Flight Safety Information - September 28, 2026 No. 190 In This Issue : Incident: Lufthansa A321 near Lyon on Sep 26th 2026, power bank thermal runaway : Incident: United B739 near Jacksonville on Sep 25th 2026, engine issue : Incident: Lufthansa B744 near Manchester on Sep 26th 2026, burning odour on board : Incident: SAS A20N near Billund on Sep 25th 2026, smell of smoke in cabin : Crash: Tracep L410 at Kenge on Sep 25th 2026, crashed on landing : Incident: Argentinas A332 at Buenos Aires on Sep 24th 2026, engine compressor stalls : Incident: Delta A333 at Barcelona on Sep 25th 2026, engine compressor stall : The US Is Thousands of Air Traffic Controllers Short, and Officials Just Decided They Need Fewer Than They Thought : Boeing identifies new software issue in 737 Max jets : FAA Ends Single-Pilot Flying in Older Cessna Citation Jets : LAX leads air traffic control modernization push with new technology, overhauled hiring and training : A Broken Defibrillator Was Not Responsible for the Death of 14-Year-Old Boy On American Airlines Flight, Court Rules : Flight returns to Houston airport after windshield cracks shortly after takeoff : Lufthansa fleet approved for new bionic 'shark' skins : Calendar of Events Incident: Lufthansa A321 near Lyon on Sep 26th 2026, power bank thermal runaway A Lufthansa Airbus A321-200, registration D-AISB performing flight LH-1170 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Lisbon (Portugal) with 198 passengers and 6 crew, was enroute at FL350 about 70nm northeast of Lyon (France) when the crew decided to divert to Lyon. The aircraft landed safely on Lyon's runway 17L about 25 minutes later. The airline reported passenger's power bank overheated and caught fire in a seat. Cabin crew secured the device into a Lithium Safe Bag. The crew decided to divert to Lyon as a precaution. The passengers were taken to hotels and rebooked onto other flight the following day. The aircraft remained on the ground in Lyon for about 16 hours, then positioned back to Frankfurt. https://avherald.com/h?article=542004b7&opt=0 Incident: United B739 near Jacksonville on Sep 25th 2026, engine issue A United Boeing 737-900, registration N66831 performing flight UA-2746 from Orlando,FL to Washington Dulles,DC (USA) with 179 passengers and 6 crew, was climbing through FL240 out of Orlando when the crew decided to divert to Jacksonville due to a problem with one of the engines (CFM56). The aircraft landed safely on Jacksonville's runway 08 about 40 minutes after stopping the climb. The airline reported the aircraft landed safely in Jacksonville to address an issue with one engine. A replacement Boeing 737-900 registration N78448 reached Washington with a delay of about 4 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Jacksonville about 28 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=541ec295&opt=0 Incident: Lufthansa B744 near Manchester on Sep 26th 2026, burning odour on board A Lufthansa Boeing 747-400, registration D-ABVY performing flight LH-470 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Toronto,ON (Canada), was enroute at FL330 about 180nm northnorthwest of Manchester,EN (UK) when the crew decided to divert to Manchester due to a burning odour on board. The aircraft landed safely on Manchester's runway 23R about 30 minutes later. A passenger reported the lights in the lavatories as well as the inflight entertainment system stopped working and a burning odour was observed. Another passenger reported there was smoke in the cabin. The aircraft is still on the ground in Manchester about 2.5 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=541ebd84&opt=0 Incident: SAS A20N near Billund on Sep 25th 2026, smell of smoke in cabin A SAS Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A320-200N, registration EI-SCE performing flight SK-528 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Stockholm (Sweden), was enroute at FL390 about 60nm northwest of Billund (Denmark) when the crew decided to divert to Billund reporting the smell of smoke in the cabin. The aircraft landed safely on Billund's runway 27 about 20 minutes after leaving FL390. The remainder of the flight was cancelled, the passengers were bussed to Copenhagen and continued their journey to Stockholm on other flights. The airline reported the source of the smell of smoke in the cabin is unclear. