AvTalk Episode 220: Nonstop to Beef Island

On this episode of AvTalk, Air India’s diversion to Russia ends up being about as easy as it gets. The FAA has a new acting administrator and the FAA reauthorization bill currently working its ways through the US Congress has some interesting provisions. Secondary flight deck barriers are finally coming to new aircraft. And Tecnam halts efforts on its electric aircraft.

Air India’s best case scenario

The worst case scenario that we laid out last week for Air India’s 777 that diverted to Russia was thankfully wrong. It took just a few days for Air India to return the aircraft to Mumbai and just a few more after that before VT-ALH returned to commercial service.

FAA news

Polly Trottenberg  has been named acting FAA administrator, replacing Billy Nolen who moves on to work at eVTOL maker Archer Aviation. The FAA has been without a Senate-confirmed administrator for two years.

In this year’s FAA reauthorization bill, there are a number of interesting provisions regarding ADS-B and even a mandate for video recording to be added to flight deck recorders. Here’s the whole bill just in case 800 pages of legal text is your thing. ADS-B proposals are on page 86, cockpit video recorders are page 447. And here’s our discussion with NTSB investigator Sean Payne about crash protected recorders.

In the 2018 FAA reauthorization, Congress mandated secondary flight deck barriers and the FAA has finally finished the rule making process. Look for those barriers to come to new airplanes within two years. Here’s the full text of the final rule.

New aircraft that are coming and one that isn’t

The Transonic truss-braced wing concept is now the X-66A, which is good because transonic truss-braced wing is a bit difficult to say multiple times in a row. Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury says that Airbus is looking at some “novel” architecture for its new single-aisle aircraft. And Tecnam pulls the plug on the P-volt due to lack of adequate batteries.

WestJet pilot deal sweeps Swoop under the rug

WestJet finalized its new pilot contract, including the folding of Swoop into WestJet mainline flying. The low cost subsidiary will operate through October.

NEA Lite?

The US DOJ was back in court last week decrying moves by American Airlines and JetBlue to keep some of the provisions of the NEA, in what they term the NEA Lite.

Nonstop to Beef Island

Qantas began is one-stop to New York route this week, with QF3 making its way from Sydney via Auckland. And sadly we missed the first flight, but American Eagle has begun the first non-stop service from Miami to Beef Island, British Virgin Islands.

First Airbus A321 built in China for non-Chinese airline

Airbus will soon deliver its first A321 assembled in China for a non-Chinese airline to Wizz Air.

Paris Air Show Preview

The Paris Air Show starts next week and the flying displays are already warming up. Boeing will have the 777-9 and 737-10 MAX, while Airbus is bringing the A321XLR.

How you can host a Flightradar24 ADS-B receiver

We’re always looking for qualified receiver hosts and we’ve got a new top 10 most wanted list. Check it out!

Thank you for listening!

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Please click here for a transcript of this week’s epiosde

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