Flight Safety Information - December 1, 2025 No. 238 In This Issue : Incident: Endeavor CRJ9 at Des Moines on Nov 29th 2025, runway excursion on turnoff : Accident: Cathay Pacific A35K at Hong Kong on Nov 26th 2025, tail strike during go around : Incident: KLM Cityhopper E190 at Amsterdam on Nov 28th 2025, unusual odour on board : Incident: Delta A359 near Tokyo on Nov 28th 2025, hydraulic problems : Incident: Delta A333 near Dallas on Nov 28th 2025, floor panel heater issue : US fears cover-up in Air India crash : Delta, American Airlines Respond to 'Urgent' Safety Concern : Airlines race to fix Airbus planes after warning solar radiation could cause pilots to lose control : Upset Traveler Caught on Camera Cursing at Flight Attendant After Plane Delay: ‘Woman Just Loses It and Starts Screaming’ : Airbus says most of its recalled 6,000 A320 jets are now modified : UPRTA International to Host “2025 UPRT Safety Summit for Pilots Worldwide” : 2025 Became a Reckoning Year for Air Safety : Calendar of Event Incident: Endeavor CRJ9 at Des Moines on Nov 29th 2025, runway excursion on turnoff An Endeavor Canadair CRJ-900 on behalf of Delta Airlines, registration N298PQ performing flight DL-5087 from Detroit,MI to Des Moines,IA (USA) with 52 people on board, landed on Des Moines' runway 31 at 21:29L (03:29Z Nov 30th) and slowed to taxi speed (11 knots over ground), but when trying to turn off at the last exit the aircraft skidded straight off the paved surface. There were no injuries. The aircraft is still on the ground in Des Moines about 7 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=53065d9f&opt=0 Accident: Cathay Pacific A35K at Hong Kong on Nov 26th 2025, tail strike during go around A Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-1000, registration B-LXO performing flight CX-764 from Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) to Hong Kong (China), was landing on Hong Kong's runway 07C when the aircraft began to veer towards the left edge of the runway, the crew initiated a balked landing, however, the tail of the aircraft contacted the runway. The aircraft climbed out to safety at 6000 feet and positioned for another approach to runway 07C for a landing without further incident. The aircraft is still on the ground in Hong Kong 3 days and 7 hours later. https://avherald.com/h?article=530603f8&opt=0 Incident: KLM Cityhopper E190 at Amsterdam on Nov 28th 2025, unusual odour on board A KLM Cityhopper Embraer ERJ-190 (operated by German Airways), registration D-AZFA performing flight KL-1831 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Stuttgart (Germany), was climbing out of Amsterdam's runway 18L when the crew stopped the climb at FL100 reporting an unusual smell on board. The aircraft returned to Amsterdam for a safe landing on runway 18C about 16 minutes after departure. The flight was cancelled. https://avherald.com/h?article=530600ce&opt=0 Incident: Delta A359 near Tokyo on Nov 28th 2025, hydraulic problems A Delta Airlines Airbus A350-900, registration N512DN performing flight DL-388 from Shanghai (China) to Detroit,MI (USA) with 254 people on board, was enroute at FL330 about 140nm southwest of Tokyo (Japan) when the crew decided to divert to Tokyo Haneda due to hydraulic problems. The aircraft landed safely on Haneda's runway 34R about 30 minutes later and stopped on the runway. Japan's Ministry of Transport reported the crew declared emergency due to a hydraulic system problem. The runway was closed for some time after landing. The aircraft was towed off the runway about 30 minutes after landing. The remainder of the flight was cancelled. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 27 hours and is currently positioning to Seattle,WA (USA). https://avherald.com/h?article=5305ff04&opt=0 Incident: Delta A333 near Dallas on Nov 28th 2025, floor panel heater issue A Delta Airlines Airbus A330-300, registration N820NW performing flight DL-837 from Atlanta,GA to Honolulu,HI (USA), was enroute at FL340 about 160nm northnortheast of Dallas Ft. Worth,TX (USA) when the crew decided to divert to Dallas due to a smoke indication and landed safely on Ft. Worth's runway 17C about 30 minutes later. The airline reported a potential floor panel heater unit issue as reason for the diversion. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 3 hours, then continued the flight and reached Honolulu with a delay of about 3 hours. https://avherald.com/h?article=5305fd58&opt=0 US fears cover-up in Air India crash US officials fear Indian authorities are trying to cover up the deadly Air India plane crash, which killed 260 people. Just one passenger survived when Flight 171 crashed seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad in western India in June, killing 241 travellers and crew, along with 19 people on the ground. US investigators believe the evidence points to Sumeet Sabharwal, the flight’s captain, deliberately crashing the plane, The Wall Street Journal reported. Data downloaded from the Boeing Dreamliner’s black box allegedly shows someone inside the cockpit moved the switches to cut off the engine’s fuel supply. The captain did not then attempt to raise the nose of the aircraft before the crash, the evidence reportedly shows. Some US officials fear the Indian government will seek to obstruct the findings and instead blame mechanical faults with the plane. However, Indian