Aviation Accidents, Safety and Disasters

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      California Man Assaulted Frontier Flight Attendants, Prosecutors Say

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      The violent episode resulted in an emergency landing. The man now faces federal flight interference charges.A California man accused of assaulting crew members and threatening to kill everyone aboard a Frontier Airlines flight was arrested Wednesday on federal charges, prosecutors announced.Charles Angel Salva, 30, of Fremont, Calif., faces federal charges of interference with flight crew members and attendants, prosecutors said on Thursday. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.The disruption happened on Monday evening shortly after Frontier Airlines Flight 3581 had taken off from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, Calif., bound for San Francisco International Airport and resulted in an emergency landing at Ontario International Airport, about 30 miles northeast of Santa Ana.The plane had not yet reached 10,000 feet when flight attendants noticed the that oxygen masks above seats in Row 18 had deployed, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the criminal complaint.Flight crew members who went to assess the situation found Mr. Salva with his hand in the overhead compartment.A passenger siting in Row 19 told investigators that Mr. Salva had appeared claustrophobic and had seemed to want to get off the flight before he pulled down the oxygen mask from the overhead compartment and got his hand stuck in the process, the affidavit said. The passenger helped Mr. Salva get his hand unstuck.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Starliner Capsule Returns, but Boeing’s Space Business Woes Remain

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      The capsule, which returned without astronauts, and other space programs at Boeing have suffered many delays and cost overruns.Space programs are a small part of Boeing’s business, which is dominated by sales of commercial and military planes and equipment. But the work is a point of pride: Boeing has long been involved in spaceflight, going back to the first mission to take an American to space.But Boeing’s efforts to add to that space heritage are in doubt.The company’s Starliner capsule returned to Earth safely from the International Space Station on Friday night, but without the two astronauts it took up there in June because NASA was concerned about thrusters on the capsule that had malfunctioned before it docked at the station.A decade ago, NASA chose Boeing and an upstart rival, SpaceX, to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX has since carried out seven of those missions and will bring home the astronauts Starliner left behind, while Boeing has yet to complete one. And with the station set to retire as soon as 2030, time is running out.“It’s unclear if or when the company will have another opportunity to bring astronauts to space,” Ron Epstein, an aerospace and defense analyst at Bank of America, said in a research note last month. “We would not be surprised if Boeing were to divest the manned spaceflight business.”On Thursday, asked to comment on Starliner’s problems and the future of its space business, Boeing responded with this statement: “Boeing continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft. We are executing the mission as determined by NASA, and we are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return.”Boeing’s troubles could be a setback not only for the company but for the U.S. space program more broadly, which wants multiple private companies available to ably support its efforts.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Cathay Pacific Cancels Flights to Inspect 48 Airbus Aircraft After Engine Issue

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      An Airbus A350 jet experienced a problem during a flight that was supposed to travel from Hong Kong to Zurich. The airline has canceled 24 return flights.The Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific said on Monday that it would inspect its fleet of Airbus A350 planes, leading to some cancellations or delays, after the airline found “an engine component failure” on a plane that was scheduled to travel from Hong Kong to Zurich.“This component was the first of its type to suffer such failure on any A350 aircraft worldwide,” the airline said in a statement on Monday. The company’s inspection of the 48 planes, which it called a “precautionary measure,” was “well underway,” the statement added, and the airline expected it to be completed on Monday.“Thus far, we have identified a number of the same engine components that need to be replaced, spare parts have been secured and repair work is underway,” the airline said.The plane took off from Hong Kong International Airport on Monday, but it “experienced an engine failure after takeoff,” according to Flightradar24, a provider of flight data. After dumping fuel over the sea for about half an hour, the plane returned to Hong Kong’s airport, according to Flightradar24.The Airbus in question was powered by a Trent XWB-97 engine, according to Rolls-Royce, the engine’s maker. Rolls-Royce said it was “aware of an incident” on the Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Zurich, but declined to release any more information because of an active investigation into the matter.“We are unable to speculate on what caused this incident and will continue to assist the authorities in finding out exactly what happened,” James Banks, a spokesman for Rolls-Royce, said in an email.Airbus declined to comment, but Guillaume Steuer, a spokesman, said in an email that the company was “aware of the situation and in touch with Rolls-Royce as well as Cathay Pacific.”Because of the inspection, some planes will be grounded for several days, which will cause delays, Cathay Pacific said. So far, the airline said it had canceled 24 return flights through Tuesday.After the inspection, aircraft that are cleared will return to service, while those with technical issues will undergo repairs, Cathay’s director of engineering, Keith Brown, said in the company’s statement.For five years, Airbus has been the world’s biggest plane manufacturer. Last year, the company said it delivered 735 commercial aircraft, an 11 percent increase from 2022, securing more orders than Boeing, its chief rival. Boeing has been in the middle of a public-relations and safety crisis over a string of failures with its 737 Max line of airliners.On its website, Airbus described the engines that power its A350 aircraft as “the world’s most efficient large aero-engine.” More

