Free Republic

American business titans who paid thousands to be in the room with Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the communist country’s leader a standing ovation after his remarks in San Francisco this week. On Wednesday evening, Xi dined with more than 300 American business executives and delivered remarks promoting investment in China, a country many Americans consider the greatest threat to the U.S., at a gala in the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency in downtown San Francisco. [cut] Among the American executives gathered to listen to Xi were Apple CEO Tim Cook, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam, Salesforce...

Luxury carrier Emirates Monday exercised options that will see the airline acquire an additional 95 wide-body planes from Boeing to augment its fleet. Photo courtesy of Emirates Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Luxury carrier Emirates Monday exercised options that will see the airline acquire an additional 95 wide-body planes from Boeing to augment its fleet. The United Arab Emirates flag carrier confirmed the $52 billion order on the first day of the Dubai Airshow. The airline will acquire a further 55 Boeing 777-9 passenger jets and 35 of the 777-8 variant of the next-generation wide-body plane collectively known as the 777X....

A FedEx Boeing 757 with landing gear failure crash landed, then skidded off the end of a runway late Wednesday night in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the city's fire department said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The three pilots on board weren't hurt, the Chattanooga Regional Airport said in a statement. First responders raced to the airport after getting reports that the plane was on its final approach, the fire department said. Agencies at the scene along with firefighters included their department's Special Ops team, Chattanooga police and Hamilton County EMS, according to CBS Chattanooga affiliate...

NEW DELHI/HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden visits Vietnam's capital city Sunday, where the two countries are expected to declare themselves strategic partners, as the United States seeks to push supply chains from China and both countries to try to counter Beijing's military and diplomatic influence in Asia. Biden will arrive at the Presidential Palace Sunday afternoon for a formal welcome from Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's most powerful leader, then journey to the Party headquarters where the two will meet and then give public remarks. The visit comes as trade and investment ties between the...

An open letter signed by “46 foreign policy experts” calling for more arms shipments to Ukraine published in POLITICO failed to mention ties of nearly half of the signatories to the defence industry, allegedly glossing over conflicts of interest, the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft claimed.

Ukraine's air force has appeared to confirm that a U.S-made Patriot missile system was behind the downing of five Russian aircraft in one day in May 2023. A video posted on Monday shows "kill" markings on the side of a Patriot air defense system that indicate it claimed three helicopters and two jets on May 13. If accurate, this would be a record for a Patriot system in a single day.

Airbus, a European aerospace company, announced a deal Monday to sell 500 single-aisle planes to IndiGo, India’s largest airline, in what is now the biggest plane deal in history. The agreement will make IndiGo the world’s biggest A320 Family—the Airbus aircraft line that is one of the best-selling in the world—customer, bringing the total number of Airbus aircraft IndiGo has ordered to 1,330. Neither of the two companies released financial details of the sale when announcing it at the Paris Air Show, though Reuters reported it’s a “multibillion-dollar deal” and the aircraft will be received between 2030 and 2035. IndiGo...

Boeing on Thursday warned it will likely have to reduce deliveries of its 737 Max airplane in the near term because of a problem with a part made by supplier Spirit AeroSystems . Boeing said its supplier informed the company a “non-standard” manufacturing process was used on two fittings in aft fuselages. It said the issue affects certain 737 Max 8 planes, the company’s most popular model, with customers including American Airlines and Southwest Airlines . It also affects certain 737 Max 7, the 737 8200 and P-8 planes. Boeing said the problem was not an “immediate safety of flight...

Boeing accidentally allowed employees without the proper security clearance to work on presidential planes like President Biden's Air Force One. Roughly 250 workers were reportedly allowed to work on presidential jets, as well as future versions of Air Force One, even after their top security clearances had expired for months, or sometimes even years. [Snip] A Boeing spokesperson said the company caught its mistake earlier this month and quickly reported it to the Air Force. As a result, the Air Force pulled the affected workers off the schedule until their clearances were back up to date. Both the Air Force...

The chief of the Boeing aircraft manufacturer’s defense wing was in Israel on Sunday and Monday to advance the supply of new, long-awaited refueling planes and fighter jets for the Israeli Air Force looking to boost its capabilities to strike Iran. Speaking to reporters at the Boeing Israel offices in Tel Aviv, Ted Colbert, the Boeing Defense, Space and Security President and CEO said the company would be supplying Israel with 25 F-15IA fighter jets — the Israeli variant of the advanced F-15EX — with options for 25 more.

