Flight Safety Information - July 6, 2026 No. 131 In This Issue : Accident: Cargo Aerosucre B734 at Bogota on Jul 4th 2026, main gear collapse on landing : Incident: United B78X at Chicago on Jul 3rd 2026, brakes problem on arrival : Incident: Delta B738 at Chicago and Indianapolis on Jul 3rd 2026, lightning strike : Incident: ANZ A320 near Christchurch on Jul 4th 2026, smell of smoke : Fireworks Strike Delta Jet : FAA Moves to Block Flight Attendants and Pilots From Claiming Mandatory Meal Breaks : Investigators find no evidence of engine failure in fiery crash of skydiving plane that killed 12 : Power Banks and Vapes Now Top Aircraft Safety Risk, CAA Warns (U.K.) : New York City-bound flight from Kenya diverted over malfunctioning flight controls : Unsolved: United Airlines Grounds New Premium Boeing 787-9 Again After Suffering TCAS Issues : Why the Learn-Do-Fly Training Standard Improves Pilot Safety : NASA Goon Defied Federal Agency to Fly Jet in Trump’s Show : Calendar of Events Accident: Cargo Aerosucre B734 at Bogota on Jul 4th 2026, main gear collapse on landing A Cargo Aerosucre Boeing 737-400, registration HK-5447 performing flight A4-2143 from Leticia to Bogota (Colombia), landed on Bogota's runway 14R at 22:11L (03:11Z Jul 5th) when the right main gear collapsed after touchdown. The aircraft came to a halt on the runway and was disabled. The runway was closed until morning of the next day, when the aircraft could be towed off the runway. The aircraft is still on the ground in Bogota about 17 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=53b74737&opt=0 Incident: United B78X at Chicago on Jul 3rd 2026, brakes problem on arrival A United Boeing 787-10, registration N16008 performing flight UA-971 from Rome Fiumicino (Italy) to Chicago O'Hare,IL (USA), was on approach to Chicago's runway 28R when the crew declared emergency reporting they had potentially lost the brakes on their left hand main gear. They were planning for a normal landing, unclear how long the roll out would be, and requested to be able to taxi without any stop to not need to brake, emergency services should follow them. The aircraft landed safely on runway 28R and taxied to the apron. https://avherald.com/h?article=53b691ff&opt=0 Incident: Delta B738 at Chicago and Indianapolis on Jul 3rd 2026, lightning strike A Delta Airlines Boeing 737-900, registration N901DN performing flight DL-2894 from Chicago O'Hare,IL to Atlanta,GA (USA), was climbing out of O'Hare's runway 22L when the crew stopped the climb at FL210 following a lightning strike and decided to divert to Indianapolis,IN (USA). The aircraft landed safely on Indianapolis' runway 23L about 30 minutes after departure. The remainder of the flight was cancelled. The aircraft is still on the ground in Indianapolis about 21 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=53b68d8f&opt=0 Incident: ANZ A320 near Christchurch on Jul 4th 2026, smell of smoke An ANZ Air New Zealand Airbus A320-200, registration ZK-OXJ performing flight NZ-630 from Queenstown to Auckland (New Zealand), was enroute at FL370 about 120nm northnorthwest of Christchurch (New Zealand) when the crew decided to divert CHristchurch due to the smell of smoke on board. The aircraft landed safely on Christchurch's runway 02 about 30 minutes later. Emergency services inspected the aircraft, that subsequently taxied to the apron. The remainder of the flight was cancelled, the passengers were rebooked onto other flights. The aircraft is still on the ground in Christchurch about 14 hours later. https://avherald.com/h?article=53b688b5&opt=0 Fireworks Strike Delta Jet Fourth Of July Landing Takes An Unexpected Turn At Chicago Midway A routine holiday arrival became anything but ordinary in the final moments before touchdown. The flight crew reported hearing a loud bang after a firework apparently struck the aircraft during it's descent. The safe landing underscores both the professionalism of the crew and the unexpected hazards that can emerge close to the ground. A Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 operating Flight DL1076 from Atlanta to Chicago Midway International Airport was reportedly struck by a firework while on final approach shortly before 8:40 p.m. local time on July 4th. According to air traffic control recordings, the aircraft was about 200 feet above the ground when the crew reported, "We just had a firework hit our plane," before continuing the approach and landing safely without declaring an emergency. After arriving at the gate, the pilots told controllers, "We just heard a bang on the plane, so we'll have to look at it when we get to the gate. We're just hoping it was just a mortar that went off underneath, but definitely felt a big bang." Controllers advised the crew that multiple reports of fireworks near the airport approach path had already been received and that local authorities would be notified. Delta confirmed the aircraft made contact with a firework during descent and said the A319, registered N316NB, was removed from service for inspection. No injuries were reported among passengers or crew, and the extent of any damage has not been disclosed. While direct firework strikes on commercial airliners remain exceptionally uncommon, the event highlights a genuine aviation safety concern. Fireworks near airport approach and departure corridors can distract flight crews during the most critical phases of flight, create foreign object debris on airport surfaces, and in rare cases pose a threat to aircraft structures or engines. During one of the busiest