The president of Chubu Electric Power Co., Japan's third-largest utility, said that he and the chairperson are resigning to take responsibility over the company's yearslong manipulation of earthquake safety data for two nuclear reactors and that the operator will withdraw applications to restart them.
Japan has been gradually restarting some of the 54 nuclear reactors it shuttered in 2011, after the Fukushima disaster, when a 9.0 earthquake off Japan’s northeastern coast and a subsequent tsunami caused meltdowns at three reactors operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, or TEPCO.
Chubu Electric President Kingo Hayashi said that an outside investigative panel found that the utility had for years provided manipulated seismic data for its Hamaoka No. 3 and No. 4 reactors to ensure the figures met requirements.
With the credibility of the safety data in serious question, the utility has decided to drop the pending restart application for the two reactors, Hayashi said.
img: Cubu Electric Power Co., CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
A U.S. Army report has highlighted the many systemic breakdowns that led to the 2025 midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Army found many systemic breakdowns that led to last year’s midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter near Washington D.C. and recommended numerous steps the military should take to prevent future tragedies.
The report recommended that the Army look beyond Washington, D.C., to study the practices in every major city where its helicopters operate to ensure similar risks aren't present. An Army official said the review of helicopter flights in other cities, including Los Angeles and the Seattle-Tacoma region, is ongoing.
img: ID 451052472 © Maurie Hill | Dreamstime.com
Two years after a Merlin HC Mk 4 flying from HMS Queen Elizabeth ditched in the sea off Dorset, killing Lt Rhodri Leyshon, the board of enquiry report has finally been published. The inquiry found that a fractured engine component triggered an emergency that the crew misdiagnosed, after which two serviceable engines were shut down, leaving the helicopter without power at low level over the sea at night. The report revealed that a component failure, ambiguous cockpit warnings, and crew misdiagnosis led to the fatal ditching.
During a night deck-landing exercise from HMS Queen Elizabeth, a split fuel pump diaphragm on engine two caused a sudden power surge. The aircraft's management system automatically throttled back engines one and three to compensate. Due to ambiguous cockpit warning logic, the crew misdiagnosed this as a double-engine failure and manually shut down the two functional engines. Engine two then tripped its overspeed protection, leaving the helicopter without power.
The investigation cited several compounding factors, including component testing procedures by engine maker Safran, reduced crew flight currency, a breakdown in crew resource management and equipment issues during the post-crash rescue.
img: ID 192481707 © Burnstuff2003 | Dreamstime.com
A major technical failure at National Air Traffic Services (NATS) on 8th September 2026, caused widespread travel chaos across the UK. A system glitch at the Swanwick control centre disrupted flight plan processing, forcing air traffic controllers to halt departures. The outage led to over 1,750 flight cancellations and affected more than 300,000 passengers across major airports, including London Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted. Heathrow briefly halted incoming flights due to gate congestion.
Engineers fixed the issue within four hours, but knock-on delays persisted for days while airlines repositioned aircraft and crew. NATS ruled out a cyberattack, yet Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander ordered an independent review by the Civil Aviation Authority and demanded a full report within a week. Major airlines, including Ryanair and Wizz Air, condemned the outage, noting it was NATS's third major technical failure in three years.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8x3dp1zpxo
img: ID 155236599 | Airport © Tktktk | Dreamstime.com
The race to deploy autonomous, fixed-wing aircraft is accelerating, led by pilotless crop dusters and cargo delivery planes rather than urban air taxis. California-based start-up Pyka has secured US commercial authorization for its fully electric, autonomous crop sprayer, which flies lower than human pilots to reduce chemical drift.
Meanwhile, British firm Windracers is seeking permission for heavy-lift cargo services.While autopilot merely assists, fully autonomous systems handle entire flights via software algorithms. However, strict aviation safety standards have slowed deployment compared to self-driving cars.
Companies are currently divided over artificial intelligence; some leverage generative AI and cameras for communication and obstacle detection, while others strictly avoid AI to ease regulatory certification.
Supporters argue automation cuts costs and improves safety, but pilots' groups remain highly wary, calling the removal of human crews a serious gamble.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1l123mmrg7o
img: ID 160640227 | Crop Duster © Pix569 | Dreamstime.com