Flight Safety Information - March 30, 2026 No. 063 In This Issue : Incident: Swiss A320 at Zurich on Mar 29th 2026, rejected takeoff due to suspected bird strike : Incident: Serbia A319 at Helsinki on Mar 28th 2026, rejected takeoff due to engine trouble : Incident: Corendon B738 at Delhi on Mar 28th 2026, engine failure : Accident: Malta Air B738 enroute on Mar 26th 2026, severe turbulence causes injuries : Incident: Easyjet Europe A320 at Naples on Mar 27th 2026, cleared for takeoff despite car on runway : Incident: Swiss A21N at Zurich on Mar 26th 2026, lightning strike : Incident: Canada B38M over Atlantic on Mar 27th 2026, FMC problems : FBI responds after Chicago-bound American Airlines flight diverted to Detroit, officials say : Documents reveal 2 close calls between jets, military helicopters 1 day before deadly midair collision at D.C. airport : New power bank restrictions will safeguard international aviation : EASA warns non-airworthy stolen engine parts could re-enter the market : Calendar of Events Incident: Swiss A320 at Zurich on Mar 29th 2026, rejected takeoff due to suspected bird strikee A Swiss International Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration HB-JLP performing flight LX-370 from Zurich (Switzerland) to Larnaca (Cyprus) with 149 people on board, was accelerating for takeoff from runway 28 when the crew rejected takeoff at high speed (about 145 knots over ground) due to a suspected bird strike. The aircraft slowed safely and stopped on runway, emergency services deployed to check the hot brakes. The aircraft vacated the runway about 30 minutes after the rejected takeoff. The rotation was cancelled. https://avherald.com/h?article=53724b97&opt=0 Incident: Serbia A319 at Helsinki on Mar 28th 2026, rejected takeoff due to engine trouble An Air Serbia Airbus A319-100, registration YU-APD performing flight JU-4125 from Helsinki (Finland) to Belgrade (Serbia), was accelerating for takeoff from Helsinki's runway 22R when the crew rejected takeoff reporting engine (V2524) trouble. After stopping the aircraft on the runway the crew requested emergency services to check their brakes. Emergency services reported one of the nose gear tyres was damaged, there was debris on the runway. The aircraft was towed off the runway. The aircraft is still on the ground in Helsinki about 12.5 hours later. A replacement A319-100 registration YU-APA positioned from Belgrade to Helsinki and is currently enroute to Belgrade. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Helsinki. It had been performing flight JU-124 from Belgrade to St. Petersburg (Russia) the day before but entered a hold briefly at Petersburg before needing to divert to Helsinki due to the runway in Petersburg being closed. https://avherald.com/h?article=53718035&opt=0 Incident: Corendon B738 at Delhi on Mar 28th 2026, engine failure A Corendon Airlines Boeing 737-800 on behalf of IndiGo, registration TC-CON performing flight 6E-579 from Visakhapatnam to Delhi (India) with 161 people on board, was descending towards Delhi when one of the engines (CFM56) failed. The aircraft continued for a safe landing on Delhi's runway 28. IndiGo reported a technical snag was detected shortly before landing, the crew requested a priority landing. India's Ministry for Civil Aviation reported a full emergency was declared at Delhi Airport after an IndiGo flight reported an engine failure. https://avherald.com/h?article=537174c6&opt=0 Accident: Malta Air B738 enroute on Mar 26th 2026, severe turbulence causes injuries A Malta Air Boeing 737-800 on behalf of Ryanair, registration 9H-QEC performing flight FR-4132 from Milan Bergamo to Bari (Italy), was enroute when the aircraft encountered severe turbulence. The aircraft continued to Bari for a landing on runway 25 about 75 minutes after departure. Italy's ANSV reported: "Yesterday, March 26, Boeing B738 registration 9H-QEC, during the cruise phase of its flight from Bergamo to Bari, encountered severe turbulence, resulting in injuries to several occupants. The aircraft landed in Bari. Given the nature and severity of the injuries sustained by one of the injured, and in accordance with the provisions of ICAO Annex 13 and Regulation (EU) No. 996/2010, ANSV has opened a safety investigation, classifying the event as an accident." https://avherald.com/h?article=5370d8af&opt=0 Incident: Easyjet Europe A320 at Naples on Mar 27th 2026, cleared for takeoff despite car on runway An Easyjet Europe Airbus A320-200, registration OE-INL performing flight U2-4119 from Naples to Milan Malpensa (Italy), was taxiing towards departure runway 24 when the aircraft was cleared for takeoff. The crew lined the aircraft up, spotted a car of the runway and stopped. After the car vacated the runway the aircraft departed and reached Milan without further incident. Italy's ANSV opened an investigation into the serious incident stating: "The A320 aircraft, registration OE-INL, cleared for alignment and take-off from runway 24, stopped after alignment due to the presence of a car on the runway; take-off was therefore postponed and the car cleared the runway. The flight to Malpensa continued without further problems." https://avherald.com/h?article=5370d5b5&opt=0 Incident: Swiss A21N at Zurich on Mar 26th 2026, lightning