observers believe the US is overlooking flaws in American-made planes, although no Boeing Dreamliner has ever suffered a fatal crash before. India’s top court this month said Sabharwal was not to blame for the disaster. Sabharwal’s father has said his son has been the target of a “character assassination” despite his “unblemished 30-year career” as a pilot. The joint investigation between India and the US, which is involved because the Boeing was manufactured in the US and approved by American safety regulators, has been marred by mutual suspicion between officials. GVG Yugandhar, who leads India’s aircraft accident investigation bureau, is said to have told US officials they were “not a third world country” and “can do anything you all can do”. Indian authorities are accused of failing to prioritise gathering and analysing data from the black box, although this has been disputed by a figure familiar with India’s investigation process. American investigators were banned from taking photos of the wreckage, some of which was moved before they could examine it, sources said. Two American black-box specialists who landed in New Delhi in June were warned not to accompany Indian authorities to a remote laboratory to analyse flight data and voice recorders from the cockpit. Jennifer Homendy, the chairman of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), is said to have been worried about the safety of US personnel and equipment given the risk of terrorism or military conflict in the region. Indian officials had pushed to analyse the black box in the small town of Korwa, which they deemed better equipped and located away from media attention. Ms Homendy argued that authorities should download data from either their laboratory in New Delhi or work in the NTSB’s Washington facilities. In the end, Indian authorities agreed to analyse the data from the New Delhi site after the US threatened to pull their support from the investigation. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/us-fears-cover-air-india-214903387.html Delta, American Airlines Respond to 'Urgent' Safety Concern Delta and American Airlines are among the major air carriers that are responding to an "urgent" safety update relating to Airbus planes after an airplane experienced a "pitch down" event. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued the "emergency airworthiness directive" on November 28. The directive is active as of November 29. The agency warned of a possible "worst-case scenario" if the airlines don't modify or replace flight control software. "An Airbus A320 aeroplane recently experienced an uncommanded and limited pitch down event," the directive says. "The autopilot remained engaged throughout the event, with a brief and limited loss of altitude, and the rest of the flight was uneventful." Reuters reported that the issue involved "a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, on Oct. 30." Several people were injured. The Airbus software issue could lead to "widespread global disruption," Reuters reported. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/delta-american-airlines-respond-urgent-234710676.html Airlines race to fix Airbus planes after warning solar radiation could cause pilots to lose control Airlines around the world are racing to avoid widespread cancellations by fixing thousands of Airbus aircraft that need immediate maintenance to protect from a problem that injured passengers and caused an emergency landing last month. Plane manufacturer Airbus found intense solar storms, like solar flares, could cause pilots to lose control of the Airbus A320 series of planes, including A319, A320, and A321s. About 6,000 of the single-aisle planes, which are the bestselling passenger aircraft in the world, need the repairs, but disruption so far has been minimal. “Analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls,” Airbus said in a statement. On October 30, JetBlue Flight 1230 — an A320 — was flying from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, when it suddenly dove down in altitude. The pilots made an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida, where about 15 people were taken to a hospital. Airbus investigated the incident and on Friday told airlines in an “Alert Operators Transmission” that the fix was needed. The company believes it is the only time this specific problem has happened, but says it “proactively worked with aviation authorities … keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority.” Most planes can be repaired in about two hours by simply reverting to the previous software, Airbus told CNN on Saturday, meaning that disruption seems relatively limited despite it being one of the busiest travel weekends for Americans celebrating Thanksgiving. However, for about 900 of the older aircraft affected, the fix is more complicated since they will need to have new hardware manually installed. The Airbus A320 series has what’s called fly-by-wire controls: physical movements from the pilot run through computers which, in turn, adjust the plane’s control surfaces. An airworthiness directive from the European Union requires airlines to make the repairs before the planes can carry passengers again. The airlines’ scrambled repairs seemed to avoid any widespread disruption by Saturday morning. Arrivals boards at major airport hubs like Dallas