PTEParis: Collins Aerospace showcases recently acquired FlightAware

Having acquired the digital aviation company, FlightAware, at the end of 2021 Collins Aerospace has been showcasing how data analytics and machine learning can improve decision-making and enhance overall airport operations during this week’s Passenger Terminal Expo (PTE) in Paris. FlightAware provides global flight tracking solutions, as well as predictive technology, analytics and decision-making tools, all of which are helping Collins unlock the full power of the connected ecosystem for its… (www.regionalgateway.net) More...

Sullenberger Abruptly Resigns as ICAO Ambassador

C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who successfully dead sticked an Airbus A320 to a safe landing on New York’s Hudson River in 2009 after hitting a flock of geese, said late last week that he would step down as U.S. envoy to the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), effective this Friday (July 1). (www.ainonline.com) More...

FlightAware Aviation Stats Update: March 1, 2023

"COVID-19 put the brakes on aviation in March 2020. But almost exactly 3 years later, all regions of the world are showing big recoveries. This is especially true in China, where commercial aviation has finally come back to life in the last few weeks, with flight counts off only 15% from 2019 record highs"... (blog.flightaware.com) More...

Wrong fuel tank cap leads to accident

The pilot reported that during the preflight inspection, he filled the Piper J-4A’s forward (main) fuel tank to about 1 inch below the top and noted that the auxiliary fuel tank contained 4 gallons of fuel. The pilot used a stick to “dip” the two fuel tanks and validate the amount of fuel in them. The pilot planned on departing from North Omaha Airport (3NO) in Nebraska for flight operations in the airport’s traffic pattern. Before the takeoff, the fuel selector was positioned for the forward… (generalaviationnews.com) More...

Next Generation Model Serving

Model Server Motivation Producing real-time predictions requires two components: feature vector building and model evaluation (aka inference). Our original infrastructure (the Python streamer) handled both of these in one place. It followed our flight data feed to build feature vectors and evaluated those vectors on models it loaded into memory. The streamer was not performant enough to run for all the airports we wished to make predictions for, so we ran many copies of it, with each streamer… (flightaware.engineering) More...

FlightAware Foresight: A Window into the Future

In the world of aviation, having even just a few minutes advanced notice of changes to a flight arrival time - or a taxi time - can have huge downstream effects. One of the things we’ve been focused on at FlightAware is expanding and innovating our Predictive technologies (which we call FlightAware ForesightSM), and not only that, but deepening the trust in our predictions while simplifying the overall customer experience so that we can unlock the value that comes from having a confident view… (blog.flightaware.com) More...

What You Need to Know About Turbulence

Countless travelers have experienced the distinct anxiety-inducing sensation of turbulence on flights: Eyes squeezed shut, hands clamped to the armrests for dear life, bracing for the roller coaster to come. Recent incidents have left dozens of passengers with injuries. Last month, seven passengers on a Lufthansa flight from Texas to Frankfurt were hospitalized with minor injuries after their plane encountered severe turbulence as it flew over Tennessee. And in December, about two dozen people,… (www.nytimes.com) More...

Air New Zealand Advises Passengers Not To Use Baggage Trackers

How did baggage trackers become so popular? With the chaotic mixture of a staffing shortage, surging passenger demand, and ramped-up flight schedules, the global aviation industry has been quite overwhelmed this year as it entered a post-pandemic recovery era. Simply put, the resources within the industry could not keep up with the increasing demand, and one consequential result was having almost 220,000 bags mishandled in April 2022 alone. (simpleflying.com) More...

City Council Votes To Close Santa Monica Airport

The City Council of Santa Monica has voted to begin the process of closing Santa Monica Municipal Airport (KSMO). The vote, which occurred January 24, was greenlit by an agreement made in 2017 between the FAA and city officials allowing the closure to happen. According to the FAA, the 2017 agreement “requires the city to maintain continuous and stable operation of the airport for 12 years, until December 31, 2028, and after that the city has the right to close the airport.” The agreement also… (www.flyingmag.com) More...

Air Mobility Command Removes Tail Numbers and Unit Info from Planes, Alarming Watchdogs

Air Mobility Command has directed its refueling and cargo planes to obscure the majority of identifying information painted on the aircraft, citing national security concerns -- an unusual move that is alarming to government watchdogs. James Stewart, a spokesman for Air Mobility Command, told Military.com in an emailed statement that airmen's missions take them around the globe and often involve sensitive movements of cargo -- the main reason behind the change. (www.military.com) More...