Flight Safety Information - May 18, 2026 No. 096 In This Issue : Incident: Condor A321 at Kalamata on May 15th 2026, hard landing : Incident: Croatia BCS3 at Split on May 16th 2026, rejected takeoff due to runway excursion : Incident: PSA CRJ9 at Kansas City on May 15th 2026, smoke in cabin : Incident: Helvetic E195 near Zurich on May 14th 2026, lightning strike : Incident: Cathay Pacific B773 at Hong Kong on May 11th 2026, engine vibrations : Fighter jets crash in midair during air show at Idaho Air Force base : Plane carrying pickleball players to tournament broke apart midair : Delta flight bound for Shanghai forced to divert to Seattle due to disruptive passenger : Turkish Airlines jet safely evacuated after landing gear smoke at Nepal airport : Southwest Airlines lays off 75 employees amid restructuring effort : Graduate Research Request : Calendar of Events Incident: Condor A321 at Kalamata on May 15th 2026, hard landing A Condor Airbus A321-200, registration D-AIAI performing flight DE-1664 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Kalamata (Greece), landed on Kalamata's runway 17R but touched down hard. The aircraft rolled out without further incident and taxied to the apron. The return flight needed to be postponed, was carried out by a replacement A321-200 registration D-AIAB the following day and reached Frankfurt with a delay of about 18 hours. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Kalamata for about 42.5 hours before positioning to Dusseldorf. The aircraft is still on the ground in Dusseldorf about 3 hours after landing there. A passenger reported the captain of the planned return flight informed passengers on May 15th 2026 that the aircraft had suffered a hard landing level 1 (minor abnormal runway contact requiring maintenance checks), the return flight was postponed to the following day. https://avherald.com/h?article=53956b59&opt=0 Incident: Croatia BCS3 at Split on May 16th 2026, rejected takeoff due to runway excursion A Croatia Airlines Bombardier C-Series CS-300, registration 9A-CAN performing flight OU-412 from Split (Croatia) to Frankfurt/Main (Germany) with 130 passengers and 5 crew, was accelerating for takeoff from Split's runway 23 when the crew rejected takeoff at high speed (about 123 knots over ground) while veering towards the left edge of the runway. While slowing down the aircraft went beyond the left runway edge, continued parallel to the edge and came to a stop about 1800 meters/6000 feet down the runway and just left of the left runway edge. There were no injuries, the damage to the aircraft is being assessed. The airline reported the crew rejected takeoff in line with safety procedures. The passengers disembarked and are in the terminal at Split, there were no injuries. The passengers are being provided with assistance to continue their journeys. https://avherald.com/h?article=5394b296&opt=0 Incident: PSA CRJ9 at Kansas City on May 15th 2026, smoke in cabin A PSA Airlines Canadair CRJ-900 on behalf of American Airlines, registration N616NN performing flight AA-5318 from Washington National,DC to Kansas City,MO (USA) with 76 people on board, was on final approach to Kansas City's runway 19L already cleared to land when the crew radioed they had a lot going on there shortly followed by the crew declaring emergency, they were continuing to land. The aircraft touched down on the runway about 1-2 minutes later, rolled out and vacated the runway stopping clear of the runway. The aircraft was evacuated via slides. There were no injuries. A replacement CRJ-900 registration N553NN performed the return flight with a delay of about 5:15 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Kansas City about 20 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=5394c0a2&opt=0 Incident: Helvetic E195 near Zurich on May 14th 2026, lightning strike A Helvetic Airlines Embraer ERJ-195 on behalf of Swiss, registration HB-JVW performing flight LX-1374 from Zurich (Switzerland) to Krakow (Poland) with 117 people on board, was enroute at FL320 about 100nm eastnortheast of Zurich when the crew decided to return to Zurich due to a lightning strike. The aircraft landed safely back on Zurich's runway 28 about 45 minutes after departure. The airline reported the commander decided to return to Zurich for inspections following a lightning strike. The passengers were rebooked onto other flights. The aircraft returned to service the following morning after about 14 hours on the ground. https://avherald.com/h?article=539497dc&opt=0 Incident: Cathay Pacific B773 at Hong Kong on May 11th 2026, engine vibrations A Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300, registration