Flight Safety Information - September 15, 2026 No. 181 In This Issue : Incident: United B763 at Newark on Sep 12th 2026, loud squeal on flight deck : Airbus A330-941 - Engine Problem Enroute/Diversion (India) : US lacks funding to complete first phase of air traffic control reforms, report finds : ‘They Were Headbutting and Spitting’: passengers describe terrifying struggle to restrain two men midflight : ‘I thought I was going to die’: Aer Lingus pilot on flight he claims left him with brain injury : US NTSB says one-third of FAA answers to safety recommendations are ‘unacceptable’ : Volcanic ash stops flights at Catania airport in Sicily : About 6 near collisions occur at US airports monthly as safety recommendations go unaddressed : Air Force Will Hit Long-Elusive Goal to Train 1,500 New Pilots in a Year : AirBaltic Files for Bankruptcy : Calendar of Events Incident: United B763 at Newark on Sep 12th 2026, loud squeal on flight deck A United Boeing 767-300, registration N677UA performing flight UA-16 from Newark,NJ (USA) to London Heathrow,EN (UK), was climbing out of Newark when the crew requested to level off at FL310 to work on an ongoing issue, subsequently declared emergency and requested to return to Newark due to a loud squeal on the flight deck. The aircraft landed safely on runway 22R about 50 minutes after departure. The aircraft returned to service about 23 hours after landing back. https://avherald.com/h?article=540dde43&opt=0 Airbus A330-941 - Engine Problem Enroute/Diversion (India) Date: Sunday 13 September 2026 Time: Type: Airbus A330-941 Owner/operator: Aircalin Registration: F-ONEO MSN: 1937 Year of manufacture: 2019 Engine model: Rolls-Royce Trent 7000-72 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 280 Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Unknown Location: NW of Kolkata - India Phase: En route Nature: Passenger - Scheduled Departure airport: Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG/LFPG) Destination airport: Bangkok-Don Muang International Airport (BKK/VTBD) Confidence Rating: Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources Narrative: Aircalin flight SB501, an Airbus A330-941, experienced an engine problem en route over eastern India. The flight diverted to Kolkata. https://www.aviation-safety.net/wikibase/582230 US lacks funding to complete first phase of air traffic control reforms, report finds WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration needs more funding from Congress to complete phase one of a $10.6 billion air traffic control ‌reform plan and has underestimated the total costs of operating the new system, ‌according to a government report released on Monday. The Government Accountability Office said the FAA had not fully assessed the costs of operating the new system or set a detailed schedule for completing reforms. "In essence, the FAA is buying delivery speed at the risk of cost uncertainty and potential disruptions," the GAO report said, adding, "these risks increase the likelihood of FAA repeating its history of cost ‌overruns, delays, and unmet performance targets." Congress ⁠previously approved $9 billion for ATC reforms in the first phase. The FAA is also using $1 billion from its current-year budget and needs another $574 ⁠million, the GAO said. The price tag for telecommunications upgrades has jumped $4.75 billion to $5.91 billion, GAO said. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford is set to testify on Tuesday before Congress on the effort and its plan to begin deploying a software-based program to try to avoid flight delays. The GAO ‌said the FAA has over 11,000 separate projects in phase one of the $10.6 billion reform plan. The FAA said in a letter to the GAO that it is committed to using best practices to oversee the project that it says "remains largely on plan," including over 95% of specific tasks. The FAA's existing air traffic control systems are "severely outdated, underperforming, and unsustainable. This aging ‌and unreliable technology has contributed to an increase in aviation incidents," GAO said. Replacing air traffic control tower voice switches carries the highest risk because of the size of the sites and airspace it controls, the ‌age of technology and need to operate new and old voice switches simultaneously. The GAO noted that the FAA released its first comprehensive plan for improving air traffic control services in 1982 and has since suffered a series of cost overruns and delays while ‌delivering limited results. The FAA in December tapped Peraton, which is owned by Veritas Capital, to oversee the modernization effort, awarding it a $1.5 billion contract. https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/us-lacks-funding-complete-first-144346572.html ‘They Were Headbutting and Spitting’: passengers describe terrifying struggle to restrain two men midflight Passengers aboard a flight from Melbourne to Doha watched a frightening confrontation unfold midair when two men allegedly became aggressive, prompting crew members and fellow travelers to wrestle them under control. The incident happened Friday aboard Virgin Australia flight VA7, which Qatar Airways operated, and passengers still had hours in the air after the struggle began. According to passengers quoted by Australian media, the men appeared agitated shortly after boarding, repeatedly getting out of their seats. They were walking