Flight Safety Information - February 16, 2026 No. 033 In This Issue : Incident: El Al B738 at Amsterdam on Feb 12th 2026, rejected takeoff due to malfunction : Incident: KLM A332 at Amsterdam on Feb 13th 2026, hydraulic leak : Accident: Sun Express B738 at Antalya on Feb 13th 2026, main gear collapse during taxi : Incident: Aurigny AT72 at Guernsey on Feb 4th 2026, total electrical failure : Pilots of SAS Flight To Malaga Forced To Divert After Passengers Spot Rodent Stowaway : Senators Push for Air Safety Legislation Requiring Collision Avoidance Technology : Calendar of Events Incident: El Al B738 at Amsterdam on Feb 12th 2026, rejected takeoff due to malfunction An El Al Boeing 737-800, registration 4X-EKN performing flight LY-46 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Tel Aviv (Israel), had lined up runway 18L and was cleared for takeoff, when the crew advised they needed to hold for 30 seconds due to a malfunction, Tower cancelled the takeoff clearance. About 3 minutes later the crew reported ready for departure, was cleared for takeoff again, but about 40 seconds therefore the crew advised they needed to cancel their takeoff and return to the gate due to a malfunction. The aircraft returned to the apron. The aircraft was able to depart about 2 hours later and reached Tel Aviv with a delay of about 100 minutes. The aircraft, formerly being operated by Southwest Airlines, was sold to El Al and was on its delivery flight from Kansas City via New York and Amsterdam to Tel Aviv. https://avherald.com/h?article=534e8566&opt=0 Incident: KLM A332 at Amsterdam on Feb 13th 2026, hydraulic leak A KLM Airbus A330-200, registration PH-AOF performing flight KL-765 (dep Feb 12th) from Bonaire (Bonaire) to Amsterdam (Netherlands), landed on Amsterdam's runway 36C when after rolling out the crew advised ATC they could not vacate the runway due to hydraulic problems. The crew subsequently requested a tow truck and a runway inspection for hydraulic fluids behind them stating that just before touch down they had received indication of a hydraulic leak, their braking performance had been poor and they could not steer after landing. Tower reported later, that there had been no hydraulic fluid found on the runway, the crew reacted surprised stating that they had a low reservoir level message as soon as they started to brake. The aircraft was towed to the apron about 65 minutes after landing. The aircraft is still on the ground in Amsterdam about 32 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=534e7bdf&opt=0 Accident: Sun Express B738 at Antalya on Feb 13th 2026, main gear collapse during taxi A Sun Express Boeing 737-800, registration TC-SOB performing flight XQ-7646 from Antalya to Gaziantep (Turkey), was taxiing for departure on taxiway J towards runway 18L when the left main gear collapsed disabling the aircraft on the taxiway resting on the left engine. Emergency services responded, the passengers were able to disembark via stairs. There were no injuries. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. The airline reported a technical malfunction. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration TC-SOP departed Antalya with a delay of about 4.5 hours. https://avherald.com/h?article=534d55cc&opt=0 Incident: Aurigny AT72 at Guernsey on Feb 4th 2026, total electrical failure An Aurigny Air Services Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, registration G-OGFC performing positioning flight GR-101P from London Gatwick,EN to Guernsey,CI (UK) with 2 crew, was at the top of descent towards Guernsey when a total electrical failure occurred. The aircraft continued for a safe landing on Guernsey's runway 09. The UK AAIB reported at top of descent a total electrical failure occurred, the occurrence was rated a serious incident and is being investigated. According to ADS-B data the aircraft remained visible via the transponder including position data until after landing. The aircraft had remained in Gatwick from Jan 29th 2026 to Feb 4th 2026. Following the occurrence the aircraft remained in Guernsey until Feb 12th 2026, performed a test flight and returned to service on Feb 12th 2026. https://avherald.com/h?article=534d2680&opt=0 Pilots of SAS Flight To Malaga Forced To Divert After Passengers Spot Rodent Stowaway The pilots of an SAS Scandinavian Airlines flight from Stockholm to the Spanish holiday resort town of Malaga were forced to turn back nearly two hours into the flight last Saturday after passengers spotted a rodent stowaway on board the Airbus A320. This story might seem off enough on its own, but what’s really bizarre is that it’s less than a year and a half since another SAS flight headed to Malaga also had to divert when a mouse was spotted in the cabin. The diversion of flight SK-1583. Credit: Flight Radar 24. The February 7 incident occurred as SAS flight SK-1583 was flying over Belgium, around an hour and a half into the four-hour flight to Malaga. As the Airbus A320neo was flying at around 37,000 feet above Europe, the pilots reported that passengers had seen a mouse in the cabin and that they needed to return to Stockholm to have the stowaway removed. The passengers ended up on a three-hour flight to nowhere, landing back in the Swedish capital, where the plane was taken out of service for the rest of the day while engineers worked to rid the aircraft of the rodent and any of its friends. While passengers described the mouse as small, a rodent could still cause some pretty serious damage to an aircraft. Unlike other pests like cockroaches or even bed bugs, rodents are particularly troublesome for airlines due to the risk of them chewing through flight-critical cabling. In this case, the decision was likely taken to fly the plane back to Stockholm because