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 14 hours, then positioned to Stockholm and resumed service. https://avherald.com/h?article=541eac25&opt=0 Crash: Tracep L410 at Kenge on Sep 25th 2026, crashed on landing A Tracep Let L-410, registration 9S-GUC performing a flight from Kikwit to Kinshasa N'Dolo (DR Congo) with 13 passengers and 4 crew, diverted to Kenge due to technical difficulties enroute but crashed at Kenge at about 14:05L (13:05Z) and burst into fire. All 17 occupants perished in the crash. The local Vice-Governor reported nobody on board survived, amongst them the president of the military high court and other military and civilian personnel. The Vice-Governor later added, that the aircraft was looking for a way to land but could not, they circled a few times and crashed in a plot with no men in the Manzaw area (near the former aerodrome). Although there is conflicting information in DR Congo about the operator of the aircraft, possibly Kin Avia or Tracep, papers found at the crash site including a passenger manifest and checklists clearly identify Tracep. DR Congo's BPEA reported the L-410, 9S-GUC, operated by Tracep Congo Aviation crashed and burned out in the city of Kenge. There were no survivors. Investigators have been dispatched to the crash site. On Sep 26th 2026 DR Congo's Ministry of Transport reported 13 passengers and 4 crew were killed in the accident near Kenge at about 14:00L on Sep 25th 2026. The Ministry ordered the Civil Aviation Authority to immediately suspend the Air Operator Certificate (AOC). According to satellite images the aerodrome of Kenge is no longer functional and resembles more of a building site. According to local information the airport was disused in 2023, new streets and houses were built on top of the former runway. This marks the second loss of a L-410 for the airline within roughly 2 months, see also Accident: Tracep L410 near Kitshanga/Walikale on Jul 24th 2026, engine failure, missing aircraft located. https://avherald.com/h?article=541d2a2b&opt=0 Incident: Argentinas A332 at Buenos Aires on Sep 24th 2026, engine compressor stalls An Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A330-200, registration LV-GHQ performing flight AR-1132 from Buenos Aires Ezeiza,BA (Argentina) to Madrid,SP (Spain), was climbing out of Ezeiza's runway 11 when the crew stopped the climb at FL050 due to the left hand engine (CF6) experiencing compressor stalls. The aircraft returned to Ezeiza for a safe landing on runway 11 about 25 minutes after departure. A replacement Airbus A330-200 registration LV-KHU is estimated to reach Madrid with a delay of about 4 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Buenos Aires about 14 hours after landing back. https://avherald.com/h?article=541d402f&opt=0 Incident: Delta A333 at Barcelona on Sep 25th 2026, engine compressor stall A Delta Airlines Airbus A330-300, registration N813NW performing flight DL-195 from Barcelona,SP (Spain) to Atlanta,GA (USA), was climbing out of Barcelona's runway 24R when the left hand engine emitted streaks of flames and bangs prompting the crew to stop the climb at 4000 feet. The aircraft entered a hold and positioned for a safe landing on runway 24R about 30 minutes after departure. The aircraft is still on the ground in Barcelona about 6.5 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=541d3a6b&opt=0 The US Is Thousands of Air Traffic Controllers Short, and Officials Just Decided They Need Fewer Than They Thought The FAA has lowered its target number of Certified Professional Controllers needed in the U.S. by roughly 2,000, despite already having a shortage of nearly 2,000 controllers. For more than a decade, the agency responsible for keeping American skies safe has openly admitted it does not have enough controllers to do the job at full strength. This year, instead of closing that gap, the FAA quietly lowered the target instead. In May, the agency released its 2026 to 2028 workforce plan, revising the number of Certified Professional Controllers it says the country needs down to 12,563, a reduction of roughly 2,000 from the 14,633 figure it had forecast just two years earlier. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said "modern staffing models and scheduling tools" would allow the agency to run safely with fewer people than previously believed necessary. How Bad the Shortage Actually Is The most recent detailed federal data, covering 2023, showed the country's control towers and approach facilities had 7,047 certified controllers on staff, nearly 2,000 short of the goal both the FAA and the controllers' union had agreed on. Only 23 of the FAA's 313 facilities nationwide met or exceeded their staffing target. Some of the country's busiest airspace has fared far worse than the national average. New York's Terminal Radar Approach Control facility, which manages traffic feeding into JFK, LaGuardia and Newark, was staffed at only 54 percent of target levels. Miami's tower sat at 66 percent, while towers in Philadelphia, Orlando, Austin, Albuquerque and Milwaukee were all below 60 percent. In Las Vegas, the radar approach facility had 37 controllers against a 2026 target of 46, with 10 more departures expected within three years through retirement and attrition. The Human Cost of Running Understaffed Understaffing does not just mean occasional delays. Congressional testimony has described controllers routinely working six-day weeks and ten-hour shifts for years at a time, and mandatory overtime has become a standard tool for filling schedule gaps rather