through the cabin and rummaging through their luggage. The situation reportedly escalated about six hours before the flight was due to land. The men allegedly became involved in a physical altercation and threatened passengers and crew members, with witnesses claiming they also shouted that they had a gun. Video posted online appears to show flight attendants struggling to restrain the men while other passengers joined the effort. What began as a disturbance reportedly became a situation that required several people to physically hold each man down while the aircraft continued toward Doha. Passengers reportedly had to help restrain the men The accounts from inside the aircraft make clear why the incident became so frightening for the people on board. Passengers were not merely watching a confrontation between two travelers and the crew; some reportedly ended up helping flight attendants keep the men restrained. Jacqui Felgate, host of 3AW Drive, said one passenger told her she helped "get the cable ties on" one of the men. Another passenger reportedly claimed that six or seven people had to restrain each man in the galley. The same passenger alleged that the men were headbutting and spitting on flight attendants during the struggle. The claims have not been independently verified, but they offer a peak into what passengers said was happening inside the cabin. The fact that the confrontation reportedly began roughly six hours before landing added another layer to the ordeal. The people aboard VA7 could not just leave the situation behind them, and the crew had to keep the men restrained while the aircraft continued toward its destination. One passenger was texting her family as the situation unfolded For at least one passenger, the incident became a frightening wait that she could document in real time. Felgate said another woman told her that her 63-year-old mother sat near the two men. The woman reportedly used the plane's Wi-Fi to text her family as the situation escalated, allowing them to follow what was happening before the aircraft had even landed. Her daughter reportedly described her mother's experience as "terrifying and disgraceful." Another video from the flight appears to show uniformed police boarding the aircraft after it arrived in Doha, while passengers applauded. The footage offered the people aboard VA7 their first visible sign that the incident was finally in the hands of authorities. Qatar Airways confirmed the passengers were restrained "Crew members restrained both passengers and handed them over to local authorities after the plane landed in Doha," the airline said in a statement. Qatar Airways confirmed that two male passengers got into a physical altercation aboard VA7. The airline did not confirm the passengers' claims that the men said they had a gun. Authorities also have not publicly established whether either passenger actually possessed a weapon or released further details about potential charges. The incident ended when the aircraft reached Doha and authorities took custody of the two men. Until then, according to passenger accounts, the people aboard the flight had to remain in the same confined space while crew members worked to keep the situation under control. For passengers watching the confrontation unfold, the frightening part was not only what allegedly happened during the struggle. Passengers also knew that restraining the men did not end the ordeal. They still had hours in the air before authorities could take over. https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/were-headbutting-spitting-passengers-describe-111813828.html ‘I thought I was going to die’: Aer Lingus pilot on flight he claims left him with brain injury Former captain with carrier and legal team set out case at Workplace Relations Commission hearing An Aer Lingus pilot who claims he was sacked for blowing the whistle on alleged “toxic” fume events on commercial jets has described how he believes he came to suffer a brain injury while in command of a flight three years ago. Former Airbus A320 captain Tom O’Riordan was giving evidence on Monday as his legal team began setting out its case in one of the longest-running whistleblower penalisation cases to proceed at the employment tribunal. Aer Lingus strongly denies that any crew or passengers have been put at risk and says it dealt with O’Riordan and his concerns properly. He said he and his first officer detected an “exhaust smell” while preparing an Airbus A320, registration EI-DEN, in advance of a return flight to Shannon Airport on June 4th, 2023. O’Riordan said the smell “dissipated” after that and that he took it “on good faith” that the aircraft was ready to go. The flight to Shannon was “uneventful”, but on the return leg, while descending back to Heathrow with a full load of passengers, the “exhaust” odour returned, he said. At first, the flight crew were set to return to Dublin as passengers, but were told the following morning by the company flight operations department that EI-DEN was “serviceable” and they were to fly it back, said the complainant. The aircraft’s technical log recorded a “decontamination procedure” on the jet’s air conditioning, he said. “I would have accepted the aircraft in good faith that the engineers had performed their duties as required,” he said. On descent into Dublin, “the fumes returned again”, he said, “a wet old smelly sports