Employees Allege Mass Layoffs Without Required Notice

Terminated employees have filed a class action lawsuit against Volato for alleged violations of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. Submitted on September 12, the complaint accuses the fractional jet company of failing to provide 60 days’ notice before executing mass layoffs. The class claimed that, towards the end of August, Volato fired over 233 of their employees without giving any warning. This is a clear breach of the WARN Act, which requires employers with over 100 employees to notify staff members at least 60 days before significant layoffs or plant closings.

Act Would Ban New DJI Tech From U.S. Operations

On September 9, the House of Representatives passed H.R.2864: the Countering CCP Drones Act. This would add future equipment made by DJI technologies to the FCC’s Covered List on the premise that it poses a risk to U.S. national security. The Countering CCP Drones Act would essentially ban UAS and related tech produced by DJI from operating on U.S. telecommunications infrastructure. This trails several “inaccurate and unsubstantiated” claims against the company regarding sensitive data sharing with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This would not directly affect customers, at least for now, though it is guaranteed to have a massive effect on DJI’s U.S. presence.

Flight School Doubles Down On Labor Violations

As if flight training school ATP didn’t treat its CFIs wrongly enough by not paying them for overtime and other work they performed, the school allegedly had the gall to fire those who opted to join a lawsuit against it and explicitly stated the only way to get rehired is to withdraw from the case. Getman, Sweeney,& Dunn (GSD), the law firm representing the instructors, said they filed the lawsuit against ATP in June 2024 for misclassifying its flight instructors as independent contractors instead of employees and failed to pay them all they were due. ATP did not pay them the time-and-a-half overtime rate even above 40 hours per week, nor were they paid for ground training not asso

Visual Differences Observed In Stiffening Rings And Beads In Formed Aluminum Ribs

Van’s Aircraft says it has been questioned by several builders recently regarding variations in the depth of stiffening rings and beads in formed aluminum ribs. While understanding the reason for the questions, Van’s says the variations have existed for years. The primary reason for the variances is that the parts were transitioned from T0 to T3 temper. The company also began forming the wing ribs in-house with a large hydraulic press. This allowed for increased production volume and reduced manufacturing time, and from time to time the pressure of the press has varied, resulting in the observed variations in the stiffening ribs and beads.

Online Training Meets Mobile Flight Simulation

Sporty’s announced they have entered a collaboration with Infinite Flight, a portable flight simulation platform for mobile devices. The companies have integrated their flight training programs into a comprehensive experience for new aviation learners. Sporty’s Learn To Fly Course provides more than 15 hours of high quality 4K videos that cover the usual basic ground school information such as aerodynamics, weather, airplane systems, airport and flight operations, instruments, and more. There are also interactive in-flight video segments so students can see what’s supposed to happen inside the cockpit with the instruments and what it actually looks like outside the windows when

Multi-Year Agreement To Provide Option For Low-Earth Orbit Satellite Service

Gogo Business Aviation and Airshare announced they have entered into a multi-year agreement to give Airshare clients the option to install Gogo’s AVANCE, 5G, and Galileo suite of low-earth orbit (LEO) broadband satellite service. Airshare and Gogo are long-time partners with two-thirds of Airshare’s Phenom 300 aircraft having been upgraded to Gogo AVANCE and the remaining planes within the next year. Airshare operates a fleet of 150 aircraft in the U.S. ranging from turboprops to ultra-long-range jets. It also has a fractional ownership program and jet cards for the Challenger 3500 and Phenom 300. 

Flight Attendants Enjoy a Win

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) brought out a new 5-year contract for American Airlines employees, getting an 87% approval vote from eligible flight attendants. It's good news for the American Airlines crew, who've had to sit under the tenuous umbrella of a contract dispute for months, watching pickets and reading newsletters that made it seem as if relied would take forever to arrive. After 95% voter turnout, American FAs signed on the dotted line and added $4.2 billion in new value to their previous employment contract. The new deal includes out-year wage boosts, revised scheduling, rescheduling, and reserve work rules among smaller quality-of-life issues. The new contract goes into effect o

Also: Drone Finds Child, New CEO at Electra, Remote Pilot Test Prep, UAS Network

On September 6, the Boeing Starliner completed a successful uncrewed landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. This concluded its accidental 3-month stay on the International Space Station. The Starliner launched its first crewed mission on June 5 for what was supposed to be an eight-day stay. Due to helium leaks and issues with the control thrusters, its trip was extended and NASA was forced to transfer the crew to an upcoming SpaceX mission. A drone pilot flew his drone at altitudes over 12,000 feet on numerous occasions in the Boston, England, area that flights b

Also: Drone Finds Child, New CEO at Electra, Remote Pilot Test Prep, UAS Network

On September 6, the Boeing Starliner completed a successful uncrewed landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. This concluded its accidental 3-month stay on the International Space Station. The Starliner launched its first crewed mission on June 5 for what was supposed to be an eight-day stay. Due to helium leaks and issues with the control thrusters, its trip was extended and NASA was forced to transfer the crew to an upcoming SpaceX mission. A drone pilot flew his drone at altitudes over 12,000 feet on numerous occasions in the Boston, England, area that fl

From 2021 (YouTube Version): We Were Blown Away At How Well The Nosewheel Was Adapted To The X Cub Airframe

It should not be a secret to any one of you, that with thousands of hours of taildragger time, and only a few real scares in the process, does the thought of putting a nose wheel on a cub was anathema -- and potentially a deadly sin. That is... Until I flew the CubCrafters NX Cub. The CubCrafters folks are one of the most accomplished artisans in the Cub World, which is saying a lot,  because the art and craft of building, rebuilding, and perfecting the Cub for the 21st century has become an almost religious

Tow Pilot Said The Glider Started Pulling The Tail Of The Tow Plane Up And He Had To Apply Full Aft Elevator To Compensate

On August 30, 2024, about 1321 eastern daylight time, a Schleicher Alexander GMBH & CO ASH 26 E glider, N264JM, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident at the Caesar Creek Soaring Club Gliderport (2OH9), Waynesville, Ohio. The commercial pilot was fatally injured. The glider was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The glider was taking off at the time of the accident and was being towed by a Piper Pawnee (PA-25) airplane. According to the tow pilot, this was his third and final tow of the day.

Aero Linx: Mercy Flight Southeast Mercy Flight Southeast’s mission is to arrange free flights so children and adults can have access to the far-from-home doctors that can save their lives. Mercy Flight Southeast coordinates missions to fly organ transplant candidates, people involved in clinical trials, chemotherapy or other repetitive treatment, victims of abuse seeking relocation, families receiving help from Ronald McDonald Houses, Shriners Hospitals and many other charities, disabled or sick children to special summer camp programs, disaster relief and for many other humanitarian reasons.

  Navigation Specification [ICAO]  A set of aircraft and flight crew requirements needed to support performance-based navigation operations within a defined airspace. There are two kinds of navigation specifications (Note: The Performance-based Navigation Manual (Doc 9613), Volume II contains detailed guidance on navigation specifications.): RNP specification. A navigation specification based on area navigation that includes the requirement for performance monitoring and alerting, designated by the prefix RNP; e.g., RNP 4, RNP APCH. RNAV specification. A navigation specification based on area navigation that does not include the req

“DJI poses a real national security risk to the U.S. given its deep partnership with the Chinese military, its expressed allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party, and its surveillance technology operating across U.S. soil...” Source: Rep John Moolenaar, commenting on the House of Representatives having passed H.R.2864: the Countering CCP Drones Act. This would add future equipment made by DJI technologies to the FCC’s Covered List on the premise that it poses a risk to U.S. national security.