Airplane News: Pilot Retirement, 100LL Ban, Electric Piper Archer, Jetblue Buying Spirit

This week in airplane news: A bill has been introduced in Congress to raise the retirement age of pilots, a congressional committee will hold a hearing on 100LL avgas, a plane crash near lifeguard training, CAE & Piper have partnered to develop an Archer electric conversion kit, and JetBlue will be buying Spirit airlines after a months-long battle with Frontier.

Two bills introduced in congress would raise the airline retirement age from 65 to 67.

These bills seek to reduce the pilot shortage, and this would be another increase in pilot retirement age since it was changed in 2007.

ALPA said, “This discussion is yet another attempt to distract the conversation from the real issue which is the failure of airlines to deliver on a key goal of the multibillion-dollar relief plan Congress provided them during the pandemic which was to effectively manage air-service operations as travel resumes. ALPA strongly opposes this proposed legislation as there is no reason to change the retirement age today and doing so would only increase costs for airlines as well as introduce unnecessary risks to passengers and crew alike.”

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/congressional-bills-would-raise-airline-retirement-age-to-67

Congressional Committee is going to hold a hearing called “Toxic Air: How Leaded Aviation Fuel is Poisoning America’s Children”

This committee is looking to ban 100LL

It is expected that the EPA will issue a finding on leaded avgas next year

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/congressional-committee-looking-at-national-100ll-ban

An airplane crashed in Huntington Beach California this week during a lifeguard competition

This competition quickly turned into a real rescue.

The crash happened in between events and the veteran lifeguards quickly swarmed the wreck.

The pilot was taken to the hospital with bruises but was otherwise unharmed.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/plane-crashes-lifeguarding-competition-pilot-rescued-87269378

CAE announced that they are working with Piper Aircraft to develop an Electric Propulsion Conversion Kit for the Piper PA-28-181 Archer.

The development of this technology is a first for CAE,” said CAE President and CEO Marc Parent. “As an engineering powerhouse and one of the largest Piper Archer operators, CAE is uniquely positioned to make the electric-powered flight a reality at our flight schools and beyond. CAE’s partnership with the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec for investment into R&D has enabled us to boldly look to the future and prepare our electric aircraft for take-off.”

https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/farnborough/cae-piper-to-develop-archer-electric-conversion-kit/

JetBlue will buy Spirit for 3.8 billion after a months-long battle between JetBlue and Frontier.

This merger will create the 5th largest airline in the country

The deal must be approved by regulators and will be the largest deal since Alaska Airlines beat out JetBlue for Virgin America.

“We have two priorities: one is to get this deal closed and get the airline integrated and build a bigger JetBlue,” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said in an interview Thursday. “Secondly to run a reliable operation in the meantime.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/28/jetblue-airways-reaches-deal-to-buy-spirit-airlines.html