that’s where SAS has its own engineers who could give the plane a thorough check over before giving it the green light to return to service. SAS has some experience dealing with this type of incident after another of its planes flying from Oslo to Malaga on September 19, 2024, was forced to divert after a mouse jumped out of a passenger’s food tray and began scurrying around the cabin in front of stunned passengers. Just two months later, a TAP Air Portugal Airbus A321neo was grounded at Ponta Delgada Airport in the Azores after a horde of as many as 130 hamsters which were being transported in the cargo hold, managed to escape their cages during the flight from Lisbon. Upon the plane’s arrival in the Azores, baggage handlers opened up the hold of the plane to discover a hamster scurrying around. They quickly realized that the cages had been damaged during the flight and most of the hamsters had escaped. While ground workers were able to quickly round up most of the escapees, the plane had to be grounded until every last hamster had been found. https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2026/02/15/pilots-of-sas-flight-to-malaga-forced-to-divert-after-passengers-spot-rodent-stowaway/ Senators Push for Air Safety Legislation Requiring Collision Avoidance Technology WASHINGTON — Senators advocated for aircraft safety reform legislation Thursday in Washington, D.C., during a hearing to review last year’s fatal collision over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that killed 67 people. They said the crash between a passenger jet and Army helicopter could have been avoided if the Federal Aviation Administration had required upgraded collision avoidance equipment. In response, the Senate unanimously passed the Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act on Dec. 17 to prevent similar accidents. The proposed legislation would require nearly all aircraft flying in U.S. airspace to use enhanced Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology. The equipment broadcasts and receives data about the exact locations of nearby aircraft to help pilots avoid collisions. The Army Blackhawk helicopter and American Airlines regional jet that collided Jan. 29, 2025, had incompatible location equipment that did not represent the best version of ADS-B technology. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee questioned National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy about what ADS-B technology might have meant for avoiding near-misses and collisions like the one over Reagan Airport. “The accident wouldn’t have happened,” Homendy said. She blamed the FAA for ignoring warnings that a major accident was coming unless it began requiring ADS-B technology on more aircraft. “The NTSB has been recommending for nearly two decades that all aircraft be equipped not just to broadcast their location but also to receive real-time traffic data,” Homendy said. The technology is required on major airliners but not on most private and military aircraft. The military cooperates in FAA regulations but also has its own safety rules and requirements. Homendy said that without a single standard that requires ADS-B technology on all aircraft, more disasters are inevitable. She mentioned as an example the May 2019 midair collision near Ketchikan, Alaska, between two sightseeing floatplanes that killed six people and seriously injured 10 others. The NTSB determined the crash was caused largely by the limitations of the “see-and-avoid” system that pilots often use. It essentially means they look out their windows to observe flight conditions and other aircraft. More effective alerts from the aircrafts’ traffic display systems — such as by ADS-B — could have given the pilots time to prevent the collision, the NTSB reported. See-and-avoid also was being used by pilots flying the aircraft over Reagan Airport. ADS-B would have given each of them nearly a minute of warning, plenty of time to avoid a collision, the NTSB reported. Instead, they had about one second. The House version of the ROTOR Act is stalled, despite urging from the Senate for prompt action. Concern over costs and risks of commercial aircraft being taken out of service for retrofits are contributing to the holdup. Homendy said each retrofit would cost about $50,000. A portable piece of ADS-B equipment that could be used by private pilots could cost as little as $400, she said. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, criticized the use of different safety standards and equipment for different aircraft. “You can’t have a safe airspace when operators are following different rules,” he said. “No more flying blind.” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., put much of the blame on the FAA, which she accused of having a safety management system that “has been superficial at best.” “This tragedy was the result of many systematic errors,” Cantwell said. https://www.thewellnews.com/us-senate/senators-push-for-air-safety-legislation-requiring-collision-avoidance-technology/ CALENDAR OF EVENTS . VERTICON 2026 - Atlanta March 9-12 . CANSO Global Safety Conference 2026 - 29 March – 1 April 2026 (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) . 60th Annual SMU Air Law Symposium - March 31 - April 1, 2026 (Irving, TX) . 2026 ACSF Safety Symposium; April 7-9, 2026; ERAU Daytona Beach, FL . 2026 NBAA Maintenance Conference; May 5-7, 2026; New Orleans, LA . World Aviation Training Summit - 5-7 May 2026 - Orlando . 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 . IATA World Maintenance & Engineering Symposium (23-25 June, Madrid, Spain) . ISASI - 2026 (September/October 2026) - Dubai, UAE . 2026 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) Oct. 20-22, 2026 | Las Vegas, NV Curt Lewis