AvTalk Episode 84: Completing the trifecta

What this episode covers

On this episode of AvTalk, more airlines say goodbye to sizable portions of their fleets while one airline will press an A380 into cargo service. And pilot Jon Weiswasser joins us to talk about his trifecta—landing at Newark, La Guardia, and JFK during the same flight in a Vans RV-8. Fleet retirements spreading far and wide Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, American Airlines, and others took big steps this week to reduce their fleet sizes, with some of our favorite aircraft now slated for desert retirement communities. Qantas puts Project Sunrise on hold Lacking both passenger demand and the cash to buy the planes from Airbus, Qantas has put its ultra-long haul ambitions on hold. Lufthansa Technik’s A380 cargo conversion Lufthansa Technik announced it will convert a passenger A380 to carry cargo only by removing the the seats and making other interior modifications for an undisclosed airlines. We not-so-wildly speculate which airline that may be. Norwegian lives to fly another day Always down, but seemingly never out, Norwegian will live to fly another day thanks to an agreement with bondholders. Bomb threat closes Anchorage Airport, diverts the An-225 A bomb threat to a China Airlines Cargo flight caused it to divert to Anchorage last week, which closed the airport during the investigation. The closure forced the An-225, the world’s largest cargo aircraft, to divert to Fairbanks and then ferry back. Jon Weiswasser completes the trifecta Jon Weiswasser is a doctor, the drummer for Eagles tribute band Eaglemania, and a pilot with an engrossing YouTube channel called Life in the Fast Lane and he joins us to talk about completing the trifecta—landing at Newark, La Guardia, and JFK during the same flight in a Vans RV-8. Generally good news We close the show with a few bits of mostly good news because we could all use a little good news these days.