Aviation News- Week of July 15
Boeing Pleads Guilty in 737MAX Case
Marco Menezes / Shutterstock
Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge in relation to two 737 MAX 8 crash tragedies in a deal secured with the Department of Justice (DoJ).
The 737-MAX series has been troubled with lawsuits and malfunctions (some fatal) since the beginning of its operations in May 2017. After two fatal crashes due to lack of training on the MCAS system in 2018 and 2019, The United States government signed a deferred prosecution agreement with Boeing, lasting for three years. But days before the expiration date, on January 5, a door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737-MAX 9 separated shortly after takeoff.
Boeing was presented with the US government’s terms last week and given a choice of admitting guilt and paying a fine or going to court. “We can confirm that we have reached an agreement in principle on terms of a resolution with the Justice Department, subject to the memorialization and approval of specific terms,” Boeing said in a statement, following the legal filing by the DoJ on July 7, 2024.
In addition, under the plea deal an independent monitor would be appointed to oversee safety processes at Boeing for three years.
Source: Associated Press
Qantas Launches First Nonstop Flight to Paris
Qantas’ mascot appearing at the inagural flight of QF33.
Qantas has successfully launched first nonstop flight between Australia and France.
Flight QF33, departed Perth (PER), in Western Australia, on the evening of July 12, 2024, and landed at Paris CDG airport 16 and a half hours later, at 6.20am in the morning of July 13 local time.
This service, which is operated with Boeing 787-9 aircraft equipped with 42 Business, 28 Premium Economy and 166 Economy class seats, is Qantas’ third nonstop route between Australia and Europe. The Australian airline returns, this way, to the French capital after a two-decade hiatus.
However, this nonstop link to Western Australia may be just a harbinger of things to come. Paris is one of the cities included in Qantas’ Project Sunrise, a plan to link Sydney (SYD) and Melbourne (MEL) to several destinations that are currently out of range from Australia’s two largest cities.
Airbus A350-1000 aircraft with a cabin specially designed for the nearly 20-hour long flights will be deployed on Project Sunrise routes from 2026 onwards. Several A350-1000 ULR planes are currently operated by Singapore Airlines, connecting Singapore’s Changi Airport to New York’s JFK Airport, and Newark Airport in New Jersy, USA.
Source: Simple Flying
Experienced Polish aerobatics pilot dies in M-346 crash
Poland is mourning the death of an experienced military pilot, Major Robert “Killer” Jeł, whose M-346 aircraft crashed on July 12, 2024, as it was rehearsing for an air exhibition in Gdynia, on Poland’s Baltic coast.
The accident, which took place ahead of an event celebrating Poland’s Naval Aviation Brigade 30th anniversary, was caught on camera by several bystanders. Fottage shows that the incident may have happened within the boundary of the air base where the pilot was training.
Source: Aerotime News
