More than 1,500 local high school students from 26 schools are set to participate in the 13th annual Aviation Career Day held at Van Nuys Airport. The event is slated for next Friday, April 27, 2018. Clay Lacy Aviation, Van Nuys Airport, and The Valley Economic Alliance will host 51 exhibitors showcasing interactive exhibits, static aircraft displays, high-tech video presentations and industry experts.

An F-22 Raptor attempting takeoff at Naval Air Station Fallon may have lost an engine and ended up touching down with the gear up last week. The aircraft slid and came to rest on the runway. The jet was from the 3rd Air Force Wing at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. After the incident, the aircraft appeared to be intact, but damaged, and there were no reported injuries.

An investor group based in Maine says it will manufacture the Atol 650, a Finnish-designed high-performance light sport amphibian. Atol USA is a joint venture with the Finland-based Atol Avion mother company. Because of its many lakes, amphib flying is popular in Finland and the company says Maine has similar topography so the company sees strong potential for the U.S. market.

Fran Bera, who set an unbroken National Aeronautic Association record for highest altitude attained in a twin-engine Piper Aztec - 40,154 feet, has died. Bera caught the flying bug young and worked odd jobs as a teen to save for flight lessons.

For the 13th time, China has released a Five-Year Plan – a series of social and economic initiatives that has elements aimed at boosting general aviation development. This plan is sparking demand for training aircraft in the country. Textron Aviation says it is capitalizing on this and has received orders for 52 Cessna Skyhawks from general aviation training entities in China. All deliveries are expected to be completed within 2018.

With almost 20 percent of the global fleet of Pilatus aircraft operating in the Southwest United States, Cutter Aviation has been appointed an Authorized Pilatus Sales and Service Center for the area. Pilatus says the region is base to about 300 of its aircraft. Cutter Aviation will work within the Pilatus network to provide sales and service for the PC-12 NG and PC-24 Super Versatile Jet in the Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado region.

Pilots from regional airline Trans States now have a direct pathway to the Frontier Airlines flight deck. An agreement was signed by the two airlines this week guaranteeing Trans States pilots a first officer position with Frontier after as little as two years of service with Trans States.

New bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives that, if passed, would authorize funding for the FAA until 2023. Unlike previous iterations, H.R. 4, called the “FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018,” does not include provisions for removal of ATC from FAA oversight. The bill is scheduled to go to the House floor the week of April 23.

NASA will be conducting a series of supersonic flights to gauge future community response to the noise signature of its Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator aircraft (LBFD). Since the contract for construction of the LBFD X-plane was only just awarded to Lockheed Martin at the beginning of April, the Quiet Supersonic Flights 2018 (QSF18) study will use a NASA F/A-18 research plane.

In the wake of the uncontained engine failure that killed a passenger on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 earlier this week, the FAA has announced that it will issue an AD requiring inspections of certain CFM56-7B engines. This statement comes after NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt said during a media briefing that a preliminary inspection of the engine on the Southwest Boeing 737-700 revealed that a fan blade had broken off at the hub and around the midpoint of the blade.

At the Aero Expo this week in Friedrichshafen, Germany, EASA officials renewed their pledge to simplify certification rules for the European industry, including major changes to the rules governing flight schools. Besides simplifying the rules on balloon and glider operations, the agency is actively working on decluttering its rule books, both in an effort to make compliance simpler, but also to give the industry a better chance to counter its rising age demographics and dwindling numbers.

Southwest Airlines captain Tammie Jo Shults, 56, is being hailed as a hero for her deft and calm handling of an uncontained engine failure that damaged her Boeing 737 and claimed the life of passenger Jennifer Riordan on Tuesday.

As Piper rides a wave of trainer aircraft demand, it announced at Aero in Friedrichshafen, Germany, that it will offer a diesel version of its PA-44 Seminole. The new model will be powered by a new Jet-A engine model from Continental Motors, the 170-HP CD-170, a variant of Continental’s CD-100 series diesel engines.

The NTSB is officially calling the fatal crash at Embry-Riddle earlier this month an in-flight breakup, although its report thus far is only preliminary. The accident occurred on April 4 and killed ERAU student Zach Capra and FAA DPE John S. Azma.

An Airworthiness Directive published by the FAA on Tuesday restricts the operations of some Boeing 787s with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, noting that in the event of an engine failure, the time the aircraft can sustain flight on a single engine would be reduced. More than 380 aircraft in the worldwide fleet are affected by the problem, but only 14 are based in the U.S.