Independence Day travel periods on record, the incident served as a powerful reminder that hazards on the ground can reach far higher than many people realize. https://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=DE5CB26E-74BB-4ACD-B89B-B215007F8C47 FAA Moves to Block Flight Attendants and Pilots From Claiming Mandatory Meal Breaks The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is moving to block flight attendants and pilots from claiming mandatory meal breaks under local State laws, such as California’s generous Labor Code, which grants employees who work for more than five hours an uninterrupted 30-minute meal break. Several U.S. airlines, including American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, have been caught up in legal battles with their flight attendants over these State-level laws, with AA reportedly reaching a $24 million settlement with California-based flight attendants in late 2023 over the issue. Alaska Airlines even threatened to close crew bases in California over the meal break law, but eventually backtracked when it secured an exemption for aircrews, which was backed by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) The exemption followed years of legal wrangling, which started when Alaska Airlines bought out Virgin America. The airline unsuccessfully argued that federal laws that govern the working conditions of airline staff should trump local State laws, but a California appeals court disagreed. Alaska Airlines even attempted to appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court, but the justices refused to review the case. In the end, an exemption was only won with the support of the flight attendant union on the proviso that the collective bargaining agreement was used to govern crew member rest breaks. The Meal break rules written into the Alaska Airlines flight attendant contract To win an exemption from California meal break laws, Alaska Airlines signed a side letter of agreement with the AFA-CWA, that gauruntees crew members minimum break time. Alaska Airlines flight attendants are entitled to a minimum 10-minute sit-down break on flights with a block time of at least two and a half hours, and a minimum 30-minute break on flights with a block time of at least four hours. Similar meal break rules have been introduced in several other states, including Washington, where Alaska Airlines failed to secure a California-style exemption. Now, however, the FAA has filed a notice of proposed rulemaking that would clarify that State-level meal and rest break laws are preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which, in other words, means that these local laws would not apply to flight attendants. Under the Airline Deregulation Act, states are not allowed to introduce laws that would have a “significant impact on air carrier prices, routes, and services.” The FAA argues that local meal break rules have exactly this effect. “Recent litigation prompted FAA to review regulations relating to duty and rest for flightcrew members and flight attendants,” the agency explained in its proposed rulemaking. “While Federal regulations concerning flightcrew members have consistently preempted State action, there have been efforts to apply some State laws to flight attendants,” the NPRM adds. “Conflicting State or local laws would create a complex patchwork of regulatory requirements that would frustrate the Federal regulatory scheme and inhibit aviation safety.” “To address the inconsistency created by judicial rulings and to ensure a cohesive national safety standard, FAA proposes a rule clarifying that a single, uniform set of requirements applies to the duty, rest, and break periods for both flightcrew members and flight attendants.” The FAA doesn’t intend to mandate its own set of rules for meal breaks for flight attendants, and instead argues that existing federal laws manage potential fatigue and rest management adequately and that insisting that flight attendants take meal breaks during a flight could compromise safety. “The primary mission of flight attendants is to ensure safety, a role that is undermined if a flight attendant is legally ‘off-duty’ during an emergency,” the NPRM explains. “Flight attendants need to be ready to manage land and water evacuations, control inflight fires, manage medical emergencies, and handle unruly passengers among other tasks. “In contrast to these State laws that present safety risk, FAA’s regulations are intended to increase safety through fatigue mitigation, which FAA addresses by regulating rest periods between shifts rather than during them,” the proposed rulemaking continues. As with any Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, these updated rules won’t come into effect anytime soon. The FAA has opened up the rulemaking to public comment until September, at which time the agency will review the comments and may change the wording or specifics of the NPRM. From there, the FAA could publish a final rulemaking, which could take many months until it actually comes into force. Expect the airline industry to applaud and broadly support this move, while some States may challenge the rulemaking. As for flight attendant unions, don’t expect support just because the AFA-CWA worked with Alaska Airlines for an exemption to the California meal break law. That exemption was only supported because it gave the union leverage to secure meal break provisions for every single Alaska Airlines flight attendant, not just those who are based in