Author: FlyMarshall Newsroom

Hello from Cambodia, as I just flew Singapore Airlines’ Boeing 737 MAX 8 business class on the 1hr40min flight from Singapore (SIN) to Phnom Penh (KTI), as part of my review trip. While narrow body flights usually aren’t much to get excited about, I was very much looking forward to this one, as it was my first time flying on a Singapore Airlines narrow body.Up until a few years ago, Singapore Airlines exclusively operated wide body planes, and its SilkAir subsidiary operated narrow body planes. However, the airline decided to merge those brands, which seemed like a logical move, in terms…

In the early 2000s, the United States military made one of the most consequential decisions in aviation history: it chose Lockheed Martin’s X-35 design, later developed into the F-35 Lightning II, over Boeing’s futuristic X-32, the plane that might have become the F-32. What seemed like a straightforward competition between two stealth fighter prototypes has since grown into a symbol of ambition, failure, and the long-lasting echoes of lost opportunity. The Boeing X-32, despite its odd looks and experimental engineering, represented a radically different vision for the future of American airpower, one that still lingers in the background of every…

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend so far! I’m just wrapping up my review trip (I’m a couple of days behind on updates theres, so I’ll have lots of content in the next couple of days), and am happy to get back home, but am also already looking forward to my next review trip. On the points & travel front, this week we saw the FAA start to limit flights due to the government shutdown, Air Astana and Somon Air placed some awesome aircraft orders, we learned how Hilton plans to introduce a new top tier elite status,…

Following the fatal crash of UPS Airlines Flight 2976 in Louisville on November 3, Boeing recommended that all McDonnell Douglas MD-11 operators suspend flights while additional engineering analysis on the aircraft is performed. This primarily impacts UPS and FedEx, the two primary operators of MD-11 cargo variants, both of whom grounded their fleets out of “an abundance of caution.” MD-11 operator Western Global is also expected to comply. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading this probe, with early details indicating that the jet climbed briefly before a catastrophic failure occurred. This resulted in engine separation and cockpit warnings.…

Commercial planes are steadily coming equipped with more and more powerful turbofans. These engines produce enormous amounts of thrust, and when they’re cruising at high altitude, they sip fuel with more efficiency than ever before. In the thin, cold air (as low as -60 degrees Celsius) of the high atmospheric layers, modern turbofans perform at their best. The highest airways in the sky are ideal environments for efficient jet engine performance, but they come with their own risks as well. Cold temperatures are still harsh on material, causing brittleness that can lead to stress fractures. High wind speeds and wind…

The Norwegian government and NHIndustries announced on Nov. 3, 2025 that they resolved their court dispute over the NH90 helicopter with an amicable settlement, three years after the country canceled the contract with the firm. The helicopter served with the Norwegian Armed Forces for nearly 20 years, but had been afflicted with acute maintainability issues. The joint statement said that the amicable settlement solved “all disputes between the parties relating to the Norwegian NH90 program.” The statement further says that, “as a result of the settlement, all court proceedings between the parties are now concluded.” Following the settlement at the…

The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 powers the Boeing 787, and this dynamic engine was designed around a high bypass ratio for lower fuel burn and noise output. Service experience revealed some durability shortfalls, mostly when it came to blade and seal issues in intermediate and high-pressure sections. This ultimately triggered an airworthiness directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which was quickly followed by inspections, de-pairing rules, and accelerated shop visits. Rolls-Royce introduced redesigned parts, new inspection regimes, and, most recently, durability enhancement packages and a new blade that aims to more than…

The P-8A Poseidon offers greater capabilities over the P-3C Orion and will allow Germany to enhance interoperability with the U.K. and Norway for NATO missions. The first of Germany’s eight P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft landed at Berlin Brandenburg airport on Nov. 7, 2025. Aircraft 63+01 flew the transatlantic journey from the continental U.S., leaving Seattle’s King County International Airport, better known as Boeing Field, on the morning of Nov. 7. Flight tracking website Italimilradar and other profiles showed a stopover at Keflavik airport, in Iceland, and the aircraft flying with the callsign ‘GNY4567’. The Bundeswehr (German…

Over the past few decades, airlines have shifted toward twin-engine aircraft to reduce fuel burn and operating costs. Earlier generations saw fleets dominated by three- and four-engine widebodies, but most have now been phased out. Only a handful of quadjets and trijets remain in service today, such as the Airbus A380, Boeing 747, and McDonnell Douglas MD-11, as well as the Airbus A340. The latter was European planemaker’s first four-engine aircraft, and was developed in parallel with the A330 twinjet to succeed the A300, the world’s first widebody twinjet. When it entered service in 1993, its four-engine redundancy was still…

Production challenges persist across key U.S. and allied defense programs despite post-pandemic recovery. A recent event hosted by the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, warned that supply chains of the aerospace and defense industry remain fragile despite gradual improvements since the pandemic. The discussion, which was a part of the Council’s broader work on defense-industrial issues, featured executives from Samsung Electronics, RENK America, and Acutec Precision Aerospace, who outlined how lingering disruptions continue to impact the production across the defense industry. The warning comes as both the United States and Europe look to strengthen their defense manufacturing capabilities.…