Posted inColoradans, Education, News

A rural Colorado high school’s aerospace class is paving the runway for a new generation of pilots

Mya Diaz Soto’s phone buzzed Saturday morning with a text message from her frantic mother, who demanded to know why her 17-year-old daughter was cruising 134 mph.  Mya’s mother, who was visiting family with her father hundreds of miles away in Texas that morning, uses a smartphone app to track her daughter’s location, shows how […]

Posted inNews, Wildfire

Colorado-based Global Supertanker, the world’s largest firefighting plane, is shut down as fire season begins

By Patty Nieberg, The Associated Press/Report for America The world’s largest firefighting plane has been shut down just as Western states prepare for a wildfire season that fire officials fear could be worse than the average year. Tara Lee, a spokeswoman for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, said via email Friday that the state’s Department of […]

Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government, Wildfire

Colorado competes with other states for wildfire-fighting aircraft. Climate change makes that a big problem.

When wildfires swept across Colorado and the western U.S. last summer and fall, water- and retardant-dropping airplanes and helicopters that can make the difference between a small blaze and a deadly megafire were difficult to come by.  States were suddenly pitted against each other as federal emergency managers worked to determine who needed the most […]

Posted inNews

Exam finds multiple cracks in part of United Airlines jet engine that exploded over Denver

By David Koenig, The Associated Press Microscopic examination supports early suspicions that wear and tear caused a fan blade to snap inside one engine of a United Airlines plane that made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff last month in Denver, federal safety investigators said Friday. The National Transportation Safety Board said the blade found […]

Posted inBusiness, News

United Airlines temporarily grounds 24 planes following catastrophic engine failure over Denver

United Airlines said Sunday that it will “voluntarily and temporarily” ground 24 aircraft powered by a certain type of engine after one of its planes suffered a catastrophic engine failure over Denver on Saturday. The decision comes as federal aviation regulators appear to be zeroing in on the jet’s fan blades as a culprit for […]

Posted inNews

Four important things to know about the United Airlines flight that rained debris on the Denver area

A United Airlines flight en route from Denver to Honolulu suffered a catastrophic engine failure over the Denver area on Saturday, sending debris raining onto homes and a park in Broomfield.  The incident is drawing international attention, especially as dramatic photos and video of the aircraft’s flaming engine and the debris that fell onto the […]