Fort Worth, Dubai, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Tokyo Haneda and London Heathrow indicated that most flights were running on time, or with short delays. American Airlines had completed all except four of the 209 aircraft that needed to be updated by Saturday morning, less than the 340 it had earlier predicted, according to a statement from the airline. American initially warned of “some delays” as a result of the work, but it said on Saturday it expected no further operational impact. It hopes to have all of the repairs made by Sunday. Delta Air Lines said fewer than 50 of its A321neo aircraft will be impacted and the work should be complete by Saturday morning. “As safety comes before everything else, Delta will fully comply with a directive and expects any resulting operational impact to be limited,” the airline said in a statement. Six planes in United Airlines’ fleet are affected and there will be “minor disruption to a few flights,” the carrier said. JetBlue, which operates a fleet mostly made up of A320 and A321 aircraft, did not say how many of their planes needed to be fixed, but told CNN in a statement it has already started repairs. “Our teams are doing everything possible to minimize disruptions to customers as this work is completed,” JetBlue said. “We will notify customers of any flight changes and customers can always check their flight status on jetblue.com or on the JetBlue app.” Meanwhile, in the Asia-Pacific region, Jetstar Airways Australia and Air New Zealand have also taken precautionary measures. IndiGo and Air India Express are expecting to complete the fix on their aircraft by Saturday, Reuters reported. Thirty-four of Jetstar’s 85 Airbus A320s are affected by the issue, the airline said. Around 90 flights have been canceled overall, affecting thousands of passengers, and further disruptions are expected through Sunday, chief pilot Tyrone Simes told reporters at Melbourne Airport. Airbus and the European Aviation Safety Authority have told airlines to reverse the upgrade before letting affected planes fly again, Simes said. In Europe, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus, Wizz Air, EasyJet and British Airways all said some of their aircraft were affected but downplayed the effect of that on their operations. Meanwhile, the papal plane — known as “Shepherd One” — was also affected by the issue, though the Vatican said the necessary updates were carried out Saturday afternoon, so Pope Leo’s trip to Turkey and Lebanon will proceed with the same plane. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/thousands-passenger-planes-fixed-avoid-211001302.html Upset Traveler Caught on Camera Cursing at Flight Attendant After Plane Delay: ‘Woman Just Loses It and Starts Screaming’ “The crew then had the biggest guys on the plane sit next to her just in case she got physical,” said a witness, who shared a clip from her perspective on TikTok A video showing a woman getting upset and cursing at a flight attendant on a delayed flight has gone viral on TikTok "This woman went absolutely nuts and we had to return back to the gate to remove her," a TikTok user on the flight said In a follow-up video, the TikToker explained what happened A viral TikTok shows an upset traveler cursing at a flight attendant after boarding a plane that allegedly sat on the tarmac for more than an hour. TikTok user @haleyrose99, a fellow passenger on the flight at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, shared the video on Nov. 10 — and it has since accumulated nearly 500,000 views as of Nov. 30. "This woman went absolutely nuts and we had to return back to the gate to remove her," she wrote in the caption. The video began with two cooperative passengers quietly being escorted from their seats and down the aisle. The third woman in the row then stood up and a flight attendant blocked her from leaving the area. "I’m getting up. I’m allowed to stand up. When you keep us on the tarmac for an hour, I’m allowed to stand up,” the woman said to the flight attendant, before continuing her response with curse words. “Really not a problem for me to want to f------ stand. F------ c----." The traveler was shown looking to the side and seeing the person recording her from another row. She stared at the camera for a moment, and then looked away and shook her head. Newark International Airport did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Nov. 30. The TikToker also shared an update to explain what else happened. She said the plane was headed to Charleston, S.C., on Nov. 9, describing the incident as "truly one of the wildest traveling experiences I’ve ever had." She claimed the flight was delayed for three hours, and then after boarding, the plane was held on the tarmac for about an hour and a half. The passengers were then allegedly told that the plane was "number 30 in line and we have another hour and a half wait." "So at this point, everyone’s just over it. You can feel the collective exhaustion. And then this woman just loses it and starts screaming the c-word over and over and over again. And everyone goes silent," she said. The TikTok user said another woman tried to calm the upset traveler down, but it did not work. The upset passenger "started spiraling" when the two women next to her were moved out of the row, according to the TikToker. "The crew then had