AVIATION

AVIATION NEWS

National Championship Air Races

The second annual installment of the Air Races, formerly held a Reno, was held at the Roswell (NM) Air Center on September 16-20. Of course, “Roswell Aliens” had to be the theme of the event. The USAF Thunderbirds precision flying team performed, and many different classes of air racers participated. Static displays were impressive, too, including a C-17, a B-24, and a B-52 flown in for the event. The Unlimited class included 11 heavily-modified P-51s, a Hawker Sea Fury, and a Yak 3UR-2000. For more on this exciting event, with lots of pictures, see: https://generalaviationnews.com/2026/10/07/the-sound-the-fury-the-aliens-racing-at-roswell.

How to Build an AI-Ready Aerospace Workforce…

Is the title of an interesting Opinion piece on the Aviation Week website; see: https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/manufacturing-supply-chain/opinion-how-build-ai-ready-aerospace-workforce.

Jet Fuel Shortages Loom

“Airline industry officials are warning of potential disruptions to flight schedules this summer as jet fuel supply concerns and rising costs continue to develop amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said shortages could first affect parts of Asia before spreading to other regions, while European carriers are also assessing the financial impact of sustained higher fuel prices.

“European carriers are also assessing the financial impact of higher fuel prices, as several airlines reduce capacity or adjust schedules in response to rising operating costs.”

See here for the full story.

For additional info from Europe, see: https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/airports-networks/high-fuel-costs-disrupt-winter-2026-network-plans.

And if fuel woes weren’t enough, climate change will certainly affect the commercial airline business; see: https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/airports-networks/aviation-industry-warned-climate-pressures-will-reshape-travel.

And supply isn’t the only concern…

Airplane Fuel Cost Continues to Rise

Full-service JA fuel reached a national average price of $8.36/gallon in September, up 4.9% from August. A typical Boeing 737 gets between 0.5 and 0.75 miles/gallon, with variation due to wind speed and direction and other factors.

AvGas (100LL), used in General Aviation, rose 21 cents last month, now $7.75/gallon.

The upward trend of fuel costs is now in its fourth month. The cost increase for all of 2026 to date is 32.7% for Jet A and 21.7% for 100L. These are national averages; there is some variation from region to region.

Airline Maintenance
One does not need to be a fan of the Smithsonian Channel’s Air Disasters series to know that maintenance of commercial aircraft is of critical importance to the traveling public!

The concern is “not necessarily the content of training programs but rather the profile of the people we seek to attract and develop. What mindset should they possess? What competencies will define success? And what challenges will they encounter throughout their professional lives?”

A recent Opinion piece on the Aviation Week website by Holger Beck, “Are We Really Preparing Maintenance Professionals For Tomorrow?” – the source of the quotes above, addresses the issue. It makes for interesting reading…

FAA Radar Upgrade Schedule Slips

The USA’s air traffic control radar system is antiquated. The FAA has a Radar System Replacement Plan underway, part of the Brand New Air Traffic Control System (BNATCS) Initiative, aiming to replace 612 radar systems nationwide by June, 2028. It’s a big project, and only 10 systems have been put in place so far. Supply-chain issues are now forcing an extension of that goal to September, 2028. For more information, see: https://aviationweek.com/business-aviation/safety-ops-regulation/faa-radar-system-upgrade-schedule-slips-two-months. The GAO also released a report about BNATCS in mid-September, see: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-107992.

A Warning from Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russian airspace is becoming “completely unsafe” and is “effectively closing” because of drone strikes, as Ukraine’s response to increasing Russian attacks extends beyond Ukrainian territory.

In a Sept. 1 statement, Zelenskyy said, “Today, we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, and everyone who still uses Russia’s key airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe.”

Although Zelenskyy said Ukraine was not threatening civilian aviation as such, he stated, “There will simply be drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that has to be taken into account.”

AVIATION FYI

An Accident in New Mexico: Update

The podcast cited in the previous A+StW campaign should have stressed that the pilots were offered radar vectors for an instrument approach but decided to descent visually at night in an area with BIG mountains. The FAA has a GPS resiliency program to recover without GPS.

A Beechcraft King Air 90 aircraft carrying two pilots and two nurses were dispatched from Roswell to Ruidoso, New Mexico, in order to pick up a patient for transport on the late evening of May 13 earlier this year. They never made it, crashing in the wee hours of the 14th in the nearby Capitan Mountains, causing the Seven Cabins Fire that took over a month to be contained, after burning over 31,000 acres. All four aboard were killed. The night was dark, but visibility was good. The pilots had been using GPS to guide them to the Sierra Blanco Regional Airport.

United States military facilities are protected by devices that jam GPS signals from being used to attack them. Ruidoso is near the White Sands Missile Range, and GPS jamming was active at the time of the crash. The pilots were aware that GPS jamming was being conducted in the vicinity of their flight. The NTSB has not assigned probable cause, but did release the circumstances in a preliminary report, stating:

GPS jamming originated from the WSMR’s routine NAVFEST exercises, coordinated with the FA and published via NOTAMs
ADS-BV surveillance degraded alongside GPS
ATC paused jamming temporarily; the crew reported Ruidoso in sight and requested a visual approach
Jamming resumed during descent; the aircraft struck terrain approximately 230 feet below the summit

Sources: https://www.firehouse.com/ems/video/55377961/four-killed-in-medical-plane-crash-in-ruidoso-nm and https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/civilian-plane-crashed-mexico-military-163855450.html

The New Mexico Accident led to interesting articles by Aviation Week

A podcast entitled, “GPS Spoofing and Jamming – Can Civil Aviation Adapt,” from which this partial summary was taken:

“The podcast begins by talking about a medevac crash that may have involved GPS interference and presents it as part of a wider problem facing civil aviation. GPS has become a critical utility for navigation and aircraft systems, yet commercial aviation remains less protected against jamming and spoofing than military aviation. Jamming overwhelms GPS signals, while spoofing supplies false information that can mislead an aircraft about its position. These disruptions can affect navigation, flight management systems, autopilot behavior, ground proximity warnings, and other aircraft functions.

