25th Anniversary Thunder Over Michigan Event Ends Prematurely
For more than twenty-years, crowds have thrilled to Thunder Over Michigan, a gala event counted among the U.S.’s premier air-shows. Regrettably, the event’s 25th anniversary was marred by the loss of a Soviet-Era MiG-23 (NATO designation Flogger). The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration have undertaken investigations of the occurrence, the cause of which remains unknown.
No Injuries Reported, Condition of Prototype Unknown
Vertical Aerospace, the Bristol, UK-based concern that designs and manufactures Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, announced on 09 August that its VX4 eVTOL prototype had suffered a mishap during a test-flight at Gloucestershire, England’s Cotswold Airport (GBA). The company set forth in its SEC filing: “Our flight-test program is designed to establish the limits of the aircraft’s performance, and the incident occurred during an uncrewed test of the aircraft’s maneuverability during a motor failure test scenario, which is a key requirement to progress to crewed operations.”
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has granted Hartzell Engine Tech, the Alabama-based powerplant/firewall-forward subsidiary of Hartzell Aviation, STC approval for Plane-Power ALT-FLX alternator upgrades across a wide range of piston-powered fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. The upgrades were previously approved in the United States by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Deceased Pilot Reportedly “Very Safe and Conscientious”
The pilot and passenger of a Scoda Aeronautica Super Petrel LS, registration N239WD, lost their lives when the aircraft struck high-tension power-lines while reportedly practicing water landings on Hickory, North Carolina’s Lake Hickory. The mishap occurred at approximately 11:30 EDT on Sunday, 13 August 2023 and claimed the lives of pilot Jeffrey Jay Cooley, 63, of Granite Falls, North Carolina and passenger Brian Frank Miller, 49, of Hickory, North Carolina.
The NTSB has released its final report on a 26 July 2021 accident in which a 16-year-old Bombardier CL-600-2B16, registration N605TR, was destroyed and the entirety of its occupants—six passengers and two pilots—lost their lives following an instance of loss of control in flight while attempting to land at California’s Truckee-Tahoe Airport (TRK). The accident aircraft was operated as a personal flight under Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations.
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