strike A Swiss International Airlines Airbus A321-200N, registration HB-JPD performing flight LX-340 from Zurich (Switzerland) to London Heathrow,EN (UK) with 167 people on board, was climbing out of Zurich's runway 32 when the crew stopped the climb at FL240 and decided to return to Zurich. The aircraft landed safely on runway 32 about 50 minutes after departure. The airline reported the aircraft sustained a lightning strike and returned as a precaution. The aircraft remained on the ground in Zurich for about 12 hours, then returned to service. https://avherald.com/h?article=5370c56d&opt=0 Incident: Canada B38M over Atlantic on Mar 27th 2026, FMC problems An Air Canada Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration C-FSDW performing flight AC-869 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Halifax,NS (Canada), was enroute at FL360 about 170nm west of Shannon (Ireland) when the crew requested to enter a hold before entering Oceanic Airspace. After ATC cleared the aircraft to hold position at present position, the crew requested vectors for the holding advising they were having problems with their Flight Managament Computers. The aircraft entered a hold for about 20 minutes on radar vectors, then the crew decided to return to Heathrow. The crew requested to descend to FL250 to burn off fuel, subsequently descended further and entered another holding south of London for about 30 minutes. The aircraft landed safely on Heathrow's runway 27R about 3.5 hours after departure. The flight and onward flight AC-611 to Toronto,ON (Canada) were cancelled. The aircraft is still on the ground in Heathrow about 6 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=5370bb3a&opt=0 FBI responds after Chicago-bound American Airlines flight diverted to Detroit, officials say A flight from New York to Chicago was forced to land in Detroit Sunday due a reported disturbance, officials said. American Airlines flight 2819 from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport to O'Hare International Airport was diverted to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan Sunday morning. Wayne County Airport Authority Police responded to the reported disturbance aboard the diverted American Airlines flight. The FBI was also present on the scene, officials said. A spokesperson for the FBI confirmed that personnel from the FBI in Michigan responded to DTW Airport to investigate. Officials said there was no current threat to the public. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fbi-responds-chicago-bound-american-222514453.html Documents reveal 2 close calls between jets, military helicopters 1 day before deadly midair collision at D.C. airport Internal safety reports obtained by 60 Minutes reveal that one day before the January 2025 midair collision over Washington, D.C. that killed 67 people, there were two close calls between passenger jets and military helicopters. On Jan. 28 around 4:30 p.m., a pair of Army helicopters approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, flying at a higher altitude than expected, sparking confusion inside the control tower. At the same time, an American Airlines flight from Norfolk was descending. An alarm sounded in the airplane's cockpit, instructing the jet pilot to climb quickly to a higher altitude and avoid a potential collision with the helicopters. Less than four hours later, when another Army helicopter approached, a different commercial flight, this one from Connecticut with seats for about 80 people, was preparing to land. For at least the second time in one day, a collision alarm sounded. The flight was forced to abort its landing. Both flights ultimately landed safely. But just a day later, on Jan. 29, an Army Black Hawk with the call sign PAT25 was flying a training mission that cut through Reagan National's airspace. The midair collision between that Black Hawk and American Airlines Flight 5342 left no survivors. "It worked until it didn't" Emily Hanoka was working in the control tower at Reagan airport the day of the crash. She was an air traffic controller for nearly a decade and told 60 Minutes that there were warning signs for years. "There were obvious cracks in the system, there were obvious holes," Hanoka said. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford statements to 60 Minutes Air traffic controllers warned the Federal Aviation Administration repeatedly for more than a decade that the tempo of passenger jets, along with heavy traffic from military, police, and hospital helicopters, was a recipe for disaster. "It was surprising walking into that work environment, how close aircraft were," Hanoka said. "This is what has to happen in order to make this airspace work. And it did work. It worked until it didn't." Emily Hanoka Emily Hanoka was an air traffic controller for nearly a decade, including at Washington Reagan National Airport. 60 Minutes There were 85 near-midair collisions between helicopters and commercial aircraft in the area between 2021 and 2024, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Recommendations were made, but they never went far, Hanoka said. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, commonly known as DCA, is unique. It's owned by the federal government, and the number of daily flights is determined by Congress. Lawmakers, who've cited interest in making travel easier and more affordable, have added at least 50 flights to the already congested airport since 2000. They approved another 10 in 2024. DCA moves 25 million passengers a year, 10 million more than its intended capacity, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. "Some hours are overloaded, to the point where it's over the capacity that the airport can handle," Hanoka said. There are only three short runways at DCA, and none of them run parallel. Runway 1 is the busiest in the country, according to the MWAA, with more than 800 flights a day — roughly one a minute. Hanoka said to make it work, air traffic controllers at times relied on what they called a "squeeze play." "A squeeze play is when everything is dependent on an aircraft rolling, an aircraft slowing, and you know it's going to be a very close operation," she said. Hanoka said the complexity of the job drove potential new air traffic controllers away. "They'll look at the operation and say, 'Absolutely not.' And they'll withdraw from training," she said. "About half of the people that walked in the building to train would say, 'Absolutely not.'" A year after the crash, nearly one-third of the controller positions in the Reagan tower were unfilled, according to figures from the FAA. Hanoka's shift ended on Jan. 29 a few hours before the crash happened. She left her job a few months later. Multiple air traffic controllers who were in the tower at the time of the collision took medical leave. A complex and congested airspace Restricted airspace near DCA shields the White House, the Capitol and other government buildings. So planes and helicopters were funneled into the same narrow corridor over the Potomac River. This included helicopter training flights, like the one on Jan. 29, 2025. Tim Lilley, a pilot who flew helicopter routes in the area hundreds of times during his 20 years with the Army, said the training happens there for a reason. "The military would say, 'This is where our mission is. This is where we need to train.' And to some degree, I agree with that," he said. "But those training environments, they should be nowhere near commercial airliners." Lilley's son, as the first officer on American Airlines Flight 5342, was one of the 67 killed in the crash. "I never thought to warn him about the helicopters because I just didn't realize how far the safety margins had slipped since I had flown those routes," he said. Lilley is now advocating for changes to make the skies safer. What a pilot could see The night of the crash, the Black Hawk crew was relying on what's called visual separation — looking out the window to avoid nearby passenger jets, according to investigators. The helicopter pilot needs to maintain constant surveillance, something that was "impossible" under the conditions on the night of the crash, Lilley said. The Black Hawk crew was likely wearing night-vision goggles, which Lilley said actually limit what a pilot can see. "When you have a lot of bright lights, like you do in, you know, in the Washington, D.C., area, everything gets washed out through the goggles," he said. An NTSB simulation shows how hard it would have been for the Black Hawk pilots to distinguish between the American Airlines jet they were supposed to be looking out for and ground lights. National Transportation Safety Board Night vision goggles also limit peripheral vision. According to Lilley, pilots handle that by constantly scanning, moving their heads from side to side. "This was a system that failed the people on the aircraft, on the helicopter, in the air traffic control tower," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told 60 Minutes. Changes and a federal investigation Soon after the crash, the FAA made changes to make the skies over Reagan airport safer. The FAA restricted helicopter traffic near the airport and moved some routes farther from the airspace. They also overhauled the bureaucracy to focus more on safety and evaluated other airports across the country where commercial planes and helicopters fly in close quarters. In a statement to 60 Minutes, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he's helped secure more than $12 billion to "aggressively overhaul our air traffic control system." "The January 2025 midair collision is a sobering reminder of why the FAA exists," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement. "And it galvanized us to pursue our safety mission with renewed urgency and bold action." Still, the problems at Reagan National continue. 60 Minutes has learned that since the crash, at least four times aircraft and helicopters have gotten too close, triggering safety reports. The NTSB spent a year investigating and in January released its final report on the accident, detailing a long list of institutional failures that led to the midair collision. The NTSB determined the collision was preventable. Investigators called out "systemic failures," including ignored warning signs about risks and a helicopter route designed so poorly that, in some parts of the sky, it allowed for just 75 feet of vertical separation between helicopters and passenger jets. The board issued 50 safety recommendations across the government to prevent another accident. Homendy warned that the FAA and lawmakers are clearing the path for another disaster if they don't act quickly. "Why do we always have to wait," Homendy said, "until people die to take action?" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/midair-collision-reagan-dca-two-multiple-close-calls-air-safety-60-minutes/ New power bank restrictions will safeguard international aviation Today’s decision from the International Civil Aviation Organization reflects emerging expertise around risks presented by passengers’ lithium batteries New lithium battery-powered power bank specifications from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) today will enhance safety and peace of mind for passengers and airlines alike. Following the improvements agreed today, these devices will now be limited to two per passenger, and passengers will be prohibited from recharging them during flights. Importantly, crew will however be able to continue to carry and use these power banks in line with the operational requirements of the aircraft. The new specifications will address emerging risks and become effective on 27 March 2026. These improvements reflect ICAO's continuing commitment to enhancing aviation safety, in line with the Organization’s strategic vision of air transport for all by 2050, with zero fatalities and net zero carbon emissions. In support of this vision, the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel actively monitors emerging risks posed by dangerous goods and provides expert advice to ICAO’s standard-setting bodies. The independent technical experts of the ICAO Air Navigation Commission reviewed and endorsed the panel's recommendations to amend the Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air (Doc 9284) with some revisions, which have now been approved by the 36 States that form the ICAO Council. The addendum to the Technical Instructions will be provided to all 193 ICAO Member States. https://www.icao.int/news/new-power-bank-restrictions-will-safeguard-international-aviation EASA warns non-airworthy stolen engine parts could re-enter the market The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is warning airlines, maintenance providers and parts buyers to be on the lookout for 625 non-airworthy turbofan engine parts that were stolen after a shipment in Spain was fraudulently rerouted before the components could be destroyed. EASA said the parts were part of a shipment “intended for mutilation,” the process used to render time-expired or otherwise non-airworthy parts unusable. But a third party impersonated the contracted mutilation provider and diverted the shipment in late January 2026, the agency revealed in a notice published on March 26, 2026. EASA publicized the urgent notice under reference OC-EASA-2026002221 after Spain’s national aviation authority reported the case to the agency on March 17. The shipment consisted of 12 containers, three of which held critical or life-limited parts that had not yet been mutilated. EASA said the parts may now be offered for sale on the open market and urged owners, operators, maintenance organizations and distributors to inspect inventories, records and aircraft against the published part and serial numbers. The affected components span four widely used turbine engine families: the CFM56, IAE V2500, Pratt & Whitney PW1100G and Rolls-Royce RB211. These are commercial engines flown in Airbus A320ceo, A320neo, Boeing 737NG and Boeing 757 fleets, among others. The stolen shipment included non-airworthy turbofan engine parts spanning bearings, seals, blades and disks, with much of the material identified as critical or life-limited parts. EASA has not said any of the stolen parts have been found on aircraft or installed in service, but the agency’s decision to publish a detailed parts list suggests regulators see a real risk that some of the parts could resurface in the aftermarket. The warning comes against the backdrop of the AOG Technics scandal, which erupted in 2023 and exposed how vulnerable the engine-parts supply chain can be when documentation and provenance break down. CFM International said in October 2023 that 126 engines were suspected of containing falsely documented AOG-supplied parts, prompting regulators including EASA and the US Federal Aviation Administration to force airlines to inspect affected aircraft. Airlines caught up in that scandal included Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, TAP, Ryanair, WestJet and Virgin Australia. The director of AOG Technics pleaded guilty in late 2025 after UK prosecutors alleged the scheme involved falsified paperwork tied to CFM56 engine parts between 2019 and 2023. https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/easa-warns-stolen-engine-parts-could-re-enter-market CALENDAR OF EVENTS . 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 : APSCON/APSCON Unmanned 2026 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL - July 13-17, 2026 : Aircraft Cabin Air International Conference - 22-23 September 2026 . IATA World Maintenance & Engineering Symposium (23-25 June, Madrid, Spain) . 2026 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) Oct. 20-22, 2026 | Las Vegas, NV Curt Lewis