the biggest guys on the plane sit next to her just in case she got physical. And once we returned to the gate, she was escorted off. She put her sunglasses on and started going, ‘Thank god,’ ” she recalled. "The flight attendants were actually angels. Everybody stayed calm," she added. A plane on a tarmac (stock image) Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are many reasons for flight delays, such as bad weather and mechanical issues. Delays considered controllable by the airline include maintenance or crew problems, cabin cleaning, baggage loading and fueling. A pilot told PEOPLE in November that passengers getting up when a plane gets delayed at a gate can cause even more delays, even if they’re just going to the bathroom. "When that happens, we're up in the front trying to get clearance to push back to start getting things going," Republic Airways pilot Rob Donnelly said. "But whenever a passenger gets up to use the bathroom, we are not supposed to move the plane." https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/upset-traveler-caught-camera-cursing-230100146.html Airbus says most of its recalled 6,000 A320 jets are now modified Dozens of airlines said they had carried out a snap software retrofit ordered by Airbus after a vulnerability to solar flares emerged. Worldwide mandatory jet repair threatens to disrupt holiday travel PARIS — Airbus fleets were returning towards normal operations on Monday after the European planemaker pushed through abrupt software changes faster than expected, as it wrestled with safety headlines long focused on rival Boeing. Dozens of airlines from Asia to the United States said they had carried out a snap software retrofit ordered by Airbus, and mandated by global regulators, after a vulnerability to solar flares emerged in a recent mid-air incident on a JetBlue A320. Airbus said on Monday that the vast majority of around 6,000 of its A320-family fleet affected by the safety alert had been modified, with fewer than 100 jets still requiring work. Sources familiar with the matter said the unprecedented decision to recall about half the A320-family fleet was taken shortly after the possible but unproven link to a drop in altitude on the JetBlue jet emerged late last week. Following talks with regulators, Airbus issued its 8-page alert to hundreds of operators on Friday, effectively ordering a temporary grounding by ordering the repair before next flight. “The thing hit us about 9 p.m. [Jeddah time] and I was back in here about 9:30. I was actually quite surprised how quickly we got through it: there are always complexities,” said Steven Greenway, CEO of Saudi budget carrier Flyadeal. The instruction was seen as the broadest emergency recall in the company’s history and raised immediate concerns of travel disruption particularly during the busy U.S. Thanksgiving weekend. The sweeping warning exposed the fact that Airbus does not have full real-time awareness of which software version is used given reporting lags, industry sources said. At first airlines struggled to gauge the impact since the blanket alert lacked affected jets’ serial numbers. A Finnair passenger said a flight was delayed on the tarmac for checks. Over 24 hours, engineers zeroed in on individual jets. Several airlines revised down estimates of the number of jets impacted and time needed for the work, which Airbus initially pegged at three hours per plane. “It has come down a lot,” an industry source said on Sunday, referring to the overall number of aircraft affected. The fix involved reverting to an earlier version of software that handles the nose angle. It involves uploading the previous version via a cable from a device called a data loader, which is carried into the cockpit to prevent cyberattacks. At least one major airline faced delays because it lacked enough data loaders to handle dozens of jets in such a short time, according to an executive speaking privately. UK’s easyJet and Wizz Air said on Monday they had completed the updates over the weekend without cancelling any flights. JetBlue said late Sunday it expected to have completed work to return to service 137 of 150 impacted aircraft by Monday and plans to cancel approximately 20 flights for Monday due to the issue. Questions remain over a subset of generally older A320-family jets that will need a new computer rather than a mere software reset. The number of those involved has been reduced below initial estimates of 1,000, industry sources said. Industry executives said the weekend furore highlighted changes in the industry’s playbook since the Boeing 737 MAX crisis, in which the U.S. planemaker was heavily criticised over its handling of fatal crashes blamed on a software design error. It is the first time Airbus has had to deal with global safety attention on such a scale since that crisis. CEO Guillaume Faury publicly apologized in a deliberate shift of tone for an industry beset by lawsuits and conservative public relations. Boeing has also declared itself more open. “Is Airbus acting with the Boeing MAX crisis in mind? Absolutely — every company in the aviation sector is,” said Ronn Torossian, chairman of New York-based 5W Public Relations. “Boeing paid the reputational price for hesitation and opacity. Airbus clearly wants to show...a willingness to say, ‘We could have done better.’ That resonates with regulators, customers, and the flying public.” https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/airbus-says-recalled-6000-a320-jets-are-now-modified-rcna246716 UPRTA International to Host “2025 UPRT Safety Summit for Pilots Worldwide” Aviation leaders unite to eliminate the Loss of Control In-Flight threat The Upset Prevention and Recovery Training Association, International (UPRTA International), is proud to announce its annual UPRT Safety Summit for Pilots Worldwide, taking place December 17, 2025. This single-day virtual event will feature leading experts from across the aviation industry to present and share best practices, new strategies, and the association’s strategic plan to save lives by eliminating the Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) threat. LOC-I: Aviation’s Most Persistent Killer Loss of Control In-Flight remains the leading cause of fatalities across all segments of aviation, a tragic reality that has persisted for over a decade. • According to Boeing’s annual statistical summary, LOC-I tops the list of fatal airline accidents worldwide. • In the past decade alone, LOC-I accidents involving airliners have claimed 428 lives. • AOPA’s Air Safety Institute reports that 40% of general aviation accidents are attributed to LOC-I. • In general aviation, a fatal LOC-I accident occurs once every four days. To confront this global safety challenge, the aviation community has developed Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) programs—a proven strategy that strengthens pilots’ manual flying skills and equips them to recover safely from unexpected in-flight upset events. A Global Commitment to Safety “At UPRTA International, we drive upset training excellence in aviation to save lives globally,” said UPRTA International President Paul “BJ” Ransbury. “Guided by our core values of safety, leadership, empowerment, and commitment, we’re uniting the industry to set new standards, deliver best practices, and ensure every pilot is prepared to prevent Loss of Control InFlight — protecting lives on every flight.” UPRTA International Executive Vice President of Operations Dave Carbaugh added, “Loss of Control In-Flight remains aviation’s most persistent and deadly threat. The UPRT Safety Summit will give pilots and operators critical insight into how global best practices are evolving beyond compliance — to truly save lives — and how UPRTA is helping shape the future of upset prevention and recovery.” Summit Highlights The 2025 UPRT Safety Summit for Pilots Worldwide will feature presentations from UPRTA International’s senior leadership and expert working groups representing multiple sectors, including: • Flight Department – Business aviation, government, and military • General Aviation – Owner-pilot associations and individual pilots • Safety Management Systems – Risk management, safety profiles, operational manuals • Science – Human factors and data-driven safety analysis • Regulatory – Airlines and flight schools Registration Information The 2025 UPRT Safety Summit for Pilots Worldwide is free to attend and will begin at 14:00Z on Thursday, December 17, 2025. Register here: http://bit.ly/2025uprta About UPRTA, International UPRTA International is a nonprofit association dedicated to saving lives with the mission of eliminating Loss of Control In-Flight accidents through the global adoption of comprehensive Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) programs. By uniting industry stakeholders, regulatory bodies, operators, and training experts, UPRTA International drives the development and implementation of best practices that enhance flight safety and protect both pilots and the traveling public. For more information, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8HMjiHwr2s About the UPRT Safety Summit for Pilots Worldwide UPRTA International hosts the UPRT Safety Summit annually to provide pilots, instructors, operators, and regulators with direct access to world-leading experts in upset prevention and recovery. The Summit focuses on the LOC-I threat and equips participants with life-saving knowledge, practical training strategies, and regulatory insights to advance aviation safety worldwide. Media Contact: Stuart “Kipp” Lau Executive Vice President – Industry Liaison Upset Prevention and Recovery Training Association, International email: slau@uprta.org Tel: (502) 649-3211 Website: www.UPRTA.org Upset Prevention and Recovery Training Association, International World Headquarters: 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Suite 900, South Building | Washington, DC 20004 www.uprta.org 2025 Became a Reckoning Year for Air Safety Industry confronted systemic gaps revealed by tragedy In early 2025, aviation safety discussions centered on data, staffing, and technology. By the end of the first quarter, the conversation was about gaps—procedural, technological, or simply bureaucratic—that had allowed high-risk mixed traffic to continue in the nation’s capital region, and what it would take to close those gaps quickly. Two fatal events, a little more than 48 hours apart, set the tone. On January 29, a U.S. Army rotorcraft operating without ADS-B Out during a routine check ride collided over the Potomac River with a PSA Airlines CRJ700 regional flight operating as American Airlines Flight 5342 near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA), killing