sock type of smell”. He said he felt unwell during final approach and developed a “piercing headache” and nausea while taxiing. “The left midsection of my face was numb and my eye was frozen … I felt clammy and faint, I still had the headache and nausea, and this metallic taste in my mouth,” he said. “I actually thought I was going to die; it was really bad, really, really bad,” said O’Riordan. He spent four nights in hospital after being taken off the flight deck by paramedics, he said. O’Riordan told the WRC in 2024 he suffered “chronic fatigue syndrome and brain damage” due to “exposure to toxic fumes” on the flight. He is now pursuing a personal injury action in the High Court. Aer Lingus’s legal team said O’Riordan had engaged in “a campaign of disruption” while out sick, including the alleged posting of “falsehoods and untruths” on social media, mounting a picket on its offices, and a hunger strike. He was sacked from his €153,000 a year post after facing disciplinary action in relation to the activity, the tribunal has heard. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2026/09/14/i-thought-i-was-going-to-die-aer-lingus-pilot-on-flight-he-claims-left-him-with-brain-injury/ US NTSB says one-third of FAA answers to safety recommendations are ‘unacceptable’ WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said responses by the Federal Aviation Administration to 11 of 33 recommendations made by the board after a 2025 mid-air collision killed 67 people near Washington were “unacceptable” and failed to address safety concerns. The January 2025 collision of an American Airlines regional ‌jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in more than two decades. The NTSB said the FAA had not agreed to mandate a key safety system known as ADS-B In, which was one of the board’s recommendations. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the system could have given ‌the passenger plane pilot an alert 59 seconds before the collision and ⁠the helicopter crew 48 seconds ⁠before the collision. “How many more decades have to go by before we again and again and again have to recommend it after terrible tragedy?” Homendy told Reuters. Homendy and families from some of those killed in the collision will again urge Congress on Tuesday to pass legislation to address the causes of the accident. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told Reuters in July the FAA could move forward on ADS-B without action from Congress but would prefer direction ⁠from lawmakers. In a letter seen by Reuters detailing its ⁠responses to the safety board on Tuesday, the FAA said it is reviewing helicopter routes in six major cities, has completed reviews of routes in four cities, and has issued a directive to keep planes and helicopters separate. The NTSB said Monday ‌the FAA did not indicate if it intends to write rules to require ADS-B In. The safety board makes recommendations and then issues status updates on its push to convince regulators to make changes. It labels them unacceptable if the agency disagrees with the recommendation, offers an alternative the NTSB ⁠finds would not address the concern, or fails to take action in a timely fashion. In January, the NTSB found systemic failures by the FAA led to the 2025 collision, the worst U.S. aviation disaster ⁠since 2001. It said the ‌accident was caused by the FAA’s decision to allow helicopters to travel ⁠close to the airport with no safeguards to separate them from airplanes and ‌its failure to review data and act on recommendations to move helicopter traffic away ⁠from the airport. The U.S. House of Representatives in April voted 396-10 to pass a sweeping aviation safety reform bill to address dozens of recommendations, while a rival bill known as the ROTOR Act passed the U.S. Senate unanimously in December but needed a two-thirds majority in the House to pass under fast-track rules and it fell one vote short. https://kelo.com/2026/09/14/us-ntsb-says-one-third-of-faa-answers-to-safety-recommendations-are-unacceptable/ Volcanic ash stops flights at Catania airport in Sicily The airport at Catania in Sicily is closed due to an ash cloud from Mount Etna, the authorities said, cancelling all take-offs and landings near the city until Tuesday afternoon. Several dozen flights have been cancelled since Monday, including many international connections. Europe's most active volcano has been emitting ash since Sunday. The ash cloud reaches four kilometres into the sky, according to the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). Aviation is now subject to red alert - the highest of four levels - as was the case last month. This means an eruption with a significant release of ash is imminent or already under way. Nobody yet knows how long this will last. The airport at Catania is used by large numbers of foreign visitors wishing to holiday on Italy's largest Mediterranean island. In August it took more than a week before an alert could be lifted. Hundreds of flights were cancelled at the height of the main travel season. More than 100,000 holidaymakers were affected. Mount Etna, which stands at more than 3,300 metres, erupts regularly and is kept under constant scientific surveillance. https://www.yahoo.com/news/weather-news/articles/volcanic-ash-stops-flights-catania-100438102.html About 6 near collisions occur at US airports monthly as safety recommendations go unaddressed