Also: FAA Recruiting 737 MAX Pilots, 777X First Flight Delayed, Swedish Air Ambulance PC-24s, New PMA Continental Engine Replacement Parts

Despite a truly last second abort of the final Starhopper test flight on Monday (which turned out to be a minor technical issue that Elon Musk called “...Embarrassing,” the SpaceX Starhopper made its last hop late Tuesday afternoon -- perfectly.

The 57 second flight saw a planned maximum altitude of 500 feet, as well as a precision landing near the center of an adjacent landing pad. The Starhopper test was the last flight of this vehicle and was never intended to go to space... but instead serve as a partial test of a far more ambitious vehicle. The first flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to ISS may not take place by the end of this year instead of later this month may not take place until the end of 2019 or sometime in 2020. The company is citing "technical issues" with the spacecraft. Boeing and SpaceX are vying for the distinction of flying the first astronauts to the station from American soil. Currently, NASA pays Russia millions of dollars for each trip to the ISS aboard Soyuz spacecraft. NASA has awarded contracts valued at nearly $7 billion for the development of the spacecraft. The "technical issues" with the Starliner have not been specified by Boeing. The NTSB has published a preliminary report that gives us additional detail about the Dale Earnhardt Jr., Citation Latitude accident... According to the NTSB, “Approaching 0A9, the crew announced their intentions to land on runway 24 via the airport's CTAF. Airport surveillance video captured the initial touchdown, which occurred near the runway touchdown zone, and portions of the accident sequence. The airplane bounced twice, then continued airborne down runway 24 until it touched down a third time with about 1,000 ft of paved surface remaining. The video revealed that the right main landing gear collapsed and the outboard section of the right wing contacted the runway shortly after the third touchdown... All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne!!!

Airborne 08.28.19 is chock full of info in this Daily News Episode, Wednesday, August 28th, 2019... Presented by Aero-TV veteran videographer and Airborne Host Sophie Hurlock. Sophie is supported by ANN Chief Videographer Nathan Cremisino, as well as ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell. This episode covers:

• SpaceX Scores Successful Starhopper ‘Hop’
• First Boeing Starliner Flight To ISS Delayed Again 
• NTSB Released Preliminary Report From Dale Earnhardt Jr. Accident 
• FAA Recruiting 737 MAX Pilots For Simulator Flights
• Problems With GE9X Engine May Delay 777X First Flight To 2020
• Swedish Air Ambulance Organization Acquires Six Pilatus PC-24s 
• RAM Aircraft, L.P. Announces New PMA Continental Engine Replacement Parts

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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