than an occasional emergency measure. United Airlines has stated publicly that 68 percent of its 2024 delays on days with completely clear weather were tied directly to air traffic control staffing limits, not weather, mechanical issues or anything else within the airline's own control. The shortage has also become part of the national conversation on aviation safety following the January 2025 collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet near Reagan Washington National Airport, which killed 67 people, and a separate fatal runway collision at LaGuardia Airport in March 2026 that killed both pilots of an Air Canada Express flight. Investigators have not concluded that staffing shortages directly caused either incident, but both renewed scrutiny of how thin the system is stretched. The Plan to Fix It, and Why It Will Take Years The FAA says it intends to hire roughly 15,000 new controllers over the next decade, with 2,200 targeted this year, 2,300 in 2027 and 2,400 in 2028. The obstacle is time. Training a new controller to full certification typically takes two to three years, meaning today's hiring numbers will not meaningfully close the gap at the busiest facilities for several more years, regardless of how successful recruitment proves to be. What This Means When Booking a Flight Understaffed control facilities are one of the biggest hidden drivers of chronic, weather-independent delays, particularly around New York, South Florida and the Southwest. Favor morning departures over evening ones on routes through chronically understaffed hubs, since delays compound as controllers work through backlogs over the course of the day. Build in longer connection windows at New York, Miami, Austin and Las Vegas than the airline's minimum recommended time, especially during peak summer and holiday periods. Treat "no weather delay" schedules with some caution on routes through these specific facilities, since a clear sky is no guarantee of an on-time departure when the underlying cause is staffing rather than storms. https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/us-thousands-air-traffic-controllers-203200055.html Boeing identifies new software issue in 737 Max jets Boeing has identified a new software issue in its 737 Max aircraft that can leave pilots without automated flight guidance during a specific landing scenario. US aviation giant Boeing has identified a new software issue in its widely used 737 Max aircraft, the company said on Saturday. The problem can leave pilots without automated flight guidance during a specific landing scenario following an aborted landing attempt, the company said. Boeing said pilots are trained to handle such situations safely using existing procedures and that engineers are working on a software update to fix the issue permanently. It remains unclear how many of the more than 2,000 737 Max aircraft delivered so far are affected. The 737 Max is the model that plunged Boeing into the worst crisis in its history after two crashes in October 2018 and March 2019 killed 346 people. A key factor was an automated flight-control system designed to assist pilots but which could intervene too strongly under certain conditions. Boeing later had to suspend production of the 737 Max, which remains below previous levels. The aircraft has since faced further problems, including a January 2024 incident in which part of the fuselage of a nearly new 737 broke away during climb, raising fresh questions about Boeing's quality controls. https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/boeing-identifies-software-issue-737-054840812.html FAA Ends Single-Pilot Flying in Older Cessna Citation Jets For more than forty years, a Cessna Citation that legally needed two pilots could be flown by one, as long as the pilot held the right exemption and endorsement. That ends on 29 September. The FAA has announced that it will stop issuing single-pilot exemptions for the older, transport-category Citations and rescind the ones already out there. The agency's reasons are blunt. A compliance review found training providers cutting corners and examiners falsifying records. The accident data showed that the big legacy Citations, flown solo, crash at about twice the rate of Citations certified for one pilot. Two fatal accidents in 2025 sealed it. Quick Facts Action: FAA policy statement ending single-pilot exemptions for Part 25 Cessna Citation CE-500 series aircraft Announced: 25 September 2026 (Federal Register public inspection) Published / effective: Published 28 September 2026, effective 29 September 2026 Models affected: Citation and Citation I (500), Citation II (550), S/II (S550), Model 552 (Navy T-47A), Citation V and Ultra (560), Bravo (550), Encore and Encore+ (560) Not affected: Citations certified for single-pilot operation, including the Part 23 CE-501, CE-551, Mustang (510) and CitationJet family (525) First exemption: 1984, Exemption No. 4050, issued to Cessna