Also: New TBird Boss, Darwin Airlines, Swift Air May Cancel MRJ90, Airbus Succession Plan

The NTSB has released an aviation incident final report from a collision between a U.S. Army UH-60M helicopter and a Phantom 4 drone.

The report notes that the helo was operating VFR within Class G airspace about 300 ft above mean sea level (msl) when it collided with a DJI Phantom 4 sUAS. The helicopter sustained minor damage and landed uneventfully; the sUAS was destroyed. Although the pilot flying the helicopter saw the sUAS before impact and immediately applied flight control inputs, there was insufficient time to avoid the collision. The sheer idiocy surrounding the santa Monica Airport debacle continues. The Santa Monica Airport (KSMO) runway has been closed for the project to shorten the single landing strip from 4,973 feet to 3,500 feet under a questionable agreement reached between the FAA and the city. The project is expected to cost the city's taxpayers some $3.5 million. The runway was closed last Wednesday to allow the construction to begin. As it turns out, the privatization battle is about as skewed as we feared. The Government Accountability Office has determined that the U.S. DOT  violated an anti-lobbying provision in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017, when it “retweeted” and “liked” a tweet urging followers to “[t]ell Congress to pass” pending legislation. Although DOT was not the author of the tweet, DOT, by retweeting and liking it, not only endorsed the message, but also created agency content. All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne!!!

Airborne 12.18.17 is chock full of info in this Daily News Episode, Monday, December 18th, 2017... Presented by Aero-TV veteran videographer and Airborne Hosts Brianne Cross, Christopher Odom, and Laura Hutson, and is supported by ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell, Chief Videographer Nathan Cremisino, and Aero-Journalist Tom Patton, this episode covers:

• NTSB Faults Drone Pilot For Collision With Helicopter
• Santa Monica Airport Runway Closed For Shortening
• GAO Says DOT Tweet Violated Anti-Lobbying Rule 
• Thunderbirds Announce Commander/Leader Selection
• Darwin Airlines Faces Bankruptcy
• Swift Air May Cancel MRJ90 Order 
• Airbus Board Of Directors Announces Top Management Succession Plan 

Get Comprehensive, Real-Time, 24/7 coverage of the latest aviation and aerospace stories anytime, at aero-news.net. And be sure to join us again tomorrow, for the next edition of "Airborne Unlimited" here on Aero-TV. Thanks for watching. See you, again, tomorrow!

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