The discussion considers how crews respond in areas where interference is more likely. Pilots may cross-check GPS with inertial navigation, ground-based navigation aids, radar guidance from air traffic control, and procedures practiced in simulators. However, these measures do not resolve the underlying technological gap. Military systems use more resilient antennas and multiple signals, while civil aircraft often depend heavily on a single GPS frequency.”

21 Air Flight 7598 Crash in Miami

Another airplane crash has been in the news lately. A B-767 cargo plane operated by 21 Air under contract to Amazon ran off the end of the runway while landing at Miami International Airport on September 6. The aircraft hit two vehicles on a highway 1300 feet beyond the end of the runway, killing five people in one of them. Five others, including both pilots of the 767, were injured, three of them critically.

The crash is under investigation by the NTSB, and I am sure they will do a most thorough job of it (I’ve seen every single episode of the Smithsonian Channel’s Air Disasters). However, a video of the landing and information about its flight path are already in the news.

Weather may have been a minor factor in the accident, since “light thunderstorms and gusty winds” were being measured at the airport. However, I strongly suspect that pilot error will be determined to be a major factor.

The flight profile I saw shows that the pilots were attempting a “slam dunk” approach, coming in significantly higher than normal and then diving more quickly than normal to land. Slam dunks are not uncommon, but they are more difficult, because landing speeds will be higher.

The aircraft touched down farther down the runway than normal, and video of the crash show that the pilots were struggling to get the left landing gear to actually land. Neither speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed, in fact, the pilots actually briefly applied thrust necessary for a go-around after the gear was fully down (actually more of a touch-and-go). It is likely that the aircraft was still traveling at ~70+ MPH when it ran off the end of the runway.

Lawyers are involved.

A good summary of what happened can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_Air_Flight_7598. The NTSB issued an Investigative Update, available here: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20260909.aspx.

AVIATION LINKS AND OTHER INFORMATION

Let’s Recover a WWII TBD-1 Torpedo Bomber! The TBD-1 Devastator was the U.S.

Navy’s first all-metal, low-wing, carrier-based torpedo bomber. The Devastator went into service in 1937, but it was completely outdated by the time of Pearl Harbor. In spite of its flaws, it was used during the opening months of the Pacific campaign, including operations in the Marshall Islands and major carrier battles in 1942. It had to fly low, slow, and straight to launch its torpedo. Only 129 were ever built. The Devastators they were soon replaced by a more capable aircraft, the TBM Avenger, the aircraft flown by George H.W. Bush later in the War. But not before the ill-fated Torpedo Squadron 8 was annihilated at Midway in June, 1942.

American naval forces were reeling after Pearl Harbor, but the aircraft carriers weren’t in port that day, and were able to conduct raids on Japanese holdings in the mid-Pacific. On February 1, 1942, the carriers Yorktown and Enterprise struck targets in the Marshall Islands. Seventeen SBD Dauntless dive bombers and 12 Devastators (carrying bombs instead of torpedoes since they were after targets on land) from the Yorktown went to Jaluit Atoll. Their attack was thwarted by bad weather, and two of the Devastators became disoriented in the clouds to the point they lacked the fuel necessary for a return to their ship. They elected to ditch in the large Jaluit lagoon. All six crewmen from the two aircraft were captured, and would survive the War and, but only after some very rough treatment there and back in Japan.

The two Jaluit Devastators are still there and one of them is the focus of a new recovery effort, the Devastator Project, made by a “coalition of maritime archaeology, aviation preservation and naval history organizations.” The aircraft selected for recovery was Bureau Number 1515, piloted by “Ensign Herbert R. Hein, Jr., (with) navigator/bombardier Aviation Ordnanceman, Third Class (AOM3c) Joseph D. Strahl, and radioman/gunner Seaman First Class (S1c) Marshal E. “Windy” Windham.” The other, Bureau Number 0298, was manned by “pilot Lt. Harlan T. “Dub” Johnson, navigator Aviation Chief Machinist’s Mate (ACMM) Charles E. Fosha, and radioman/gunner Radioman First Class (RM1c) James W. Dalzell.”

[ASIDE: It’s a good thing the two crews eventually made it back home OK. My boss at my first job in Colorado Springs, a fine gentleman and decent golfer, was the son of Charles E. Fosha.]

The wrecks of several other Devastators are known, but none to date have been recovered and restored enough to be put on display anywhere, making this dud of an airplane a rare and important artifact! I wish the Devastator Project team the best of luck in their endeavor!

For more info, see: https://avweb.com/aviation-news/tbd-1-recovery-effort-world-war-ii-navy and https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbirds-news/us-navy-announces-mission-to-recover-a-douglas-tbd-devastator.html. .

What’s It Like to Fly to Telluride? Telluride, Colorado, located in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, is a spectacular setting, home to celebrities famous, skiers, and festival goers. There are more private jets flying into its small airport, at over 9000’, than just about anywhere. AVWeb just posted a video of what landing there is like, in a propeller-driven plane. See: https://www.avweb.com/multimedia/featured-video-flying-into-telluride-a-stunning-high-stakes-approach.

And if you think that’s wild, try jeeping into Telluride over the (in)famous Black Bear Pass (if you are not too late; it recently was closed due to damage by a rockfall). For example, see: https://www.cntraveler.com/video/watch/the-road-less-traveled-traversing-black-bear-pass.

Oh, and watch out forfalling cars!