Flight Safety Information - May 19, 2026 No. 097 In This Issue : Incident: American B772 at Phoenix on May 15th 2026, engine failure on departure : Incident: United B738 at Denver on May 17th 2026, gear problems on departure : Qantas flight diverted after passenger allegedly bites crew member : NTSB hearing will probe cause of fiery UPS jet crash that killed 15 in Louisville : Man, 48, arrested after fire suppression aircraft struck by bullet in northern Minnesota : FAA Calls For More Safety Inspectors, Engineers : NBAA Welcomes Senate Approval of Edwards for DOT Post, Graham for New NTSB Term : FAA commits $26 million to strengthen pilot and technician workforce pipeline : Graduate Research Request : Calendar of Events Incident: American B772 at Phoenix on May 15th 2026, engine failure on departure An American Airlines Boeing 777-200, registration N759AN performing flight AA-194 from Phoenix,AZ (USA) to London Heathrow,EN (UK) with 283 people on board, was climbing out of Phoenix's runway 25R when the crew declared Mayday reporting a left engine (Trent 892) failure, they were unable to restart the engine, they would not dump fuel. The aircraft positioned for a return to Phoenix and landed safely on Phoenix's runway 26 about 35 minutes after departure. The aircraft stopped on the runway for a check by emergency services, who did not see any smoke, fluid or anomaly from the left hand engine. The aircraft subsequently taxied to the apron. A replacement Boeing 777-200 registration N778AN reached London with a delay of about 21 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Phoenix about 66 hours (2 days 18 hours) after landing back. https://avherald.com/h?article=5396248e&opt=0 Incident: United B738 at Denver on May 17th 2026, gear problems on departure A United Boeing 737-800, registration N73291 performing flight UA-484 from Denver,CO to Albuquerque,NM (USA) with 169 people on board, was climbing out of Denver's runway 34L when the crew stopped the climb at 11000 feet reporting gear problems and decided to return to Denver. The aircraft landed safely back on Denver's runway 34L about 30 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration N77520 reached Albuquerque with a delay of about 5:15 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Denver about 14 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=539619b0&opt=0 Qantas flight diverted after passenger allegedly bites crew member A Qantas flight travelling from Melbourne to Texas was reportedly diverted to Tahiti to deboard a man who allegedly bit an attendant. The flight QF21 from Melbourne to Dallas-Fort Worth was diverted to the French-Polynesian capital of Papeete, flight tracker data showed. There were still about 11 hours of the 18-hour journey left at the time of the disruption, the data showed. Local authorities came on board and arrested the passenger once it reached Papeete, the capital city of Tahiti. The passenger has been barred from travelling on all Qantas Group flights, according to news reports. Comedian Mike Goldstein, who was on the flight, shared a video of the incident on Instagram. Fellow passengers rushed to aid the flight crew during the confrontation. The man can purportedly be seen stumbling and swearing at crew members in the video as he steps out of the flight toilet. He can be heard saying he was “trying to open the f***ing door”. "I know you’ve been trying. Keep the language down ... There are kids around everywhere, and you're acting immature,” a flight attendant can be heard saying. “You have to behave yourself, you're on a plane," the attendant says. The man appears confused in the video, asking an attendant if he was "smoking any weed”. Throughout the video, the man keeps stumbling back onto the toilet door. When warned that he may be restrained, he says, "I was just about to walk out for a cigarette”. Then he appears to get more aggressive when asked to go to the back of the plane. Real-time flight tracking organisation Air Nav Radar said in a post on X the passenger allegedly bit a crew member, though this has not been confirmed by the airline or by authorities. The video then cuts to the plane landing in Tahiti, followed by a quick shot of a police officer walking past passengers. Local news reports suggest he was not an Australian. After refuelling, the plane finally reached Dallas-Fort Worth several hours late on Saturday morning. “The safety of our customers and our crew is our number one priority, and we have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behaviour on our flights,” Qantas said in a statement. “We have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behaviour on our flights.” The incident comes just over a month after a man travelling aboard a Canberra-to-Perth flight was charged for allegedly kicking a flight attendant and biting a fellow passenger. He reportedly shouted, swore and ignored instructions on the flight and kicked and pushed the seat in front of him. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/qantas-flight-diverted-passenger-allegedly-053311439.html NTSB hearing will probe cause of fiery UPS jet crash that killed 15 in Louisville WASHINGTON — The nation's top safety investigators will launch a fact-finding hearing Tuesday morning into what caused the deadly crash of UPS flight 2976 in Louisville, Ky. last November. Why flying is still safe despite high-profile problems The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo plane got only 30 feet off the ground before crashing shortly after takeoff from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB released dramatic photos of the left engine flying up and over the wing as the plane rolled down the runway, moments before it crashed and exploded in a massive fireball. The cargo plane was bound for Honolulu with a full load of jet fuel. Fifteen people were killed, including all three pilots on the plane. The agenda for the two-day hearing at NTSB headquarters will include testimony from witnesses from UPS, the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing. (The MD-11 was built by McDonnell Douglas, which was later bought by Boeing.) Investigators at the NTSB have not