About half a dozen times per month, a commercial airplane landing or taking off from a U.S. airport has a near miss with another piloted aircraft. These near misses occur across the country, and that number is likely an undercount as it's based on non-mandatory reports from flight crews. At least 95 near misses have been reported across the country since 67 people were killed in Washington, D.C., in a collision between an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter on Jan. 29, 2025. That's according to a Get the Facts Data Team analysis of the latest available data through May 2026. Reports name 33 airports across the country where these near-misses have occurred, but the locations of nearly 50 other incidents remain undisclosed. To see if a reported near-miss has occurred near your airport, search the map below. After accidents, safety improvements take years to be implemented The near misses come as hundreds of recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board remain unfulfilled. The NTSB investigates aviation accidents to determine what went wrong and issues recommendations for safety improvements, but it can only advocate for reform. The NTSB has no power to implement safety changes. Some of those recommendations, experts say, could have prevented deaths. Right now, 270 safety improvements recommended by the NTSB remain open. Fifty-one are from the deadly crash in January 2025. On average, it takes more than 4 1/2 years after a crash for Congress, the Federal Aviation Administration, or the applicable organization to adopt the safety recommendations. Two recommendations issued after the 1994 plane crash in Pittsburgh that killed 132 people were only just adopted last December. That's 31 years. Pilots say current near misses mirror Washington, D.C., crash About 30% of the near misses on takeoff and landing involved a helicopter. Some pilots have reported that these instances echo what led to the Jan. 29, 2025, crash. In October 2025, the flight crew of a commercial plane reported a near miss with a helicopter on landing at Erie International Airport in Pennsylvania. The helicopter, according to the pilot's report, got within 100 feet. "We were concerned that [air traffic control] had not alerted us to the helicopter, as lessons from the January 2025 incident in Washington, D.C., may not have been fully integrated into current operational protocols," the unnamed pilot said in a report to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. Several of the reports criticized a lack of safety guidelines for military aircraft. A bill that would have ensured that military aircraft follow the same aviation safety rules as commercial planes failed to pass in the House of Representatives last February. "This is not the first time that Military Operators have posed significant threats to Commercial Aviation Operations," a pilot reported to ASRS after a near miss with a military helicopter at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina. "I do not understand why we operate in the same environment, but they are not held to the same operational standards we are," the pilot said. Families of the victims of the Washington, D.C., plane crash have spent the last 19 months advocating for safer skies. They are speaking at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday morning to continue their advocacy for aviation safety reform. https://www.gulfcoastnewsnow.com/article/aviation-safety-near-miss-update/73672607 Air Force Will Hit Long-Elusive Goal to Train 1,500 New Pilots in a Year NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14. Reaching the milestone under the new Future of Undergraduate Pilot Training, or FUPT, program, will help “support the Air Force’s broader effort to address a pilot shortage,” a release from AETC stated. “Reaching 1,500 pilots is a milestone, but it is not the finish line,” Quinn said in the announcement, released during AFA’s 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference “FUPT was built to overcome long-standing constraints including instructor shortages and aircraft availability to deliver the aviators our combatant commanders require.” AETC announced in spring 2025 it was moving to a hybrid private/military instruction model designed to reduce overall course time, a move aimed at ending the years of struggles to reach its benchmark of 1,500 trained pilots per year and “to produce elite aviators through a training system that is more deliberate, data-driven, and aligned with the demands of operational units,” Maj. Gen. Travolis A. Simmons, 19th Air Force commander, said in the announcement. AETC’s new pilot training model offloads much of the basic, initial instruction to a commercial, university-based program, while retaining military-specific elements at Air Force training bases. “Moving foundational flight training to civilian partners allows us to reserve military aircraft, instructor capacity, and flying hours for the advanced, military-specific training only the Air Force can provide,” Quinn said. The new construct gives flight students 120 flying hours over 139 days at one of four flying universities, in a course now called Initial Pilot Training, or IPT. Upon completion, students receive their private pilot licenses—with instrument and multi-engine ratings—under FAA Part 141 standards. They then transfer to one of USAF’s four Undergraduate Pilot