Leonardo has delivered its 700th American-made helicopter from its production facility in Philadelphia. The AW119Kx single-engine aircraft was delivered to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Leonardo began producing helicopters on its FAA Part 21-certified Philadelphia production line in 2004. The 26-acre Philadelphia campus employs nearly 1,000 and includes aftermarket support, administration, engineering, and training facilities. It has grown over the years to assemble the AW119 and AW139 models and their military variants—the Navy’s TH-73A training helicopter and the Air Force’s MH-139 in partnership with Boeing. It also houses engineering and development for the AW609 civil tiltrotor and will begin serial production of that aircraft upon certification.

“The United States remains the world’s largest market for helicopters,” said Gian Piero Cutillo, Leonardo Helicopters’ managing director. “The constant expansion of our industrial and service capabilities in Philadelphia and other U.S. locations over the years is evidence of our commitment” to the U.S. market.

In addition to the Philadelphia campus, Leonardo operates U.S.-based customer support and service facilities in Broussard, Louisiana, and Milton, Florida.

Air ambulance operator Global Jet Care is planning a round-the-world flight in one of its Learjet 36 light jets next year to celebrate a famous 100th-anniversary world flight and raise money for the Classic Lear Jet Foundation.

The Foundation is restoring Lear 23-003, the first to be delivered, to flying condition in Wichita, where it was built in 1964. Brooksville, Florida-based Global Jet Care is one of the Foundation’s largest donors.

The round-the-world flight will take off from Wichita on April 4, 2024, and fly west, with stops in California, Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Thailand, Pakistan, Egypt, Italy, Portugal, and Canada. The return date of April 6 is planned to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the start of the Army Air Service’s first circumnavigation of the globe, which started in Seattle and took 175 days and 74 stops. Only two of the original four Douglas World Cruisers completed the flight.

Global Jet Care expects its circumnavigation to take 54 hours and 30 minutes, even with the headwinds that will likely be present while flying westbound.

A Bombardier Challenger 604 seriously damaged in a landing attempt at London Stansted Airport was flown “slower than appropriate for the conditions, and the aircraft floated, leading to an excessive angle of attack prior to the excursion,” according to a UK Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) final report. But the agency could not determine a single precise cause.

The twinjet was seriously damaged when the crew lost control during an attempted landing on Runway 22 at London Stansted Airport with strong crosswinds. At the time, surface wind was from 300 degrees at 13 knots, gusting to 25 knots.

According to the final report, the aircraft bounced and landed hard on its nose gear, followed by its left and then right landing gear. “The left wingtip struck the runway several times and remained in contact with the ground as the aircraft departed the paved surface into the grass area.”

At one point, the stick-pusher activated. The crew managed to make a go-around and land uneventfully at Gatwick Airport. There were no injuries to the two passengers and two pilots, but the damage to the nose gear assembly and left wingtip was considered beyond economical repair.

The AAIB also said that “it is possible that [crew] relationship issues and fatigue factors affected decision-making and communication. The pilots experienced a long working day (awake for 17 hours) and the relationship between them was characterized as ‘strained.’”

NASA plans to unveil its X-59 quiet supersonic technology (Quesst) demonstrator aircraft on January 12 during a public ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California.

Lockheed Martin has been developing the X-59 alongside NASA since 2016, and the first flight of the supersonic aircraft had been anticipated to take place this year. However, in October, agency officials delayed the inaugural flight to 2024, citing “several technical challenges identified over the course of 2023,” including “intermittent issues with some of the safety-redundant computers.” 

Earlier this year, the Quesst team moved the X-59 out of the assembly room and onto the flight line, a space between the hangar and the runway, to proceed with ground testing in preparation for the first flight. The X-59 aircraft was then relocated to the paint barn at Skunk Works in mid-November for a fresh paint job and new livery that will be revealed at the rollout.

NASA is developing the 100-foot-long X-plane to demonstrate the ability to fly faster than the speed of sound without generating a loud sonic boom—the main reason why commercial supersonic flight over land is currently prohibited. NASA said the aircraft will produce a much quieter “thump” as it breaks the sound barrier, and the agency will fly the aircraft over communities in 2024 to collect data on how residents perceive the noise.

A Department of Transportation watchdog is recommending that the FAA improve its oversight of airport revenue use and ensure that several states that have not complied with aviation fuel tax revenue limitations take steps to meet the requirements. The DOT Office of Inspector General (OIG) said the agency has agreed to follow through on the recommendations.

In 2014, the FAA strengthened its policies of what is permitted and prohibited uses of revenues stemming from aviation fuel taxes. The OIG conducted an audit to ensure “effective stewardship of taxpayer dollars used to support the nation’s airports” and assessed whether the FAA’s oversight was sufficient to prevent or detect revenue diversion.

Since the FAA updated its revenue policy, the FAA has made progress in confirming whether states and local governments are complying with the requirements, the OIG found. But, it added, the FAA has not validated if jurisdictions are using processing from aviation fuel taxes according to their approved plans. “Without testing the jurisdictions’ approved action plan for using aviation fuel taxes, FAA cannot ensure that revenue is used for aviation‑related purposes as required by federal regulations."

Further, the FAA has yet to take enforcement actions against five jurisdictions that are not in compliance with revenue limitations, the OIG said, naming California, Kentucky, Nevada, Tennessee, and Guam.