all occupants on both aircraft. On January 31, Med Jets Flight 056, a Learjet 55 operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, crashed in the Castor Gardens neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, shortly after takeoff from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, killing everyone on board and two people on the ground, and injuring many others. In early February, aviation organizations said the industry was “united in its grief” and pledged “to ensure accidents like these never happen again,” while pressing Congress to fully fund the FAA and NTSB to do that work. Stakeholders added that controllers have been “working short-staffed, often six days a week, 10 hours a day for years at a time, with outdated equipment and facilities that are in many cases more than 60 years old and long overdue to be replaced and modernized.” NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy made clear in March that the KDCA midair was not a one-off but the sharpest expression of a known problem. At a March media briefing on the preliminary report, she said the agency was taking the unusual step of issuing urgent safety recommendations while the investigation was still in progress. The numbers she cited were chilling: between October 2021 and December 2024, there were 15,214 reported close-proximity events between helicopters and airplanes near KDCA, and 85 of those involved less than 1,500 feet lateral and 200 feet vertical separation. The NTSB urgently recommended that the FAA permanently prohibit operations on helicopter Route 4 between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge whenever Runways 15 and 33 are in use and designate an alternative route. Homendy noted that the FAA had access to voluntary safety reporting data over a three-year period but did not act on it. Lawmakers across party lines picked that up almost immediately. Two weeks before the NTSB’s urgent recommendations, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee had already told Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy that, in light of the crash near KDCA, he should “immediately prioritize” the 2024 FAA reauthorization’s safety programs, especially controller hiring, runway enhancements, and technology refresh. Duffy acknowledged that the answer in 2025 had to be both immediate risk mitigation and modernization. He said the DOT had adopted the NTSB’s recommendations on helicopter restrictions near KDCA “36 hours after the crash” and that those restrictions would stay in place, with special carve-outs for presidential, vice presidential, law enforcement, and life-saving flights. He also said the FAA was already using AI tools to mine safety data at 12 major airports and would expand that nationwide so that “if there’s another DCA-esque situation out there, our AI tools will help us identify those and take corrective actions preemptively, as opposed to retroactively.” He argued that the NAS and ATC system had to be modernized “within four years,” replacing copper wiring and antiquated systems. When he and President Trump rolled out the broader ATC modernization plan in May, Duffy tied it again to KDCA, warning that outdated systems can cascade into incidents and pointing to the risk posed by recent Newark ATC outages. Congress and the industry were remarkably aligned. In February, nearly three dozen aviation organizations told lawmakers they wanted investments in ATC staffing, technology, and facilities, not another fight over privatization. “We are aligned on not pursuing privatization of U.S. air traffic control services and believe it would be a distraction from these needed investments,” they wrote. In March, acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau told the Senate aviation subcommittee that the agency was reviewing 10 mixed-traffic “hot spots” immediately, then would do a nationwide review, and would “take immediate action if needed.” In April, he reported the first measurable result: after the FAA required positive control and more traffic advisories for helicopters at Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport, “the number of traffic alert and collision avoidance system reports decreased by 30% in just three weeks.” Lawmakers began reacting to ADS-B loopholes that had contributed to the KDCA outcome. In March, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) wrote Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the Department of Defense’s use of a 2019 exemption to operate in the National Capital Region without ADS-B Out had been stretched beyond what the FAA intended. She noted that the Army Aviation Brigade at Fort Belvoir and Marine Helicopter Squadron One told the DOD in 2023 that they operate all missions without ADS-B Out, and she said, “It is not credible to assert that each of the several thousand helicopter flights operated annually in the National Capital Region is sufficiently sensitive to merit a blanket exemption.” In May, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) introduced a bill that would require all aircraft operating in Class B airspace to install and use ADS-B. And in June, Senate leaders from both parties asked for concurrent inspector general audits at DOT and in the Army covering FAA oversight of KDCA airspace design, enforcement of ADS-B exemptions, and DOD training and equipage. Seven Senators, the