"I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025" Memo of US Air Force General Mike Minihan Released On Social Media And Confirmed By The Pentagon On Friday... US Secretary of State Antony Blinken set to go to Beijing for talks with China next weekend... Trying to separate the Real Issues from the Fake Issues the Gaslighting frm the Fakeservative sources and Fakegressive ones as well... Russia is getting the same treatment Japan got in 1940 and 1941 folks and will they respond at some to this the folks in the "Deep State" know what...

"In an unusual proceeding for a corporation accused of a crime, Boeing officials were arraigned Thursday in a federal courtroom in Fort Worth for the company's actions leading to two plane crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 passengers and crew. Boeing was charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government for allegedly skirting safety rules when introducing its 737 MAX jets. The arraignment before US District Judge Reed O'Connor took place two years after the company entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice..." Texas Tribune Story 1/26/2023 When folks...

In Israel a rocket barrage coming in the south early Friday morning from Gaza... In the Russia-Ukraine conflict a Russian official disputing the accuracy of an International Atomic Energy Agency report that there were "powerful blasts" near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant... Violence and mayhem in Haiti today with six police officers killed an armed men swarming around the international airport... An arraignment in a federal courtroom in Fort Worth, Texas today for Boeing. Under a deferred prosecution agreement the military industrial giant facing one charge of fraud for the company's actions leading to deadly plane crashes in Indonesia and...

An aviation era has come to an end as Boeing's last 747 has taxied out of the Everett, Washington factory, punctuating the jumbo jet's 54-year production run. The final craft, a 747-8 freighter, will be delivered to airplane-cargo biz Atlas Air after final tests in early 2023, Boeing revealed. While the 1,574th 747 will be the last one assembled, the familiar bulbous silhouette is hardly going to disappear from the skies overnight, according to Boeing VP and GM for the 747 and 767 programs, Kim Smith. "We are proud that this plane will continue to fly across the globe for...

After more than five decades, aircraft manufacturer Boeing hit a bitter-sweet milestone on the evening of December 6th as the last Boeing 747 rolled out of its production line at Paine Field in Everett, Washington. The 1574th Boeing 747 will go through test flights before being delivered to Atlas Air early next January. Having been in production since September 1968, the Boeing 747, often dubbed the 'Jumbo Jet' or the 'Queen of the Skies,' was designed by engineer Joe Sutter. With the ability to carry up to 524 passengers, the semi-double-deck quad-engined aircraft was twice the size of the Boeing...

Boeing revealed on Wednesday that its losses on its contract to build two new planes to act as Air Force One have hit $1.9 billion. Then-President Donald Trump negotiated a fixed price of $3.9 billion for the presidential planes, leaving Boeing to foot the bill for anything over that amount. 'We didn't get enough price,' Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun told CNBC, adding the 'biggest mistake' on the Air Force One 'was the fixed price nature' of the contract. He said the defense company would take a $766 million loss this year on the contract. Boeing previously booked about $1.1...

Duct tape on a plane initially thought to be holding its wing together has been revealed as having a far less questionable purpose. The tape made for an alarming sight what was thought to be a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for Australian opera singer David Wakeham who last week shared a photo to Twitter, where it later went viral. “When choosing your favourite airline, choose wisely. Profits before safety,” his post, which was also shared to Reddit, read. While at the time it was joked the tape was used for “temporary repairs”, it has since been identified as commonly used “speed...

Boeing has agreed to pay $200 million to settle charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claiming the aviation giant misled investors about the safety of its 737 MAX airplane. The 737 MAX was involved in two crashes that killed all aboard in 2018 and 2019, now understood to be at least partly caused by flaws in the aircraft's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) software. Boeing admitted MCAS played a role in both accidents. MCAS was intended to automatically kick in and help prevent the 737 Max from stalling in a particular flight scenario where the aircraft's angle...

Would you feel uneasy flying on a plane built in 1974? Harold Wilson was enjoying his second stint in Number 10, the band Queen was in its pomp, man’s first small step on the surface of the moon was still relatively fresh in the memory. And 1974 was also the year that a Boeing 737-200, with the serial number 20836, made its maiden flight for Transavia Airlines, based in the Netherlands. Forty-eight years on, Harold Wilson has shuffled off this mortal coil, as has Freddie, while Nasa is hoping to start a colony on Mars. But 20836 is still going...

Last month, the Boeing-designed X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle surpassed 800 days in space, eclipsing its previous endurance record. This feat was marked by the U.S. Space Force’s Space Delta 9, which operates the 3rd Space Experimentation Squadron’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. Designed as part of a pilot test program aimed at showcasing technologies for reusable unmanned space tests, the X-37B remains one of the most unique aircrafts in the U.S. arsenal. The U.S. Air Force has previously flown five X-37B missions, OTV-1 through OTV-5. The platform most recently launched to Earth orbit in May 2020 on its sixth mission for...