This Month in Aviation
Six aviation stories from the past four weeks, roughly mid-September to early October 2026. A cargo plane crash in Miami killed five people on the ground. A European airline went to a US court to survive. And in Iceland, a strike started and ended on the same morning. Each brief links to our full article, so you can read more about the stories that interest you.
A cargo plane overruns the runway in Miami On 6 September a Boeing 767 freighter carrying packages for Amazon landed at Miami International Airport and could not stop. The 32-year-old plane, 21 Air Flight 7598 from San Juan, ran off the end of the runway. It hit a van, broke through a fence and crossed a busy road. Five people on the ground died and five more were hurt, including both pilots. The NTSB has recovered the flight recorders. Investigators are looking closely at the aircraft’s age and its brakes.
airBaltic asks a US court for protection Latvia’s national airline, airBaltic, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on 14 September. The airline planned for jet fuel at about $685 a tonne. After conflict in the Middle East, the price rose to nearly $2,000. Most airlines buy some fuel in advance at a fixed price, but airBaltic had done this for only about 10% of its fuel. Chapter 11 lets a company keep working while it reorganises its debts. Flights and ticket sales continue as normal.
Storms ground hundreds of flights at O’Hare Strong thunderstorms moved over Chicago on 17 September. One of O’Hare’s runways was also closed that week, so the airport could handle fewer planes than usual. Air traffic control slowed flights down before they reached Chicago, and some pilots waited more than an hour to land. By Thursday, O’Hare had more cancelled flights than any other airport in the world. Because so many passengers change planes there, the problems spread to airports across the country.
Icelandair’s mechanics strike for one morning On 23 September, mechanics at Icelandair took industrial action and stopped work after pay talks broke down. The airline cancelled 26 international flights and five domestic flights, and almost 5,500 passengers were affected. The mechanics accepted a pay freeze in 2020 to help the airline survive the pandemic. That contract ended in 2025, and they now want pay like workers at other airlines. By midday the afternoon flights were running again. The two sides agreed to four weeks of talks with a state mediator.
The FAA proposes a fix for A350 engines The FAA has proposed an airworthiness directive — an official order to fix a safety problem — for some Airbus A350s with Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines. A small valve in the fuel system can wear out and stop closing fully. Then, at high power, less fuel may reach the engine. No airline has reported a problem in flight. Engine health monitoring found the wear first. Europe’s regulator, EASA, ordered the same fix in August 2025. The FAA rule is still only a proposal, and people can comment until 6 November.
$481 million for US airports The FAA has given $481.7 million in grants to 191 airports across the United States. Atlanta received the biggest amount, $100 million, for work on its runways, taxiways and terminal. Smaller airports got money for things like snow-clearing equipment and new taxiway lights. This is the final year of a five-year programme that has paid out money since 2022. Congress has not yet agreed on a new programme to replace it, and airport groups are asking it to act soon.
Which of these six stories surprised you most — and why?
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