Compliance review: 13 of 14 Part 61 exemption holders were denied an extension or had their exemption rescinded What the FAA Found The legacy Citation family is an unusual case. Some variants, the CE-501 and CE-551, are certified under Part 23 and can be flown by one pilot if suitably equipped. Their bigger siblings, the CE-500, CE-550 and CE-560, are certified under Part 25 as transport-category aircraft and legally require two pilots. Since 1984 the FAA has been granting exemptions so owners could fly them solo anyway. Over time the FAA also began granting exemptions to training providers, which trained, checked and endorsed pilots for single-pilot operation. According to the FAA's notice, a review that began in 2024 found incomplete records, required training done in an advanced aviation training device against the exemption's conditions, and improper checks by designated pilot examiners, including falsified records. Thirteen of the 14 Part 61 exemption holders were denied an extension or had their exemption rescinded. The FAA also terminated the designee authority of examiners involved in falsification. Then there is the safety data. Reviewing 18 years of CE-500 series accidents, the FAA found that Part 25 aircraft flown by a single pilot were involved in approximately twice the rate of accidents as the Part 23 CE-500, 510 and 525 aircraft flown solo. That undercuts the basic requirement for an exemption: that it keeps an equivalent level of safety. Two Crashes in Seven Months The notice names two accidents. On 22 May 2025, a Citation crashed in San Diego's Murphy Canyon neighbourhood, killing six on board and injuring eight people on the ground. It was a single-pilot operation, and the FAA says the pilot had received an improper check six months earlier from an examiner employed by a Part 61 exemption holder. On 18 December 2025, a Citation crashed at Statesville, North Carolina, killing seven, including former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family. The FAA says the aircraft was flown without a qualified second-in-command on board. Both accidents are still under investigation, and the NTSB has not yet determined a probable cause for either. What the exemption allowed: a Citation V climbing to FL450 flown by a single pilot under an FAA exemption, filmed by the YouTube channel Capt. Guido. From 29 September, this flight would need a second qualified pilot. Owners Are Not Happy The industry reaction was quick. The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and the Citation Jet Pilots association (CJP) accepted the FAA's right to act on safety, but objected to how it was done. “NBAA supports the FAA’s responsibility to examine safety concerns and to take appropriate action as supported by the evidence. At the same time, the FAA’s decision to rescind these exemptions in full, effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register and without direct notice to affected operators, raises serious questions.” Heidi Williams — Senior Vice President, Operations, National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) According to NBAA, CJP has filed Freedom of Information Act requests to get the analysis behind the decision. For owners the practical effect is immediate: pilots who hold single-pilot endorsements from these training providers must stop flying solo in aircraft that require two pilots and carry a qualified second-in-command instead. For owner-pilots who flew these jets alone, that means finding and paying a second pilot for every flight. Citations certified for single-pilot operation, from the Mustang to the CitationJet family, are not affected. The FAA's point is narrower: if an aircraft was certified for two pilots, the exemption system meant to let one pilot fly it safely has, by the agency's own account, stopped working. Sources: Federal Register (FR Doc. 2026-19843), NBAA, AIN, AvBrief, Wikipedia (2025 San Diego and North Carolina Cessna Citation II crashes) Frequently Asked Questions Why did the FAA end single-pilot exemptions for Cessna Citations? The FAA cited widespread non-compliance by exemption holders, including incomplete records, training in devices not permitted and falsified checks, and accident data showing that Part 25 Citation CE-500 series jets flown by one pilot crash at about twice the rate of Citations certified for single-pilot operation. https://migflug.com/afterburner/faa-cessna-citation-single-pilot-exemptions-rescinded-2026/ LAX leads air traffic control modernization push with new technology, overhauled hiring and training A nationwide overhaul of aging air traffic control infrastructure is underway, with LAX helping lead efforts to introduce new technology, train controllers more efficiently and improve aviation safety. A nationwide overhaul of aging air traffic control infrastructure is underway, with Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) helping lead efforts to introduce new technology, train controllers