B-KPD performing flight CX-253 from Hong Kong (China) to London Heathrow,EN (UK), was climbing out of Hong Kong's runway 25L when the crew stopped the climb at about 11000 feet due to engine (GE90) vibrations. The aircraft returned to Hong Kong for a safe landing on runway 25L about 90 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 777-300 registration B-KQJ reached London with a delay of about 11 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Hong Kong 4 days and 10 hours later. https://avherald.com/h?article=53942486&opt=0 Plane carrying pickleball players to tournament broke apart midair A small plane that crashed while carrying four pickleball players to a tournament near Austin, Texas, last month had problems with freezing instruments before it broke apart midair, according to a preliminary federal investigation report released. The Cessna 421C took off from Amarillo on April 30 at 9.10pm (local time) and crashed at about 11pm in Wimberley, a city about 64km southwest of Austin. Pilot Justin Appling and passengers Hayden Dillard, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick and Seren Wilson died. The National Transportation Safety Board report said that during the flight, the pilot reported problems with the plane's anti-icing system that protects onboard instruments. He later reported that an instrument that measures airspeed had “iced up” and that he was using backup gauges. He was cleared to descend to 1200m and told air controllers he wanted to get to a lower altitude to try to “warm back up". Over the last 15 minutes before the crash, the plane flew at altitudes where temperatures hovered just below freezing, according to the report. The pilot's last radio transmission with air controllers was made at 10.59pm. The plane then made a series of descending left and right turns before crashing to the ground. Investigators found pieces of the plane over a 2km debris field, distribution consistent with an “in-flight breakup”, the report said. It was mostly cloudy in the area shortly before the crash, and there was a thunderstorm two hours later, the National Weather Service said. A second plane travelling with the group landed safely in New Braunfels. https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/05/16/plane-carrying-pickleball-players-to-tournament-broke-apart-midair/ Sens. Duckworth, "Not at all confident, not at all confident. I often fly where I'm not wearing both my artificial legs," Duckworth said at the time. "I don't think it's realistic anymore. … Conduct a real test and let's see what the realistic standard is." "We need answers. Are the current [plane] evacuation standards, are they adequate?" former National Transportation Safety Board chair and CBS News transportation safety analyst Robert Sumwalt told CBS News last August. "It's definitely time for the FAA to go back and reassess what standards they're using for evacuations. It's been almost 35 years since those standards were published." The senators are now calling on the FAA to study the impact of the reduced flight attendant staffing on evacuation efficiency. "The presence of Flight Attendants, stationed in the right locations, help passengers survive when their lives depend on it. Appropriate crew staffing is not a luxury; it is a life-saving necessity," the senators wrote. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/duckworth-baldwin-faa-study-impact-reduced-flight-attendant-staffing/ Delta flight bound for Shanghai forced to divert to Seattle due to disruptive passenger SEATTLE (KOMO) — A Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai was forced to divert to Seattle after a passenger became disruptive, the airline confirmed Sunday evening. Delta Air Lines Flight 39 was off the coast of Northwest Washington when the crew warned the passenger multiple times to comply with flight crew instructions, a Delta spokesperson told KOMO News' Jeremy Harris. “For the safety of the aircraft and passenger," the crew made the decision to divert to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Local law enforcement met the aircraft at the gate, according to Delta. The airline said it could not confirm what happened to the passenger after the plane landed. The flight was operated on an Airbus A350-900 with 271 customers, 11 flight attendants, and four pilots on board, Delta said. All passengers will have to spend the night in Seattle, and Delta expects the flight to continue to Shanghai tomorrow. https://komonews.com/news/local/delta-flight-bound-for-shanghai-forced-to-divert-to-seattle-due-to-disruptive-passenger-plane-seattle-tacoma-international-airpot-travel-passenger-delay-booking-ticket-canceled-plane-airplane-investigation-police-arrest