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American Airlines flight #AA174 departed late Wednesday, June 26 2024 from Raleigh/Durham for a 7-hour flight to London Heathrow. The Boeing 777-200ER (registration N756AM) climbed to 37,000 ft. But close to New York City, the crew decided to turn around following a mechanical issue. The 22-year aircraft was vectored to Charlotte due to operational reason. It landed 3 hours later at CLT Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has identified a fault in 292 U.S.-registered Boeing 777 aircraft, chiefly operated by United and American Airlines, that could cause their jet engines to discharge electrostatic energy into their fuel tanks and blow them up mid-air. The FAA proposed an ‘Airworthiness Directive’ in March, “prompted by a determination that the nitrogen enriched air distribution system (NEADS) cover plate assembly attached to a certain vent stringer in the center wing tank [of certain Boeing 777 aircraft] was installed without a designed electrical bond.” The air regulator explains that the “accumulation of electrostatic charge in the cover...

The letter cites numerous concerns about lack of data and the lack of a preliminary safety assessment for the FAA to review. “The FAA will not approve any aircraft unless it meets our safety and certification standards,” the agency said in a statement Sunday.

The world's longest and largest twin-engine airliner, the Boeing 777-9X, has finally taken to the skies for its maiden flight, offering a ray of hope for the troubled US aviation company following months of grim headlines. After days of abysmal weather, airplane WH-001 took from Paine Field, home of Boeing's wide-body factory, north of Seattle, on Saturday morning. The flight had been postponed twice earlier in the week because of poor conditions, but as the aircraft taxied past the press viewing area ahead of takeoff, a rainbow appeared -- perhaps offering a positive portent. When the moment did finally arrive,...

Out of Time Airbus CEO Tom Enders expressed regrets over the timing of the A380 program, saying, “There has been speculation that we were 10 years too early; I think it is clear that we were 10 years too late.” But it was closer to four decades too late, or perhaps three decades too soon. There was not enough demand for an aircraft that size by the time the A380 rolled out in 2005, as proven by the aircraft's inability to attract sizeable orders in its brief lifetime. The 747 has lasted five decades and still maintains a sizable share...

Charred debris, possibly belonging to the missing MH370 plane, has been handed to investigators - raising the prospect of a flash fire on board the ill-fated jet. An American amateur investigator handed over several pieces of blackened debris to Australia's Transport Safety Bureau on Monday in what may prove to be a breakthrough in one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history. Blaine Gibson said the material, which had washed up in Madagascar, included what appeared to be an internal panel.

DUBAI -- An Emirates flight from India with 300 people on board, including 6 Americans, crash landed at Dubai's main airport on Wednesday, sending black smoke billowing into the air and halting all traffic at the Middle East's busiest airport. Authorities said all passengers were evacuated safely. Dubai-based Emirates said the accident happened around 12:45 p.m. local time as Flight EK521 was arriving from the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram.

The home flight simulator belonging to the MH370 pilot had a route plotted into it which ended in the Indian Ocean, officials have confirmed.... ...The confirmation corroborates earlier reports that the device had programmed in it a route similar to the one which investigators believe the doomed flight took on its final voyage.

ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a "provocative and destabilizing act". U.S. officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could prompt Beijing to declare an air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013. "We would consider an ADIZ...over portions of the South China Sea as...

This just happened and I'm not finding any other sources other than Twitter yet.

In the forward galley area near the L1 door and flight deck, a small access panel sits below the carpet which acts as the gateway to the 777’s electronics and engineering bay. The bay, referred to as the ‘E/E bay’, contains many of the 777’s extremely sensitive systems. A recently posted YouTube video, below, shows how shockingly easy it is to access the E/E bay, and how seemingly little has been done to keep people out. The systems in the E/E bay vary from fuse panels to the Airplane Information Management System (AIMS), also known as “the brains” of the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday it appeared that the downing of a Malaysian airliner near the Ukraine-Russia border was not an accident and that the passenger jet apparently was "blown out of the sky." "This is truly a grave situation," Biden said in a speech in Detroit. He said he had seen reports that Americans may have been on board and that "we're now working every minute to try to confirm those reports as I speak." Biden said the downing of the jet was tragic. He spoke by phone to Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko.

In a major break in a race against time, searchers for MH370 have detected two new electronic pings — both received in the last 24 hours — from what they hope is the missing Boeing BA +1.23% 777-200’s black box flight data recorders. The news was announced at a Wednesday morning press conference in Perth. “I’m now optimistic that we will find the aircraft; what’s left of the aircraft,” Retired RAAF Air Marshal Angus Houston told reporters. Just days before batteries on the black box pingers are expected to expire, Australian authorities leading the southern Indian Ocean search for the...

Malaysian officials admitted Saturday that the batteries on the black box of missing flight MH370 were expired and due to be replaced. The plane has been missing for 28 days. A Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH370 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing has lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2.40am, 8th March 2014. The plane was carrying a total number of 227 passengers including two infants and twelve crew members. The Strait Times reported: Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer (CEO) Ahmad Jauhari Yahya today confirmed that the batteries of the black box pingers of the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS)...

Search teams are scouring waters off both sides of the Malaysian peninsula, amid confusion over a missing Malaysia Airlines plane's last known location. Malaysia's air force chief has denied reports that the plane was tracked to the Malacca Strait in the west. Vietnam has despatched a plane to investigate an eyewitness report of a possible object burning in the sky east of Vietnam. --SNIP-- On Wednesday, Malaysia's air force chief Rodzali Daud denied remarks attributed to him in local media that a missing Malaysia Airlines plane was tracked by military radar to the Malacca Strait, far west of its planned...

ABC's Bob Woodruff has shared an email from an oil rig worker stationed near the coast of Vietnam that alleges to have witnessed the missing jet go down in flames. "The timing is right," writes Mike McKay. "While I observed the burning (plane) it appeared to be in ONE piece." McKay's employer has confirmed that the letter is not a hoax. "From when I first saw the burning (plane) until the flames went out (still at high altitude) was 10-15 seconds," he writes. "There was no lateral movement, so it was either coming toward our location, stationary (falling) or going...

Chinese officials may have satellite images of debris that could be from the Malaysia Airlines 777 jet that's been missing for five days. According to CNN, China's State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense announced the find. The satellite images were taken on Sunday, March 9. CNN Senior Producer Vaughn Sterling reports that the images show three objects, sized 13x18 meters, 14x19 meters, and 24x22 meteres. The Boeing 777 took off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday, and was headed for Beijing, with 239 people on board. So far, a massive search including dozens of ships and...

The Chinese government has released satellite images showing "a suspected crash area at sea," including "three suspected floating objects," near the flight's planned path. Taken Sunday morning but not made public until today, the blurry shots are located northeast of Kuala Lumpur, south of Vietnam, in what may be the most promising lead thus far, on the fifth day of a frustrating, otherwise fruitless search.

China's State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense announced the discovery, including images of what it said were "three suspected floating objects and their sizes." The images in the Strait of Malacca were captured on March 9 -- which was the day after the plane went missing -- but weren't released until Wednesday.

Call off the search for Flight 370! Former Hole singer Courtney Love is pretty sure she has found the location of the missing Malaysian plane over a patch of ocean off the coast of Vietnam by using satellite images and even posted its co-ordinates on Facebook and Twitter with a helpful diagram (below). “I’m no expert but up close this does look like a plane and an oil slick,” she said. “[It's] like a mile away Pulau Perak, where they ‘last’ tracked it 5°39’08.5″N 98°50’38.0″E but what do I know?” Flight 370 vanished early March 8 while flying from Kuala...