Author: FlyMarshall Newsroom

A comprehensive aviation safety bill introduced in the US House would implement National Transportation Safety Board recommendations following the January 2025 midair collision of a regional airliner and Army helicopter near Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA).  The measure, titled the Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency Act, or ALERT Act, would require changes to collision-avoidance technology, helicopter routing, air traffic control training, and FAA oversight practices. Lawmakers say the bill addresses every safety recommendation issued by the NTSB after its year-long investigation into the crash, which involved an American Airlines CRJ700 and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter and killed 67 people.  The ALERT…

Earlier, I covered some rumored World of Hyatt program changes, including an overhaul of award pricing, plus the introduction of a premium credit card. This was based on a very detailed but unsubstantiated report on Reddit. So along those lines, there’s an interesting update… Hyatt rumor spreader claims details were totally made up The same Reddit user who posted the original rumors about the World of Hyatt program changes now claims that those details were completely made up. In a follow-up post titled “well this escalated quickly,” the person writes the following: Time to clear something up. The entire “Hyatt…

Several weeks ago, I wrote about how Florida lawmakers proposed renaming an airport after President Trump. Well, this proposal has now passed the Florida Legislature, so it’s very likely to become a reality. Lawmakers vote to rename airport after President Trump In November 2025, Republican Florida State Representative Meg Weinberger introduced a proposal to rename Palm Beach International Airport to Donald J. Trump International Airport. As she explained in a statement: “President Trump is the most consequential president of our lifetime and a resident of Palm Beach County, which makes it only fitting to honor him, like many other presidents…

A comedian is angry after he was recently downgraded on an American Airlines flight from Hawaii to the mainland. While his frustration is justified, does he actually understand what happened? American downgrades couple from first class on Hawaii flight OMAAT reader Simon flags how comedian Jim Breuer spent over 31 minutes ranting about a recent experience on American, where he and his wife splurged on first class tickets from Honolulu (HNL) to Phoenix (PHX). You don’t actually need to watch the entire rant, but let me briefly summarize. Long story short, a few minutes before boarding in Honolulu, Breuer and…

By Bjorn Fehrm and Henry Tam February 20, 2026, ©. Leeham News: We have, since August 2025, gone through an FAA CFR 14 Part 25 development project of an airliner in the 200-seat class. The aim was to identify the activities required for such a project and the regulatory actions needed to achieve Type Certification (TC) and Production Certification (OC) for the aircraft. The program followed the time plan in Figure 1, which indicated that it would take about seven years from the start of conceptual design to deliver the first aircraft and enter service (EIS). At each phase, we…

The Defense Department this week began testing for the initial phase of its Drone Dominance Program, an effort to expand the use of commercial drones across the military. Dubbed “the Gauntlet,” military operators will fly and evaluate uncrewed aerial systems, or UASs, at Fort Benning, Georgia, to determine which of the 25 competing vendors will advance to the next phase of the program.However, ahead of the testing, DOD curated a list of commercial drones that meet baseline performance and compliance standards. With the list, officials aim to streamline procurement and encourage military leaders to begin buying and fielding approved systems…

All the time, OMAAT readers will share with me the frustrating situations they encounter with airlines, and I try to share my take and provide tips, best I can. Well, I’ve just encountered a situation with a ticket I had booked on Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), which is leaving me very frustrated.I guess I should take responsibility here, though it really exposes how one-sided airline contracts of carriage are, and how unforgiving airlines are when it comes to applying logic to these kinds of situations. Let me explain… SAS canceled my flight, and rebooking wasn’t seamlessOn the trip I’m just wrapping…

The intercept was carried out as the Russian Tu-95MS bombers and their escorting fighters transited the Alaskan ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone). On Feb. 19, 2026, the U.S. Air Force launched two F-16s, two F-35s, one E-3, and four KC-135s tankers to “intercept, positively identify, and escort the aircraft until they departed the Alaskan ADIZ.”The intercept was carried out as the Russian Tu-95MS bombers and their escorting fighters transited the Alaskan ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone).A-50 Mainstay’s role According to NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), the Russian aircraft were identified as being two Tu-95s, two Su-35s, and one A-50…

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have awarded the Boeing 777-9 flight training simulator initial qualification. On February 20, 2026, Boeing announced that simulator qualification certificate meant the company was “one step closer to conducting regulator-approved pilot training”. “Securing these approvals is an important step as we prepare for the start of flight training,” said Capt. Gary Mandy, 777X Chief Technical Pilot. “Pilots will benefit from an immersive training experience that will help ensure our customers’ operational readiness for the 777-9.” The 777-9 training devices are located at the Boeing Training Campus in London-Gatwick…

Emirates is currently undergoing an aggressive retrofit project for the interiors of its aircraft, to introduce a new product standard, and also to roll out premium economy. Along those lines, the airline has revealed plans to reconfigure the highest capacity aircraft flown by any airline. With this, we’ll no longer see any commercial aircraft with over 600 seats. Emirates’ densest A380s go from 615 to 569 seatsEmirates has a fleet of well over 100 Airbus A380s. While a vast majority of those feature first class, there are also 15 of these planes without a first class cabin, intended primarily for…