California. https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2026/07/03/faa-moves-to-block-flight-attendants-and-pilots-from-claiming-mandatory-meal-breaks/ Investigators find no evidence of engine failure in fiery crash of skydiving plane that killed 12 Federal safety investigators say in a new preliminary report that they found no indication that engine failure caused the fiery crash of a plane on a skydiving outing last month in Missouri that killed all 12 people aboard Federal safety investigators said in a new preliminary report that they found no indication that engine failure caused the fiery crash of a plane on a skydiving outing last month in Missouri that killed all 12 people aboard, including several very experienced jumpers. The report issued Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board also did not flag any other serious safety or mechanical failures that could have led to the crash, which happened just after takeoff on a clear day. The NTSB released the findings based on initial inspections of the badly damaged wreckage and flight records. The report said there were no indications of any precrash mechanical malfunctions or failures in the engine that would have prevented the normal operation of the plane. In fact, NTSB said it appeared that the engine of the single-engine turboprop plane had been producing power at the time of the crash. “I was surprised that they had determined that the engine was producing power,” said Jeff Guzzetti, president of Guzzetti Aviation Risk Discovery, an aviation safety consultancy. “Initially I thought it smacked of a potential engine problem and that the pilot had been trying to return to the airport.” The federal agency also said a post-accident sample from the fuel truck found the fuel to be free of sediment or debris, and a review of the skydiving business operators’ software showed that the airplane had met the weight and balance limitations for the flight. The report raised no concerns about the weather or the pilot, who had accumulated over 4,100 total flight hours and was in his second consecutive jump season working for the operator, Skydive Kansas City. The airplane was not equipped with a crashworthy voice or data recorder, like those that record flight data on commercial planes, nor was it required to be, investigators said. The NTSB report did note, however, that its investigators had recovered damaged GoPro cameras from the wreckage. The federal agency's investigation into the accident was ongoing, and a final report often takes a year or more to complete. The June 14 crash happened about an hour south of Kansas City, when the Pacific Aerospace 750XL carrying a pilot and 11 skydivers took off from Butler Memorial Airport at 11:25 a.m. on a clear day. During the initial climb, the airplane began a gradual turn to the left, with both wings eventually becoming almost perpendicular to the ground before it slammed into a field, nose down, and burst into flames, investigators said. The straight up-and-down position of the wings meant they could no longer produce enough aerodynamic lift to keep the plane in the air and the NTSB will have to figure out why that happened, Guzzetti said. The fire inflicted significant damage to the aircraft's major structural components, as well as the cockpit, the cabin and the fuel system, investigators said. Some family members of those who died were at the airport to watch the jump and witnessed the crash, authorities said. The United States Parachute Association, skydiving’s governing body, said its technology director, Jen Sharp, was among those killed. Skydive Kansas City called the crash a “devastating loss." Poor maintenance is often a factor when skydiving planes crash and the NTSB has previously raised concerns about the weak oversight for skydiving operators in past crash investigations. The agency said after a 2019 crash that killed 11 people in Hawaii that the FAA’s regulatory system isn’t strong enough to ensure the safety of skydiving flights. The Federal Aviation Administration has yet to adopt the NTSB’s recommendations, but said it established a committee in April that will recommend ways to increase skydiving safety and will consider the safety board’s proposals. The United States Parachute Association said that Skydive Kansas City adheres to the safety standards set by the largest skydiving organization in the world, including all FAA maintenance requirements. The skydiving industry says it has a strong safety record. The association said that last year nearly 3.5 million jumps were completed and that 16 civilians died, the majority from human error. The plane that crashed was built in 2010, according to FAA records. It made two successful flights the morning of the crash, the NTSB said. It is popular for skydiving and certified to be operated by a single pilot. https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/preliminary-report-flag-engine-failure-skydiving-plane-crash-134447275 Power Banks and Vapes Now Top Aircraft Safety Risk, CAA Warns (U.K.) The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is warning travelers that power banks and vapes on flights have become the biggest aircraft safety concern, as incidents involving lithium-ion batteries continue to increase across commercial aviation. As part of its new “Pack Right for a Safe Flight” summer safety campaign, the regulator is reminding passengers to keep portable electronic devices—including power banks, vapes, mobile phones, and tablets—in their carry-on baggage rather than checked luggage. According to the CAA, overheating