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      Small Plane Crashes Into Oregon Townhouses, Leaving 3 Missing

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      A Cessna crashed into a row of townhouses in Fairview, Ore., on Saturday, sparking a large fire, officials said.A small plane struck a row of townhouses in Fairview, Ore., according to the authorities, who said at least three people were missing.KPTVA small plane crashed on Saturday morning in a residential neighborhood near an airport in Fairview, Ore., according to the authorities who said that three people were missing.The plane had at least two people on board when it struck a row of townhouses around 10:30 a.m. local time, with a fire spreading from two units to four, according to Chief Scott Lewis of the Gresham Fire Department of Gresham, Ore., a neighboring city.Two people who were aboard the plane and one person from a home were missing, he said.At least five families were displaced from their homes. Two transmission lines from Portland General Electric were down as a result of the crash, which happened near an airport in Troutdale, Ore.Video footage from the scene showed flames rising from a building in a neighborhood with townhouses that are tightly packed together.At some point during the crash, a power pole or tower fell, starting a brush fire, according to John Plock of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. “That fire, luckily, was kind of adjacent to a swampy area, so it didn’t really spread,” he said.The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was a twin-engine Cessna. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash along with the F.A.A.Fairview is a city of about 11,000 people that is roughly 12 miles east of Portland, Ore. More

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      Scott Bloomquist, Champion Dirt-Track Driver, Dies at 60

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      Styling himself as a rebel, he won more than 600 races and nine championships in a 40-year career.Scott Bloomquist, a superstar dirt-track racer who won more than 600 races and whose car bore the image of a skull and crossbones, died on Aug. 16 when the vintage single-engine plane that he was piloting crashed into a barn close to the airstrip on his family farm near Mooresburg, Tenn. He was 60.The Federal Aviation Administration said that Bloomquist was the only person aboard the vintage Piper J-3 aircraft. In a statement confirming the death, Scott Bloomquist Racing posted a statement that described him as “one hell of a wheel man” and said, “Whether you cheered for him or booed for him, you still made noise, and Scott loved you all equally for that.”Bloomquist, whose car bore No. 0 and a skull-and-crossbones image, dueled with Tim McCreadie (No. 39) at the World of Outlaws late-model series championship in Concord, N.C., in 2014.David Allio/Icon Sportswire — Corbis, via Getty ImagesBloomquist was considered one of the greatest drivers on the circuits where he raced. He won nine championships, including four with the United Dirt Track Racing Association’s Hav-A-Tampa Series, three with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and one with the World of Outlaws.Tony Stewart, the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, owns the Eldora Speedway dirt track in Rossburg, Ohio, where Bloomquist won four elite World 100 races. Bloomquist, Stewart said in a statement, was “probably the smartest guy I’ve ever been around when it come to dirt racing.”Stewart, who has raced on dirt tracks, added, “What he could do behind the wheel of a racecar was matched by the ingenuity he put into building his racecars.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What Caused a Plane to Fall From the Sky in Brazil?