same day, introduced the Safe Operation of Shared Airspace Act of 2025 to end certain DOD exemptions, mandate wider ADS-B use, order safety reviews around busy airports with mixed traffic, and protect FAA controller hiring pipelines. The FAA, for its part, moved from temporary to permanent fixes around Washington. In March, Rocheleau said the FAA would make the KDCA restrictions permanent and would clear airplane traffic when essential rotorcraft operations were necessary. In June, the agency formally modified helicopter zones and routes near KDCA, reducing the size of Zones 3 and 4, moving them away from the airport, establishing a Broad Creek Transition for southbound helicopters, and requiring military and government operators to broadcast ADS-B Out “with very limited exceptions,” noting that earlier vertical clearance on one of the routes had been only 75 feet. By October, when the FAA published updated D.C.-area helicopter route charts in its 52-day cycle, Route 1 and several other routes were limited to priority aircraft unless specifically authorized, and notes were added “to improve clarity around altitude and operational instructions.” Surface Safety The U.S. system’s surface-safety picture was a parallel 2025 concern. On February 26, a Southwest Airlines 737 executed a go-around at Chicago Midway Airport after a Flexjet Challenger 300 crossed the active runway without clearance, even after ground control had twice told the Challenger to hold short of Runway 31C; the NTSB opened an investigation the same day. In March, the DOT inspector general reported that while the FAA had implemented some recommendations from the 2023 runway-safety wake-up, it still lacked an integrated approach to analyze runway-incursion data across the agency and was relying on individual-airport analyses. In the third quarter, Engineered Materials Arresting Systems were credited with stopping a Gulfstream G150 at Chicago Executive and a Challenger 300 at Boca Raton—both on September 3. Internationally, 2025 was not a quiet year for safety either. On February 10, EASA published the 2025 European Plan for Aviation Safety with eight new safety issues and six new rulemaking tasks, including RMT.0753 aimed at “effective implementation of regulations addressing the risks posed to aviation safety by cyberattacks,” fresh work on ground handling, and a new task to verify the integrity of parts. By April, EASA was targeting midair risks in general aviation through a conspicuity declaration and an ADS-B “Light” protocol so that small aircraft and drones can be electronically visible to one another; EASA’s executive director, Florian Guillermet, noted that “every year, there are an average of six fatal airborne collisions involving GA.” And in its August 27 Annual Safety Review, EASA reported that, with European traffic higher in 2024, there were three fatal airline accidents with three lives lost, seven fatal helicopter accidents with 14 lives lost, and 27 fatal GA accidents with 44 fatalities, while identifying aircraft upset, airborne collision, and runway collision as key global risk areas. Two other 2025 developments underscore how the operating environment is changing around the safety system. First, geopolitical risk: after June Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites and Iran’s ballistic missile and drone response later that day, EASA issued a Conflict Zone Information Bulletin recommending avoiding Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon “at all flight levels,” and the FAA issued parallel guidance, forcing civil traffic into congested northern and southern bypasses. Second, encroachment from below: an FAA-funded nationwide Remote ID study found that of 6,037 drone flights with altitude data, 573 were between 400 and 500 feet, and 781 exceeded 500 feet, with drones flying in crewed-aircraft airspace about 10% of the cumulative time observed, often close to heliports that are “hidden within urban sprawl.” If there was a consistent through-line across all of these actions—hearings, emergency route closures, ATC modernization plans, EASA rulemaking, cockpit alerting demos—it was the shift from assuming that safety data, once collected, would find its way through the system, to acknowledging it must be pulled, mined, and acted on quickly. When Hop-A-Jet president Barry Ellis spoke in April about the company’s response to its Feb. 9, 2024 Challenger 604 crash in Naples, Florida, he said its core lesson was to “have a plan, train your people, assess your risks honestly and regularly” because “there’s no such thing as too cautious.” In 2025, regulators, lawmakers, and operators on both sides of the Atlantic were working to apply that principle to the system itself. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2025-10-31/2025-became-reckoning-year-air-safety CALENDAR OF EVENTS . 2026 ACSF Safety Symposium; April 7-9, 2026; ERAU Daytona Beach, FL . 2026 NBAA Maintenance Conference; May 5-7, 2026; New Orleans, LA . BASS 2026 - 71st Business Aviation Safety Summit - May 5-6, 2026 | Provo, Utah . The African Aviation Safety & Operations Summit - May 19-20 | Johannesburg, South Africa . Safeskies Australia - Australia’s renowned Aviation Safety Conference - Canberra Australia 20 and 21 May 2026 . 2026 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) Oct. 20-22, 2026 | Las Vegas, NV Curt Lewis