lithium batteries are now responsible for approximately two flight disruptions every week, while reports involving overheating passenger devices nearly doubled between 2024 and 2025. The agency also reported that cases involving lithium-powered devices being improperly packed in checked baggage increased by 91% during 2025, highlighting a growing challenge for airlines worldwide. Why Lithium Batteries Pose a Serious Aviation Risk Lithium-ion batteries can overheat due to damage, manufacturing defects, or electrical failures, potentially leading to a phenomenon known as thermal runaway. Once this chain reaction begins, the battery can produce intense heat, smoke, and fire that may be difficult to extinguish. When these incidents occur in the aircraft cabin, flight attendants can respond quickly using specialized fire containment equipment. However, if a battery catches fire inside checked baggage stored in the cargo hold, detection and response become far more challenging. For that reason, aviation authorities around the world require power banks and spare lithium batteries to be carried in the cabin instead of checked luggage. What Travelers Should Know Before Flying The CAA advises passengers to review airline policies before departure, as rules can vary between carriers. In general, passengers are not permitted to travel with more than two power banks, and portable chargers should never be recharged during a flight. Laptops packed in checked baggage must also be completely powered off rather than left in sleep mode. The regulator noted that if every passenger aboard a fully loaded Airbus A380 carried four lithium-powered devices, there could be more than 2,000 batteries onboard, illustrating the scale of the potential safety challenge. Failure to comply with airline policies may result in baggage being removed before departure, flight delays, or additional security inspections. Airlines Back New Safety Campaign Giancarlo Buono, Director of Aviation Safety at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said flying remains the safest form of transportation but emphasized that proper packing plays an important role in maintaining that safety. Airlines UK also endorsed the campaign, with Chief Executive Tim Alderslade urging travelers to place tablets, power banks, and vapes in hand luggage instead of checked bags. Growing Focus on Battery Safety Across Global Aviation The latest warning reflects a broader trend across the aviation industry as airlines and regulators respond to the rapid growth in portable electronic devices carried by passengers. Several international carriers have recently tightened rules governing the use and storage of power banks and lithium batteries onboard aircraft following a series of battery-related incidents. Aviation authorities continue to review safety procedures as demand for portable electronics grows among both business and leisure travelers. For passengers, the guidance is straightforward: keep power banks and vapes on flights in your carry-on baggage, avoid charging portable batteries during the flight if prohibited by your airline, and always check your carrier’s latest lithium battery policies before traveling. These simple precautions help reduce fire risks and contribute to safer air travel for everyone onboard. https://airguide.info/power-banks-and-vapes-aircraft-safety-risk/ New York City-bound flight from Kenya diverted over malfunctioning flight controls The Kenya Airways flight turned back to its departure airport, Jomo Kenyatta International in the capital city, Nairobi, with no other issues reported. A trans-Atlantic flight to New York City turned back to its departure airport in Africa after it experienced flight control problems, Kenya Airways said Sunday. The flight, headed for John F. Kennedy International Airport from Nairobi, Kenya, was over Chad when the flight crew became aware of a “flight control spoiler malfunction,” Kenya Airways said in a statement. “For the safety of our guests and crew onboard, the crew followed precautionary safety checks and elected to return to Nairobi for further technical evaluation by our teams,” it said. No further issues were reported, the airline said. Flight-tracking website FlightAware showed the plane landed back at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, from where it had departed, at 12:23 a.m. local time Sunday. It’s not clear how many people were on board the aircraft. For the New York City route, Kenya Airways uses a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with a capacity of 234 passengers, according to the airline. Trump seeks to boost T levels of American men by easing restrictions on testosterone The aircraft’s seven pairs of spoilers, mounted atop its wings, act as air brakes and manage the rate of descent. “Spoiler malfunctions are rare but can occur, and they cause increased drag and fuel consumption,” Kenya Airways said. “Our pilots are trained to proficiently handle these scenarios safely, and air turnbacks are standard safety procedures.” It apologized to passengers and said it would help them secure another flight to New York City. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-flight-kenya-diverted-malfunctioning-flight-controls-rcna353077 Unsolved: United Airlines Grounds New Premium Boeing 787-9 Again After Suffering TCAS Issues United Airlines' newest Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner has been unable to catch a break, as just days after it returned from Moses Lake, it seems to be grounded again, and its transatlantic service from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) was canceled on Friday. The problem, as reported by aviation insider JonNYC, appears due to challenges with the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). Allegedly, the primary issue facing the new aircraft is that it has been 'plagued' by TCAS issues, with the collision avoidance system continuing to fail, forcing the plane to have both antennas replaced during its visit to Boeing. It is unclear whether the grounding on Friday was directly related to the TCAS issues. However, according to an Airliners.net thread highlighted by JonNYC, the aircraft was previously disclosed to be "plagued by TCAS issues" while it was back at Boeing, and it appeared to be the primary problem. "TCAS keeps failing. Both antennas were replaced at MWH and it failed again today at LHR," one person explained on the Airliners.net thread. Simple Flying reached out to United on Friday to verify the claims, but a representative could not be immediately reached. It is an unfortunate turn of events for the Chicago-based carrier, which had hotly anticipated the arrival of this Dreamliner, which is the first to be fitted with an elevated onboard interior, including the Flagship Polaris Studio Suite, and was first inaugurated on a flight to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), but was unable to complete its return leg after issues forced the flight to be canceled. Since then, the aircraft has had an on-again/off-again series of operations, during which the airline has been required to park or cancel flights at the last minute as these issues remain unresolved. On June 20, the plane was eventually ferried to the Boeing facility in Moses Lake, Washington, where it was hoped a thorough service would fix any outstanding issues. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The plane returned from Moses Lake on Tuesday, June 30, operated a domestic rotation to Houston, and then flew to London on July 2. The outbound service to London operated without major disruption, departing from San Francisco on Thursday at 7:54 PM and arriving in the UK 10 hours later at 1:55 PM. United had hoped for the return flight to operate as well; however, the 6:15 PM departure was canceled after issues with the TCAS system. These antennas have since been replaced; however, the aircraft at the time of writing remains on the apron at London Heathrow, with an expected departure now set for Saturday at 7:00 PM for a nonstop flight back to San Francisco. For now, it seems the beloved aircraft continues to face teething challenges as United works with Boeing after a series of maintenance issues since the airplane's arrival. United Airlines Wouldn’t Be A Major Boeing 787 Operator If It Weren’t For This Airline How the carrier became the biggest customer for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and why the 787 works so well. The new airplane features the next-generation Polaris Business Class and Polaris Studio suites, along with an elevated interior throughout. The plane itself was first delivered to United in February from Charleston, South Carolina; however, since then, it has been limping through regular operations. The jet itself has the largest number of premium seats of any aircraft in the United fleet and is fitted with Starlink connectivity for ultra-fast WiFi in the sky, some of the largest 4K OLED seatback screens in the industry, and a new Ossetra caviar amuse bouche service for Polaris passengers. This cabin configuration is an upgrade on the existing 787-9 layout, which has 48 Polaris Business Class, 21 Premium Plus, 39 Economy Plus, and 149 economy seats. While the latest issue with N61101 is yet another blow to the airplane's operational history, it is only to be expected that both Boeing and United will keep a close eye on this bird as the issues continue to unravel for what was supposed to be the jewel in United's crown. https://simpleflying.com/united-airlines-grounds-new-premium-boeing-787-9-again-suffering-tcas-issues/ Why the Learn-Do-Fly Training Standard Improves Pilot Safety General aviation flight training is failing at both ends of the pilot training pipeline. Upstream, most student pilots leave training before earning a private pilot certificate — with some estimates pegging the drop-out rate at 80%. Downstream, fatal inflight loss of control accidents continue to dominate other fatal accident categories. This is despite decades of warnings, regulatory updates, and well-intentioned interventions. The financial cost of preventable accidents is measured in billions of dollars each year. The human cost is borne by pilots, families, and communities. What’s behind this? The data points to a shared origin: Poor-quality and poorly structured instruction that rarely pushes pilots beyond rote procedures to correlation. Students quit when instruction is disorganized, indifferent, or narrowly focused on passing tests rather than creating aviators. Certificated pilots, unconvinced of the value of proficiency training, maintain the minimum currency required by regulation. They remain vulnerable to inadvertently losing control of their airplanes. So what’s the solution? Community Aviation and Master Instructor Rich Stowell say it’s the Learn-Do-Fly Training Standard. Offered free to the flight training community and students, the new training standard isn’t anything new. Built on nearly four decades of instruction, research, and field validation, the standard is designed to increase student pilot retention, push learning beyond