Amazon.com is buying 11 used Boeing 767-300 planes, the first time the online retail giant has purchased, rather than leased, aircraft for its fast-growing air cargo operation. From a report: The company on Tuesday said it was buying seven aircraft from Delta Air Lines and four from WestJet Airlines. The WestJet aircraft are currently being converted from passenger to cargo use…
Tag: Boeing
Lockheed Martin Acquires Aerojet Rocketdyne For $4.4 Billion
Lockheed Martin has agreed to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne for $4.4 billion in cash (including assumed debt). From a report: This reflects how legacy defense companies are racing to keep up with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in space, a dynamic that also helped drive Raytheon’s merger effort with United Technologies. Plus, this is the exact type of company that will be…
FAA and Boeing ‘Inappropriately Coached’ Pilots In 737 MAX Testing
Boeing officials “inappropriately coached” test pilots during recertification efforts after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people, according to a lengthy congressional report released on Friday. Reuters reports: The report from the Senate Commerce Committee Republican staff said testing this year of a key safety system known as MCAS tied to both fatal crashes was contrary to proper protocol. The…
SolarWinds Hides List of High-Profile Customers After Devastating Hack
SolarWinds has removed a list of high-profile clients from its website in the wake of a massive breach, “suggesting the company may be trying to obscure its clients in an effort to protect them from bad publicity,” reports The Verge. From the report: The list of vulnerable companies is much smaller than SolarWinds’ overall client list, so simply appearing on the…
Aiming for the moon with NASA’s Artemis I
Artemis I is the first in a series of NASA missions that will enable human exploration on the moon again, and ultimately Mars, scheduled to launch in 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/all-about-nasa-artemis-1-mission…
Is the Boeing 737 Max safe enough to fly?
The Boeing 737 Max began flying commercially in May 2017 but has been grounded for over a year and a half following two crashes within five months. Is it safe enough for liftoff? Source: https://www.livescience.com/boeing-737-max-safety-explained.html
How Lion Air’s Boeing 737 Max Experienced a Near-Crash The Day Before 2018’s Fatal Crash
ABC News tells the story of Indonesia-based budget airline Lion Air, which had ordered over 200 Boeing 737 MAX 8s at a cost of $22 billion — and what happened on a flight the day before a fatal crash on October 29th, 2018: [A]fter its first flight in May 2017, the 737 MAX 8 went 17 months without incident. Then, on…
Struggling Electric Jet Startup Zunum Sues Boeing For Fraud and Misuse of Trade Secrets
Kirkland, Washington-based aviation startup Zunum Aero filed a lawsuit this week accusing Boeing of fraud, technology theft, breach of contract, and misappropriation of trade secrets. The company, which had received millions of dollars from the venture arms of Boeing and JetBlue, said it would be ready to fly its 12-seat hybrid electric jets by 2022. Instead, it ran out of cash…
European Regulators Prepare For MAX To Return To Service In 2021
thegreatbob writes: Looks like the main additions over the FAA’s requirements are some additional pilot training requirements. The actual EASA statement can be found here. Confirms what the available information had been pointing to: the plane flies tolerably without its Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), but does not meet certification criteria. [The MCAS was a software system installed on the Max…
NASA to test its SLS megarocket in the coming weeks
The ongoing pandemic has slowed testing for NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket, but the process is resuming and has checked off a key milestone: powering up the core stage. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nasa-megarocket-sls-tests-core-green-run-hot-fire-test…