said what they think caused the crash, but they released an investigative update in January focusing additional attention on the mounting system that attaches the engine to the wing of the MD-11. Investigators said a spherical bearing that had cracked on Flight 2976 had also failed four previous times on other planes. The NTSB says Boeing had warned plane owners in 2011 about the problem. At the time, Boeing did not believe the problem posed a threat to flight safety, investigators wrote. But the company did update the service manual for the MD-11 to include a visual inspection of the spherical bearing that had failed. This photo provided by the National Transportation Safety Board shows UPS plane crash scene on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025 in Louisville, Ky. National UPS and FedEx grounding MD-11 planes following deadly Kentucky crash "We continue to support the investigation led by the NTSB, including the upcoming investigative hearing. We extend our deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones in this accident," a Boeing spokesperson said in an email to NPR. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all MD-11s shortly after the crash pending further investigation. Earlier this month, the FAA allowed the planes to return to service after Boeing issued updated instructions to operators. "After extensive review, the FAA approved Boeing's protocol for safely returning MD-11 airplanes to service," the agency said in a statement last week. FedEx resumed flying MD-11 jets again earlier this month. "Over the past several months, our airline safety, engineering, and maintenance teams have conducted rigorous safety inspections, maintenance, and planning to prepare our MD-11 fleet to return to service," the company said in a statement. The protocol developed by Boeing includes a new bearing in the engine mount on each side of the aircraft, according to FedEx. The company said two MD-11s have returned to revenue service so far, and that more jets will resume flying after they have been repaired and inspected. UPS, on the other hand, said its MD-11 fleet would remain grounded. "We made the decision to accelerate our plans and retire all MD-11 aircraft in our fleet," CEO Carol Tomé said during the company's fourth quarter earnings call in January. The company will replace the remaining 26 MD-11s in its fleet with more efficient Boeing 767 planes, she said. https://www.npr.org/2026/05/19/nx-s1-5823467/ups-crash-md-11-ntsb-louisville Man, 48, arrested after fire suppression aircraft struck by bullet in northern Minnesota Authorities arrested a 48-year-old man they believe is responsible for shooting at a fire suppression aircraft in northern Minnesota on Friday. The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office says they arrested the man Sunday evening at his residence in Portage Township. He is being held at the St. Louis County Jail on charges of reckless discharge of a firearm, second-degree assault and felony criminal damage to property. While executing a search warrant at the residence on the 3500 block of Orr Buyck Road, investigators seized several firearms as well as ammunition, according to the sheriff's office. Multiple agencies had been responding to a reported wildfire in Portage Township on Friday. Two Air Tractor single-engine fire suppression aircraft were among the resources dispatched to the fire. Ground and air crews worked the fire for several hours before the planes returned to the Hibbing Airport. That's when it was discovered that one of them appeared to have been struck by a bullet. Officials believe it was hit by a bullet after scooping up water from Kjostad Lake around 7 p.m. The pilot did not suffer any injuries and was able to land safely. The Portage Township fire is among several fires that have prompted a local, state and federal response over the weekend. The Flanders Fire near Breezy Point exceeded 1,200 acres and the Two Harbors fire has burned 355 acres and is 62% contained as of Monday morning. Gov. Tim Walz on Sunday declared a peacetime emergency and mobilized the National Guard to help battle the flames. https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/man-arrested-fire-suppression-aircraft-struck-by-bullet/ FAA Calls For More Safety Inspectors, Engineers Agency outlines 10-year staffing forecast for aviation safety oversight. FAA Workforce Plan Calls For More Safety Inspectors, Engineers [Credit: Gestur Gislason | Shutterstock] The FAA published a plan Friday to hire 351 aviation safety inspectors and 90 aviation safety engineers in fiscal year 2026 as part of its latest 10-year Aviation Safety Oversight and Certification Workforce Plan. According to the FAA’s fiscal year 2026-2035 plan, the agency had 7,477 aviation safety employees as of Jan. 10, with aviation safety inspectors and engineers making up 64 percent of its operations-funded workforce and 87 percent of its safety-critical workforce. The agency reported hiring 338 inspectors in fiscal year 2025 while losing 424, resulting in a year-over-year decline in inspector headcount. Regarding engineering staff, the FAA hired 60 and lost 91 during the same period. The plan also points to several areas expected to affect FAA staffing needs over the next decade, including drones, advanced air mobility, light-sport aircraft rule changes, artificial intelligence, software assurance and data analytics. The FAA said it expects inspector headcount to grow from 4,086 in fiscal year 2025 to 4,888 by fiscal year 2035, while engineer staffing is forecast to increase from 728 to 810 over the same period. The plan was submitted under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, and Sections 430 and 431 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. https://avweb.com/aviation-news/faa-calls-for-more-safety-inspectors/ NBAA Welcomes Senate Approval of Edwards for DOT Post, Graham for New NTSB Term Washington, DC, May 18, 2026 – The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) today welcomed the Senate’s vote to approve Daniel Edwards to become the Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs, and Michael Graham to serve another