more efficiently and improve aviation safety. The modernization follows several incidents that have highlighted concerns about aviation communication systems. In January 2025, an Army helicopter collided with a passenger jet, killing 67 people. It is believed that the helicopter pilot might not have heard a key directive. In August, Marine One, carrying President Donald Trump, came within 1 mile of a passenger jet because of communication failures linked to White House construction. "What we essentially want to do is transform our air control system," said Chris Rocheleau, a former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator. The FAA has been trying to upgrade its systems for years. Last year, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy received a $12.5 billion down payment to modernize the nation's aging air traffic control infrastructure. The plan includes replacing telecommunications equipment with fiber or satellite technology and installing new radios. The upgrades will apply to more than 4,500 sites. "What we really want to get to, though, is making sure that we have this infrastructure in place. We're also building on that in the future, using software tools to make the transit between two locations for the flying public even more efficient," Rocheleau said. Sherry Avery, the air traffic manager at LAX, said the upgrades could make air traffic operations safer and more efficient. "There's never a bad time to get new technology, because, when you say, 'It makes it safer and more efficient,' bring it on," Avery said. The FAA also adopted a more efficient hiring process amid the need for thousands of new air traffic controllers, allowing the agency to surpass its hiring goals. At LAX, a high-tech air traffic control simulator has decreased training time by 30%. Trainees can use the simulator while also gaining experience in the airport's control tower. "While people are in the simulator here, they also have been working upstairs, so they know exactly when they come down here, 'Oh yeah, that is this.' They can acclimate one to the other, so it's just very handy. Here you get to practice, which is just invaluable," Avery said. The LAX simulator uses equipment that will soon be available at other airports across the country. LAX is also among the first airport control towers to go digital. Controllers there no longer use paper strips to track flights, allowing them to spend more time watching air traffic. "It was a lot of moving around where you couldn't keep your eyes on your traffic compared to this. This, you just look at the screen," Avery said. "If you want to change somebody's flight strip to the controller across, you just push the button, and it transfers electronically, so that controller over there now sees that flight on his. It's just amazing." The nationwide infrastructure overhaul will take several years to complete. Officials say the new technology will also be critical to retaining the thousands of new controllers tasked with helping keep air travel safe. "One of those areas that we focus heavily on is not just the recruitment, not just the training, but the retaining of these employees. And so some of that has to do with digital tools. I like to tell people, 'You can't bring 21st-century talent into a 20th-century system,'" Rocheleau said. Avery said making controllers' jobs easier gives them more time to monitor aircraft and ensure that flights have accurate information. "The easier you make the job for the controller, the safer the system is, the more efficient the system is, and the more we have time to watch your airplane and make sure it's going the right way and has all the right information in here, so that there... that's all good," Avery said. https://abc7.com/post/los-angeles-international-airport-leads-air-traffic-control-modernization-push-new-technology-overhauled-hiring-training/19872754/ A Broken Defibrillator Was Not Responsible for the Death of 14-Year-Old Boy On American Airlines Flight, Court Rules Acourt has ruled that a broken automated external defibrillator (AED) was not responsible for the death of a 14-year-old boy on an American Airlines flight, and, as such, his family is unable to sue the carrier for at least $215,000. The case dates back to June 4, 2022, when Kevin Greenidge was traveling with family members on American Airlines flight AA-614 from San Pedro Sula in Honduras to Miami. Kevin Greenidge died before the aircraft could make an emergency diversion to Cancun, Mexico. Kevin weighed 319 pounds, was classified as obese, and also suffered from asthma, high blood pressure, Type II diabetes, and sleep apnea. Following a multi-hour weather delay, Kevin began struggling to breathe just as the plane eventually took off. Kevin’s aunt passed him an asthma inhaler to ease his symptoms, but his breathing only worsened. As the plane reached cruising altitude, he fell unconscious from an apparent heart attack. Due to Kevin’s weight, his