summer months. I don't exactly recall when that usually starts but I wouldn't go into a full "sky is falling" panic just yet...even though, ironically, that also seems to happen every year when the summer push starts.

Haven't the Houthi's been downing Reapers on and off for a while now? https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebels-american-mq9-reaper-drones-2ca2dc1c5316ca5473c3843d97780b2b

https://www.newsweek.com/russian-drone-strikes-chernobyl-nuclear-plant-sarcophagus-ukraine-video-2031027 I mean seriously...