five-year term on the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The Senate approved Edwards and Graham in a vote on a wider package of nominees for various positions in the Trump administration. “NBAA congratulates Daniel Edwards on his confirmation and looks forward to collaborating with him as he steps fully into this position,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “We also congratulate Mike Graham on his confirmation to an additional term on the NTSB. His longstanding commitment to aviation safety makes him exceptionally well-suited to continue in this critical role.” Edwards has been serving as the DOT’s principal deputy assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs and was previously the CEO of privately held businesses in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul. He served over 23 years in the United States Air Force and USAF Reserves, as both a KC-10 pilot and airfield civil engineer. He has flown more than 100 combat missions, holds type ratings in the DC-10 and 757/767 and has accumulated over 4,000 flight hours as both a military and commercial pilot. Graham currently serves as vice chair of the NTSB. His new term will end Dec. 31, 2030. Prior to joining the NTSB in 2020, Graham worked for more than 20 years at Textron Aviation as the company’s director of flight operations safety, security and standardization, and in other roles. While at the company, he served on NBAA’s Safety Committee. Graham began his aviation career flying A-7s and F/A-18s for the U.S. Navy. He later worked for McDonnell Douglas and Boeing as an F/A-18 aircrew instructor and avionics integration engineer. He is a certified airline transport pilot with 10,000 flight hours and is type rated in six different Citation models. Graham earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of New Mexico. https://nbaa.org/2026-press-releases/nbaa-welcomes-senate-approval-of-edwards-for-dot-post-graham-for-new-ntsb-term/ FAA commits $26 million to strengthen pilot and technician workforce pipeline The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investing $26 million to develop the next generation of pilots, mechanics and aviation technicians, as demand for air travel continues to grow. US Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced the funding on May 18, 2026, describing it as part of a broader effort to strengthen the workforce pipeline for the aerospace industry. Where the money will go The FAA investment will support aviation training programs designed to equip future pilots with technical skills, as well as apprenticeships and internships to provide hands-on experience. Funding will also go toward student outreach efforts aimed at boosting recruitment, as well as training using tools such as flight simulators. “More Americans are flying today than ever before,” Duffy said. “We are investing in our aviation workforce to meet growing demand while maintaining the highest standards of safety.” According to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, the funding will support education and training programs that should help to build a pipeline of talent for the industry. “More Americans are taking to the skies and demand for skilled aviation workers continues to grow,” Bedford said. Two grant programs The funding is being made available through the Aviation Workforce Development Grants program, which includes two tracks. The Aircraft Pilots Workforce Development Grants fund efforts to educate and recruit students to become pilots or drone operators, whereas the Aviation Maintenance Technical Workers Workforce Development Grants support initiatives focused on recruiting and training future mechanics and maintenance technicians. Who can apply Schools, aviation organizations, aviation-related nonprofit organizations, air carriers and labor groups, plus state, local, territorial and Tribal governments are eligible for funding. Applications must be submitted by June 18, 2026. Additional information is available at grants.gov https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/faa-commits-26-million-to-strengthen-pilot-and-technician-workforce-pipeline Graduate Research Request candidate in Aviation with a specialization in Human Factors at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. With nearly 40 years of experience in aircraft maintenance and aviation safety, his dissertation research examines how Aircraft Maintenance Technicians (AMTs) experience and describe decision-making during troubleshooting, inspection, and repair activities in Part 121 and Part 135 operations. The IRB-approved study seeks currently employed Part 121 and Part 135 AMTs with at least one year of maintenance experience to participate in one confidential 60 to 75-minute virtual interview focused on real-world maintenance decision-making. Participation is voluntary and confidential, and no proprietary or company-specific information will be requested. Although employed by the FAA, this research is conducted solely in an academic capacity and is not affiliated with or conducted on behalf of the FAA. Individuals interested in participating or learning more may contact Steve Poiani at poianadf@my.erau.edu. https://sites.google.com/view/aircraftmaintenancestudy/home Steve Poiani Doctoral Candidate Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University poianadf@my.erau.edu CALENDAR OF EVENTS . The African Aviation Safety & Operations Summit - May 19-20 | Johannesburg, South Africa . ESASI 2026, 20-21 May, Dubrovnik . Safeskies Australia - Australia’s renowned Aviation Safety Conference - Canberra Australia 20 and 21 May 2026 . Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection, and Investigation Course 7 to 9 July 2026; Woburn MA 01801 USA : APSCON/APSCON Unmanned 2026 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL - July 13-17, 2026 : Aircraft Cabin Air International Conference - 22-23 September 2026 . IATA World Maintenance & Engineering Symposium (23-25 June, Madrid, Spain) . ISASI - BOSTON 2026 - September 28, 2026 – October 2, 2026 . 2026 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) Oct. 20-22, 2026 | Las Vegas, NV Curt Lewis