uncle struggled to move him from the window seat he had been sitting in as he screamed for help. Eventually, passengers and family members got Kevin to the back of the aircraft, where an off-duty registered nurse and a surgical resident who just happened to be passengers on the flight jumped in to begin CPR. Flight attendants brought the plane’s AED, and the pads were attached to Kevin’s chest. The AED initially detected asystole, meaning no electrical activity in the heart, which a shock cannot treat. The off-duty medical professionals continued CPR on Kevin with the pads still attached to his chest. Every couple of minutes, the AED would run another check to determine whether there was an electrical signal in Kevin’s heart that was shockable. After eight minutes of CPR, the defibrillator detected a shockable heart rhythm. A flight attendant pressed the ‘SHOCK’ button, but while the AED’s logs registered delivering a shock, eyewitnesses claim they never actually saw a shock delivered. The family sued American Airlines under the provisions of Article 17 of the Montreal Convention, which makes airlines responsible for death or injury to a passenger as a result of an accident which caused the death or injury. At the heart of the lawsuit was whether (a) the flight attendant’s alleged botched response to the medical emergency and (b) the broken AED not only constituted an accident, but whether that accident was the cause of Kevin’s tragic passing. Last year, a district ruled that the flight attendant’s response could not be classed as an accident under the Montreal Convention because while there was “little doubt that the American Airlines crew could have done more to aid Kevin,” the judge added that “there is rarely, if ever, a perfect response to a medical emergency.” The ruling was upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, although the court declined to affirm a judgment on whether the broken AED could be classed as an accident. The case went back to the district court in Texas, where US District Judge Mark T. Pittman has just published his memorandum opinion on the case. Judge Pittman concluded that the issue of the broken AED had to prove two points under Article 17: First, whether it was an accident And second, whether that accident was the cause of Kevin’s death Kevin’s family had relied upon expert testimony of Dr. Corwin Warmink, a highly experienced pediatrician who has dealt with many child cardiac arrest cases. Dr Warmink testified that Kevin would likely have survived if the AED on board American Airlines flight 614 had worked. Judge Pittman, however, ruled that the studies that Dr Warmink relied upon to make this assessment came to a different conclusion. Dr Warmink was using data on the chances of a child in cardiac arrest still being alive at the point of hospital admission after successful defibrillation. But the same studies showed that the chances of leaving hospital alive were considerably lower. For someone like Kevin, with his medical history, and the fact that the AED initially couldn’t detect a shockable heart rhythm, the chances of leaving hospital alive was less than 25%. “The question is not whether Kevin would have reached a hospital alive. It is whether a shock would have made his death unlikely,” Judge Pittman wrote. “It would be easy to read this opinion as holding that an airline need not keep a working defibrillator on an international flight. On that reading, the Montreal Convention forgives a faulty machine whenever the passenger was likely to die anyway. That would be a bad rule. It is not the rule of this case,” the opinion order added. “The FAA may penalize a carrier that flies without working equipment, and it need not prove that the lapse killed anyone. But a plaintiff seeking damages for death must.” “Article 17 makes carriers pay for the harm their accidents cause, largely without regard to fault. It does not make them pay for harm their accidents did not cause.” https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2026/09/27/a-broken-defibrillator-was-not-responsible-for-the-death-of-14-year-old-boy-on-american-airlines-flight-court-rules/ Flight returns to Houston airport after windshield cracks shortly after takeoff A Mesa Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency return to Houston Sunday after the windshield glass shattered shortly after takeoff, according to the airline and air traffic control recordings. Passengers and crew of the El Paso-bound flight, operating on behalf of United Airlines, landed safely back in George Bush Intercontinental Airport around 1 p.m., Mesa Airlines said. No injuries were reported, officials told CNN affiliate KTRK. “The first officer’s windshield shattered shortly after takeoff and while there was no depressurization, standard procedure in such cases are to return to field,” a Mesa Airlines spokesperson told CNN. Air traffic control audio indicated that pressurization was not lost after