US regional carrier PSA Airlines has removed “most” of its fleet of MHIRJ Aviation CRJ-series regional jets from service so as to inspect nose landing-gear doors. “Out of an abundance of caution, PSA Airlines has temporarily removed most of its aircraft from service in order to complete a necessary, standard inspection on the nose-gear door,” PSA parent American Airlines says. “We are working with PSA and the FAA to immediately address the issue.” “The issue is related to three nuts/bolts on the nose-gear doors,” American adds. PSA’s fleet includes 129 CRJ-series jets, including 60 CRJ700s and 69 CRJ900. “PSA Airlines removed a number of its… regional jets from service after discovering a maintenance item that required immediate attention,” the US Federal Aviation Administration says. “The airline voluntarily disclosed the matter to the FAA, and the agency is working with the airline to address the situation.” The FAA provides no other details. “We are working with our customers to arrange new accommodations on other flights and we are working to return the impacted aircraft to service,” American says . MHIRJ, the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries unit that acquired the CRJ programme from Bombardier in 2020, did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Dayton, Ohio-based PSA operates routes for American from hubs in Charlotte and Philadelphia, according to its website.

Critical to pilots’ acceptance of the Boeing 737 Max’s re-entry into service is the assurance that a serious out-of-trim situation can be easily resolved without the risk of manual controls becoming impossible to manipulate owing to aerodynamic forces. Not only will aircraft need to be modified but Max simulators will also have to be upgraded to ensure they accurately replicate the trim characteristics and the forces pilots will encounter. Investigation into the loss of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max highlighted the crew’s vain attempt to counter a significant trim imbalance – caused by the speed-trim system’s controversial MCAS software – by using the stabiliser trim wheel at high airspeed. The US FAA states that the force requirements to manually trim the 737 Max were an “area of intense focus” for the Ethiopian accident inquiry. Modification of the Max’s flight control software limits the maximum mis-trim that can occur for any foreseeable failure of the aircraft’s speed-trim system, of which MCAS is a part. The FAA says this ensures the pilot can maintain pitch control using only the control column, “without requiring exceptional pilot skill, strength or alertness” – a response to comments received during consultation which suggested that pilots ought to undergo annual strength tests. While the FAA is confident that the control column would be sufficient to deal with trim issues, it has also evaluated the manual trim system in the “unlikely event” that manual trim would be necessary. This evaluation included analysis of manual trim-wheel forces across various scenarios and testing to assess the strength capability of an “anthropometric cross-section” of both male and female pilots. Flight-testing under maximum out-of-trim conditions – beyond those possible for failure of the revised MCAS – has served to validate the trim-wheel forces as well as the crew’s ability to control the aircraft. “Manual trim-wheel forces meet FAA safety standards and do not require exceptional pilot skill or strength nor any special or unique handling techniques as suggested by some of the commenters,” the regulator states, adding that improved ‘runaway stabiliser’ procedures will further ensure that control forces remain “manageable”. These procedural revisions include specific notification to pilots that reducing airspeed lowers the air loads on the stabiliser, in turn reducing the effort needed for manual trim. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has conducted its own review of the Boeing modifications and the FAA’s analyses. EASA says the forces needed to operate the trim-wheel have been re-evaluated and it is satisfied that pilots will “not be faced” with a situation in which these manual forces are too high to recover control in the event of a trim runaway. It says it proposed a methodology for Boeing to demonstrate adequate forces against pilot strength, which was subsequently adopted. “This requires that a single pilot at the lower end of the human capability should be able to move the trim wheel, using one or two hands, for all of the out-of-trim conditions which could result from failures not shown to be extremely improbable,” says EASA.

Ukraine’s government has approved a proposal to sanction 13 Russian companies, including several airlines which will face a three-year ban on overflying Ukrainian territory. The measure is continuing evidence of the political tensions between the two countries whose relationship deteriorated after the Russian annexation of Crimea nearly seven years ago. Ukraine’s government states that it has approved the proposal from the ministry of infrastructure covering “special economic and other restrictive measures” including the “total ban” on flights. Infrastructure minister Vladislav Kryklii says airlines “dare to violate” a restriction prohibiting use of Ukrainian airspace over “temporarily occupied” areas of Crimea. The proposal involving a “complete cessation” of flights will be submitted to the Ukrainian national security and defence council for consideration, the government says. It has identified Pobeda, IrAero, KrasAvia, Komiaviatrans and Azimuth as being among the Russian operators, as well as smaller organisations such as Tulpar Air, Vologda Aviation, Simargl Air Company and others. Syrian operator Cham Wings is also being separately banned, says the infrastructure ministry.