Volotea Files for Creditor Protection: Fleet to Shrink From 44 Jets
Share this story Volotea built its business on the routes nobody else wanted: Nantes to Palma, Bilbao to Athens, Verona to Catania. Small cities, medium-sized airports, very orange-and-white checkerboard tails. On 29 September 2026, the Spanish low-cost airline asked...
Airbus A350F Flies: Freighter Completes Its Four-Hour Maiden Flight
Share this story Toulouse has seen a great many first flights, but few in a paint scheme that looks like a cardboard box. On 29 September 2026, the first Airbus A350F, MSN700, registered F-WXLD, lifted off from Toulouse-Blagnac in its brown test livery with bright...
American Airlines Flight 587: The Rudder Inputs That Tore the Tail Off an A300
Share this story At 9:14 on the morning of 12 November 2001, American Airlines Flight 587 lifted off from New York’s John F. Kennedy airport bound for Santo Domingo. Many of the 251 passengers were Dominican New Yorkers going home. About 105 seconds later the...
Swissair Grounding 2001: The Day Switzerland’s Airline Ran Out of Cash
Share this story At 15:45 on Tuesday, 2 October 2001, Swissair chairman and CEO Mario Corti stood in front of the cameras and announced that the airline would stop flying. By then, jets carrying the Swiss cross were already sitting on aprons from Zurich to New York,...
Opel RAK.1: The 1929 Rocket Plane That Flew Before the Jet Age
Share this story Ninety-seven years ago this week, on the afternoon of 30 September 1929, a German car heir strapped himself into a pod under a glider wing, alongside sixteen gunpowder rockets, lit them and shot into the sky over Frankfurt. Fritz von Opel stayed up...
How the Pope Flies: Papal Planes, Shepherd One and Fighter Escorts
Share this story The President of the United States has Air Force One. The Pope, head of a state of less than half a square kilometre, has no air force, no airline and no airport. Yet he flies more than most heads of state, and when two French Rafales formed up on his...
Rejected Take-Off Explained: What V1 Really Means for Pilots
Share this story Every airline take-off has a moment when the pilot’s choice disappears. Before it, a crew that sees a fire warning or loses an engine can pull the thrust levers back and stop on the runway. After it, the same crew must keep going and take the...
Air Algérie 5017: Paris Court Convicts Swiftair 12 Years After Crash
Share this story Twelve years after Air Algérie flight 5017 fell out of the sky over northern Mali, a French court has named someone responsible. On 28 September 2026, the Paris Criminal Court found Spanish charter airline Swiftair guilty of involuntary manslaughter...
Boeing 737 MAX 10 Certification on Hold: FAA Waits on Software Fix
Share this story Boeing looked close to certifying its biggest 737. Then a software problem got in the way. On Monday, 28 September, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency would hold off on certifying the 737 MAX 10 until it understands a newly disclosed...
Vietnam Airlines 787 at Munich: BFU Finds Brakes On During Take-Off
Share this story Munich’s runways are 4,000 metres long. On 15 August 2026, a fully loaded Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9 used all of it, and then some. Flight VN34 to Hanoi left the ground from the grass beyond the end of the runway, clipped the approach lights...
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