the windshield shattered, KTRK reported. The flight had originally departed George Bush Intercontinental Airport around 12:20 p.m., traveling northwest, before it was forced to turn around, according to flight tracking site Flightradar24. The Houston Fire Department responded to the incident and later declared the aircraft safe, the airport told CNN in a statement. CNN has reached out to United Airlines, the Houston Fire Department, FAA and NTSB for comment. https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/28/us/mesa-airlines-flight-windshield-crack-hnk Lufthansa fleet approved for new bionic 'shark' skins Lufthansa Technik has received approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to install its AeroSHARK bionic skin on an Airbus A330-300 Discover airliner so it can fly as efficiently as a shark swims. Aeronautical engineering is a constant battle against an aircraft's greatest enemy: drag. Though an airliner's aluminum-alloy hull may seem unnaturally smooth to the touch, it is surprisingly rough on a microscopic level. A thin layer of air sticks to the hull as the plane pushes through the atmosphere at 480 knots (552 mph, 890 km/h). However, there is a tiny gap about a millimeter thick between the surface and this layer of air. Called the viscous sub-layer, it is a chaotic swarm of vortices and generally jumbled air. AeroSHARK is a polymer film The result of this thin layer of turbulence is skin-friction drag. It makes up about 50% of total aerodynamic drag, with a corresponding reduction in performance and flight efficiency. Obviously, if this turbulence could be reduced, efficiency could greatly increase. That is where sharks come in. Just as aircraft don't have as smooth a skin as one would like, the same is true of sharks. Their scaly skins are very rough – as anyone who'd had the bad luck to be scraped by a shark can tell you. The thing is, these tiny, toothlike scales are what ichthyologists call dermal denticles. That is, they are toothlike scales that have microscopic, raised, parallel ridges. AeroSHARK is applied like decals to the airframe Running along the length of the shark's body, these denticles do something rather clever. As the water flows over the shark, micro-vortices form, just as they do on an aircraft's skin. In the shark's case, the ridges hold the vortices away from the skin. This suppresses the turbulence, so the shark can swim quickly and smoothly. AeroSHARK achieves a similar effect by emulating nature's design. It's an artificial polymer film with 50-micrometer grooves embossed in it to replicate the geometry, height, and spacing of shark denticle ridges. Long story short, the company claims a one percent reduction in fuel and emissions per flight, with up to 2% when the skin is also applied to the wings and empennage. The EASA approval doesn't mark the first time that AeroSHARK has been installed on commercial aircraft. It's already been tried out on 22 aircraft in Lufthansa Group's own Boeing 777 fleet, where it is reported to have saved up to 19 tonnes of fuel per day. However, it does mark the point where the technology can now be applied to a whole new family of aircraft, suggesting a greater role for the denticle-inspired surfaces in the future. "AeroSHARK is an excellent example of how innovations from the Lufthansa Group can make concrete contributions to greater efficiency and lower emissions," said Grazia Vittadini, Chief Technology Officer, Lufthansa Group. "With the planned certification for the Airbus A330ceo, we are tapping into the potential of another significant portion of the global long-haul fleet. The innovation alliance between Lufthansa Technik, Discover Airlines, and Mastercard demonstrates once again how strong partners can drive progress together." https://newatlas.com/aircraft/lufthansa-bionic-shark-skins/ CALENDAR OF EVENTS . ICAO/EASA Third Global RSOO/RAIO Forum for Aviation Safety — September 29–30, 2026, in Georgetown, Guyana., https://www.icao.int/events . ISASI - BOSTON 2026 - September 28, 2026 – October 2, 2026 . Global Aviation Conference Frankfurt- 29-30SEP2026 - Frankfurt, Germany . Defence Aviation Safety Conference 2026 — October 5–6, 2026, United Kingdom. . European Aviation Training Summit 3 – 5 November 2026 • Estoril Congress Centre, Cascais, Portugal . 79TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL AVIATION SAFETY SUMMIT MONTREAL | NOVEMBER 10-12, 2026. . Airlines 2026 conference - November 11, 2026 (London) . 2026 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) Oct. 20-22, 2026 | Las Vegas, NV . Gulf Flight Safety Association (GFSA)conference Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the 28th and 29th of October 2026 . Bombardier Safety Standdown (November 10–12, 2026 in Wichita, KS) . Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection, and Investigation17 to 19 November 2026, Woburn MA . 2027 ACSF Safety Symposium - April 6-8, 2027 - ERAU Daytona Beach, FL Curt Lewis