Airplane News: FAA Sun n Fun Study, New WindRunner Aircraft, Boeing Issues Safety Advisory

Welcome to your weekly General Aviation news update, and this week we have 3 stories for you; FAA recruiting pilots for Sun N Fun Study, new aircraft designed to carry wind turbine blades, and a Boeing has issued a safety advisory for the 787. First up, the FAA is asking pilots who hold a current medical certificate and have flown in the last 6 months to be part of a study at Sun N Fun.  The study session will pay $300-$500 depending on the class of medical certificate, and the study session takes about 4 hours.  The purpose of the study is to obtain data for computerized tests.  These tests are used to recertify pilots following a medical event like a head injury or stroke. We’ll leave a link below to sign up if you’re interested!  https://generalaviationnews.com/2024/03/18/faa-recruiting-pilots-attending-sun-n-fun-for-research-study/ Next up this week is a new design for an airplane that would be long enough to carry wind turbine blades. The company, Radia, out of Colorado hopes to build the 356 foot long jet to deliver turbine blades to remote land-based wind farms. The aircraft, a 4 engined jet called the WindRunner, will carry two turbine blades per flight to remote unimproved airstrips near the wind turbine fields. Delivery of the blades will allow wind turbines with blade lengths up to 320 feet, 100 feet longer than currently used.  To put the cargo volume in perspective, WindRunner will have 7 times the cargo capacity of a C5 Galaxy along with a range of 1200 miles. We’ll keep you up to date with more news about the WindRunner. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/massive-aircraft-designed-to-carry-wine-turbine-blades/ Last up this week is Boeing’s Response to the LATAM 787 issue we discussed last week. If you’re unfamiliar, there was an issue in a LATAM 787 that resulted in a hard pitch down injuring 50+ people.  Previously the cause was unknown, now it’s speculated the seat switch on the Dreamliner may be to blame. Boeing has issued a safety advisory asking airlines to inspect the switches on their 787s as a precautionary measure, noting that in certain circumstances the safety cap can jam the button resulting in unintended seat movement.  According to a Wall Street Journal report on the LATAM flight, a flight attendant serving a mean inadvertently hit a switch on the back of the seat pushing the pilot into the controls of the 787. Currently, no official report from New Zealand has been released. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/boeing-issues-safety-advisory-after-latam-airlines-incident/ Alright, that’s it! Have a great week and we’ll see you next week.