Airlines in Chaos, China Again Bullish on GA and a Vintage Huey Goes Down.

A civilian-owned and operated Bell UH-1 crashed in West Virginia, killing all six aboard. Reports are that the vintage retired military helicopter was on its way to a Huey reunion when the crash occurred.

In its latest 5-year plan, China says that it will make the advancement of civil aviation a priority. The country's lowered level of support for general aviation over the past several years has made a Western investment by aviation firms a dicey proposition.

With the shortage of pilots to fly planes amidst a surge in air travel demand, regional airlines are increasing pilot pay substantially. Three airlines, PSA, Envoy, and Piedmont, all bumped pilot pay to levels comparable to or in many cases higher than the compensation level at the majors.

Regional airlines are also exploring novel ways to avoid the general 1500-hour minimum for flight crewmembers. SkyWest has applied to the FAA for a Part 135 charter certificate, which would allow the airline to operate smaller planes as commuter airliners.  If the FAA approves the application, and it has approved other such applications in decades past, the move might usher in a whole new paradigm for short-haul air travel.

There was a flurry of news on the SAF front, as non-petroleum fuels were used on the first helicopter flight, a regional airliner while the first batch of sustainable fuel was making its way through a fuel pipeline near New York City.

Honda Aircraft reached a 25-year deal with FlightSafety International for that training organization to be Honda's go-to sim provider. The agreement will add a second sim, doubling the training capacity for HondaJet flight crewmembers.

A Red Air DC-9 went off the runway at Miami International after its gear collapsed on landing, but all 126 passengers and crew evacuated safely, even as the plane was burning. Fire and rescue response was textbook, possibly saving dozens of lives. The NTSB is investigating.

The FAA and telecom providers have agreed to cool jets on the unleashing of 5G cellular service near busy airports. The okay to switch on 5G was due to be on July 1^st, 2022, but the agreement will push that back in most cases a year as the FAA works with airliners and other large aircraft operators to modify or replace their existing radar altimeters.

The FAA released new guidance for entities that create NOTAMs, providing new guidelines that the agency hopes will make the NOTAM system more usable. The advisory circular shares mostly common-sense suggestions for change, including eliminating outdated NOTAMS and those related to noise mitigation procedures.