rote memorization, and reduce inflight loss of control accidents. “We did not invent a new standard,” Stowell says. “Instead, we identified the standard that was always there, then built a system to deliver it.” The standard rests on three building blocks: Stowell’s Nine Principles of Light Airplane Flying, which supply the foundational “why” behind every maneuver and task. It is organized into Mindset, Motion, and Mechanics “from which all knowledge, maneuvers, and tasks derive,” he explains. Community Aviation’s Learn-Do-Fly framework, which starts with conceptual understanding, followed by structured practice in a flight sim or through chair flying, and then in-airplane training. The FAA’s rote, understanding, application, and correlation (RUAC) progression, which establishes the correlation level of learning as the explicit goal of training. The Learn-Do-Fly Training Standard is open, which means anyone can access it for free. Any pilot, instructor, or training provider can adopt its principles, framework, and vocabulary without licensing requirements. Community Aviation also offers voluntary certification pathways for organizations wanting to demonstrate that their programs have been independently verified as meeting the standard’s full requirements. For pilots, the standard restores their agency, according to Community Aviation officials. It offers them a roadmap to becoming and remaining aviators capable of solving in-flight problems. For instructors, it offers a principles-based, science-informed way to design lessons, debriefs, and entire syllabi that consistently push students toward correlation. For flight training organizations, it offers a coherent, evidence-backed model that can improve outcomes and contribute to reducing student attrition and loss of control accidents, Community Aviation officials said. For more information: CommunityAviation.com/Standard https://generalaviationnews.com/2026/07/05/learn-do-fly-pilot-safety/ NASA Goon Defied Federal Agency to Fly Jet in Trump’s Show PUSHING THE ENVELOPE Jared Isaacman defended the move after the FAA deemed the aircraft “very high risk.” Donald Trump’s top NASA goon flew his vintage fighter jet at the president’s Fourth of July air show at the capital despite safety concerns from federal officials. Jared Isaacman, Trump’s NASA administrator, flew a Northrop F-5 Tiger II jet, which was introduced in 1972, as part of the president’s Independence Day air show on Saturday, according to The Wall Street Journal. However, when the billionaire aviator tried to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration last month for NASA and Air Force pilots to fly four of the jets, his request was denied. In a June 30 decision signed by Hugh Thomas, the acting director of the agency’s flight standards service, the FAA deemed the aircraft “very high risk” due to issues with the jets’ flight controls and previous crashes, the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper reported. Issacman, 43, defended the F-5s in an interview with the Journal, noting their decades of service and the number of jets currently in operation. He also claimed that using the jets for the flyover was separate from the rules civilian aviators have to abide by, exempting government aircraft from the FAA’s jurisdiction. Military fighter jets, bombers and cargo aircraft were involved in the July Fourth air show on Saturday. “It never should have been a civil operation from the get go,” he told the Journal. The Daily Beast has reached out to NASA and the FAA for comment. When reached for comment, a Freedom250 spokesperson referred the Daily Beast to NASA. Transporation Secretary Sean Duffy, who oversees the FAA, approved the agency’s safety decision and didn’t intervene, the newspaper reported. Isaacman said that the agency’s administrator, Bryan Bedford, sent him a text wishing him well before the flyover. The NASA leader initially sought to have passengers on his Independence Day flight, and had invited Trump administration officials such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and senior Trump advisor Chris LaCivita on board, according to the Journal. However, people familiar with the matter told the outlet that their rides were canceled. Trump’s July Fourth festivities as part of his 16-day Great American State Fair faced a major setback on Saturday as attendees were forced to evacuate the National Mall due to severe weather. The president’s hyped up speech ahead of what he touted as the “world’s largest fireworks show in history” was postponed from its initial 9 p.m. start time to past 11 p.m., and Trump’s speech drew only a fraction of the crowd he had boasted he would have. https://www.thedailybeast.com/nasa-goon-jared-isaacman-defied-federal-aviation-administration-to-fly-jet-in-trumps-july-4-spectacle/ CALENDAR OF EVENTS . 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 . EAA AirVenture Oshkosh - July 20–26, 2026 . July 20-24, 2026 | Farnborough, UK - Farnborough Airshow 2026. . ICAO/EASA Third Global RSOO/RAIO Forum for Aviation Safety — September 29–30, 2026, in Georgetown, Guyana., https://www.icao.int/events : 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 . Global Aviation Conference Frankfurt- 29-30SEP2026 - Frankfurt, Germany . 79TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL AVIATION SAFETY SUMMIT MONTREAL | NOVEMBER 10-12, 2026. . 2026 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) Oct. 20-22, 2026 | Las Vegas, NV . 2027 ACSF Safety Symposium - April 6-8, 2027 - ERAU Daytona Beach, FL Curt Lewis