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      Officials are investigating potential causes of a plane crash that killed 62 people near São Paulo. Using videos and other clues, aviation experts have formed theories.Brazilian investigators on Saturday began analyzing the black boxes from a São Paulo-bound flight to try to understand why the passenger plane fell from 17,000 feet on Friday, in a crash that killed all 62 on board.But to aviation experts around the world who watched the videos showing the 89-foot plane spinning slowly as it plummeted before crashing almost directly on its belly, the question of what had happened was simple to answer: The plane had stalled.In other words, the plane’s wings had lost the lift needed to keep the aircraft aloft, causing it to stop flying and start falling.“You can’t get into a spin without stalling,” said John Cox, an airline pilot for 25 years who now aids plane crash investigations. “It’s A plus B equals C.”The question of why VoePass Flight 2283 might have stalled, however, remained a mystery.Did it lose significant speed? Did its nose pitch up too high? Did ice build up on its wings? Did an engine fail? Was its stall-warning system working? Were the two pilots tired or distracted?“The main thing we know is that it’s never one thing,” said Thomas Anthony, director of the aviation safety program at the University of Southern California.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Boeing Says It’s Changing Type of Panel That Blew Off Alaska Airlines Jet

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      The company told regulators the changes in design and production of the door plugs would allow its warning systems to detect malfunctions.Boeing officials told regulators on Tuesday that the aircraft maker would make changes to how it designed and produced the type of panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines jet shortly after takeoff in January.Boeing told regulators that it was redesigning its door plugs — the panels that replace emergency-exit doors in certain design configurations that create more seats — so that its warning systems could detect any malfunctions.The design changes are expected to be “implemented within the year,” said Elizabeth Lund, a senior vice president for quality at Boeing, who testified on Tuesday at an investigative hearing held by the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent government investigative agency.The hearing on Tuesday revealed that Boeing employees removed a door plug from what would later be the Alaska Airlines jet to repair damaged rivets, but without any required internal authorization or paperwork detailing the removal of the panel — a critical structural element. The safety board’s investigation found earlier this year that the plane, a 737 Max 9, left the Boeing factory in Renton, Wash., missing bolts that should have held in place the door plug that blew off midair.The safety board’s chairwoman, Jennifer Homendy, suggested at the hearing that the work culture at Boeing prioritized meeting production schedules over safety standards, and led to an overtaxed work force and lapses in the production process.On Tuesday, Ms. Homendy read quotes from the board’s interviews with mechanics who have worked at the Boeing facility for years. The workers testified to board investigators that they were regularly pressured into working 10 to 12 hours a day, six to seven days a week, Ms. Homendy said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Passenger Who Tried to Open Cockpit Gets 19 Months in Prison

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      Juan Rivas, who threatened flight attendants with a champagne bottle and a plastic knife, tried to open an exit door of an American Airlines plane, prosecutors said.A California man who tried to intimidate flight attendants on an American Airlines flight using plastic silverware from a service cart and a glass champagne bottle, and then tried unsuccessfully to open an exit door and the cockpit, was sentenced on Wednesday to 19 months in prison.The man, Juan Remberto Rivas, 52, was arrested and charged with interfering with flight crew members on Feb. 13, 2022, after a flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.During the flight, Mr. Rivas, who, according to court records, admitted to using methamphetamines before the flight, began to panic and told flight attendants that the plane was not moving and that his family was in danger, court records said.His behavior led to a physical struggle that forced the plane to make an emergency landing in Kansas City, Mo.Mr. Rivas, who pleaded guilty in January, had faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison but prosecutors sought a sentence of 41 to 51 months despite him threatening to “bring down the plane,” court records and the attorney’s office said.“The government believes that the defendant’s actions were reckless because of his use of methamphetamine, rather than an intentional effort to bring down the aircraft,” the prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker, argued in a sentencing memorandum.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More