Training, or UPT, bases—Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.; Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas; Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas; and Vance Air Force Base, Okla. “Achieving 1,500 validates that we can scale future undergraduate pilot training and we now continue the focus on refining the training to ensure the quality of our graduates matches the scale,” Quinn said. “Our instructor pilots, maintainers, and support teams adapted this enterprise to meet the need ensuring a steady flow of skilled aviators for our combatant commands.” The Air Force pilot shortage stood at roughly 2,470 pilots at the end of fiscal 2025, a shortfall officials have attributed over the years to issues across the service, including pilot production, retention, and absorption. Earlier this year, on May 20, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach gave a hint that the benchmark was within reach, telling lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee that AETC was “meeting our goals for creating 1,500 pilots per year.” “We did that this year, and we see no issues with doing that into the future,” Wilsbach said during the hearing. “The challenge will be absorbing all those into line cockpits.” At the time, the class of student pilots at Vance Air Force Base had just started their training. Their graduation will be what gets AETC to its goal of 1,500 new pilots in fiscal 2026, an AETC spokesperson said. Wilsbach also stressed to lawmakers that the service needs the roughly $10 billion its requesting in the fiscal 2027 budget for a plus-up for pilot flying hours. The Air Force is asking for $7.4 billion to fund Active-Duty flying hours, which would be a 22 percent increase from the $6.1 billion budgeted in fiscal 2026. Another $1.6 billion would cover Air National Guard hours, and $867 million would go to Air Force Reserve hours, for a total of $9.9 billion. That funding would pay for the fuel, spare parts, and consumable supplies pilots and maintenance crews need to safely and reliably fly aircraft. “This 2027 budget gets us about $10 billion for flying; the pilots want to fly, they don’t want to sit on the ground and do admin,” Wilsbach said, adding that the service will offer pilots the ability to stay at duty locations for longer periods of time versus moving every two or three years. The hope is that these efforts will “help us with pilot retention and that will, in turn, help with the pilot shortage,” Wilsbach said. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-on-track-goal-1500-new-pilots-training-2026/ AirBaltic Files for Bankruptcy Latvian airline airBaltic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. due to higher jet fuel prices and route disruptions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Latvian flag carrier airBaltic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. on Monday as it weathers higher jet fuel prices and route disruptions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The airline said it voluntarily initiated bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The filing will not affect flight operations, officials said, and passengers will not see any disruptions. AirBaltic signaled earlier this summer that it was facing serious financial headwinds when it canceled plans to expand its Airbus A220 fleet, adopted a new business plan, and made arrangements for new interim financing. It blamed higher fuel prices, changing demand patterns, and route disruptions stemming from the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gulf region. AirBaltic also disclosed Monday that it has secured a commitment for €350 million, or about $403.6 million, in new debtor-in-possession financing arranged by the investment firm Strategic Value Partners and funded by Barclays, Hayfin Capital Management, Morgan Stanley, Oaktree Capital Management, and Strategic Value Partners. The airline said it will seek the court's permission to access this funding, which should be enough to support continued operations during the bankruptcy process. "Our focus is on continuing to run the airline while implementing the changes set out in our new business plan," Erno Hildén, president and CEO of airBaltic, said in a news release. "For our passengers, our operations continue as normal – the process does not affect their travel experience and is not noticeable to them – we are flying, selling tickets, and planning our future schedule, with the same focus on safety and operational reliability. At the same time, we are taking the necessary steps to make airBaltic a more efficient and financially sustainable airline." AirBaltic said it expects to complete the Chapter 11 process by June 2027. The carrier is majority owned by the Latvian government, with Lufthansa Group holding a 10% stake. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/small-business/articles/airbaltic-files-bankruptcy-130609114.html CALENDAR OF EVENTS . ALPA's 70th Air Safety Forum -September 14-17, 2026; Washington, DC . ICAO/EASA Third Global RSOO/RAIO Forum for Aviation Safety — September 29–30, 2026, in Georgetown, Guyana., https://www.icao.int/events : NATA Ground Handling Safety Symposium - September 15-16, 2026 Dallas/Fort Worth, TX www.nata.aero/ghss : Aircraft Cabin Air International Conference - 22-23 September 2026 . 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