Turkish Airlines jet safely evacuated after landing gear smoke at Nepal airport KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Passengers and crew members were safely evacuated from a Turkish Airlines jet that landed at a Nepal airport Monday with smoke coming out of the landing gear, the airline said. An official at the Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport had said earlier that the plane’s right landing gear had caught fire and that emergency crew were able to bring it under control. The airport official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly to reporters. However, the airline said in statements that there had not been a fire, and that a preliminary assessment indicated that the smoke coming from the landing gear was cased by a malfunction of hydraulic equipment. Passengers were evacuated via slides as a precaution, the airline said. The airport was shut down on Monday morning but reopened nearly two hours later, after the plane was removed to a safer area at the airport. Flights were operating on schedule later on Monday. There were 277 passengers and 11 crew members on board the Airbus A330 from Istanbul. “The evacuation process was completed successfully and no injuries were reported,” an airline statement quoted company official Yahya Üstün as saying. “An additional flight has been planned for the return, while technical inspections of the aircraft have been initiated by our teams.” He said that initial assessments indicated that the smoke was caused by a technical malfunction in a hydraulic pipe. Nepal experiences relatively frequent plane crashes as its mountainous terrain and variable weather make flying conditions difficult. In 2015, a Turkish Airlines jet landing in dense fog in Kathmandu skidded off a slippery runway shutting down the airport for several days. No injuries were reported, and the plane was later towed out of the airport and converted into a museum. https://apnews.com/article/nepal-kathmandu-turkish-airlines-fire-24c5c314e92e81ed4f482322ebec09b3 Southwest Airlines lays off 75 employees amid restructuring effort Southwest Airlines is laying off about 75 employees, saying in a statement that the move is part of an effort to improve efficiency through restructuring. The company says those affected will have the opportunity to interview for both new and existing roles. The layoffs come about a month after the airline raised the cost of a checked bag by $10, bringing the fee to $45 for travelers. https://www.yahoo.com/news/videos/southwest-airlines-lays-off-75-013100884.html Graduate Research Request candidate in Aviation with a specialization in Human Factors at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. With nearly 40 years of experience in aircraft maintenance and aviation safety, his dissertation research examines how Aircraft Maintenance Technicians (AMTs) experience and describe decision-making during troubleshooting, inspection, and repair activities in Part 121 and Part 135 operations. The IRB-approved study seeks currently employed Part 121 and Part 135 AMTs with at least one year of maintenance experience to participate in one confidential 60 to 75-minute virtual interview focused on real-world maintenance decision-making. Participation is voluntary and confidential, and no proprietary or company-specific information will be requested. Although employed by the FAA, this research is conducted solely in an academic capacity and is not affiliated with or conducted on behalf of the FAA. Individuals interested in participating or learning more may contact Steve Poiani at poianadf@my.erau.edu. https://sites.google.com/view/aircraftmaintenancestudy/home Steve Poiani Doctoral Candidate Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University poianadf@my.erau.edu CALENDAR OF EVENTS . The African Aviation Safety & Operations Summit - May 19-20 | Johannesburg, South Africa . ESASI 2026, 20-21 May, Dubrovnik . Safeskies Australia - Australia’s renowned Aviation Safety Conference - Canberra Australia 20 and 21 May 2026 . Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection, and Investigation Course 7 to 9 July 2026; Woburn MA 01801 USA : APSCON/APSCON Unmanned 2026 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL - July 13-17, 2026 : Aircraft Cabin Air International Conference - 22-23 September 2026 . IATA World Maintenance & Engineering Symposium (23-25 June, Madrid, Spain) . ISASI - BOSTON 2026 - September 28, 2026 – October 2, 2026 . 2026 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) Oct. 20-22, 2026 | Las Vegas, NV Curt Lewis