AIRPLANE

Just ask anyone who has traveled in the past few weeks and they will tell you that having your flight changed, canceled or redirected is becoming more and more common these days.

Officials say a commercial jetliner carrying 126 people caught fire after landing at Miami International Airport, though no serious injuries were reported.

Flying is a pain when space is cramped, but one designer found a new way to give passengers some extra legroom.

A Florida man with no flying experience who kept his cool while landing a small plane says the “hand of God" was with him after the pilot collapsed at the controls.

A Chinese passenger jet has veered off the runway during takeoff and caught fire, sending black smoke billowing into the air and injuring more than 30 people.

A China Eastern Boeing 737-800 with 132 people on board has crashed in southern China in the country’s worst air disaster in nearly a decade.

Authorities say at least three people died in a twin-engine jet crash near a golf course in the Lake Tahoe area.

A plane carrying 28 people has crashed, apparently as it came in for a landing in bad weather in Russia’s Far East.

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson identified the focus on the stepped-up inspections as hollow fan blades unique to the Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engine model and used solely on Boeing 777s. United had 24 of the planes in service; it is the only U.S. airline with the engine in its fleet, according to the FAA. In South Korea, Asiana Airlines grounded nine, seven of which were in service, and Korean Air said it grounded 16 aircraft, six of which are in service. The airline has said the plane had engine trouble after takeoff and returned to Naha. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways will stop operating a combined 32 planes with that engine, Nikkei reported.

MELBOURNE BEACH, Fla. – An experimental aircraft crashed Friday morning on Melbourne Beach, officials said. The Sheriff’s Office said the pilot took off from the airport in Valkaria and the engine died before he tried landing on the beach. Emergency responders reported the plane had about 20 gallons of fuel but none of it leaked onto the beach after crashing. Melbourne Beach resident Rick O’Connor took pictures of the upside down plane. “It’s pretty amazing, sent it up to my grandchildren, show them what I found on the beach today,” O’Connor said.

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. A small plane made an emergency landing Wednesday morning at Mile Marker 40 on Alligator Alley, officials from the city of Weston confirmed via Twitter. According to Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Salac, the single-engine Mooney M20R made the emergency landing at 9:50 a.m. According to Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Yanko Reyes, the pilot, identified only as a 45-year-old man, reported a mechanical issues on that plane that affected the engine. Reyes said the pilot was forced to land the plane in the right emergency shoulder. The driver of the landscaping truck was also not injured, authorities said.

Officials said there were two survivors from the plane but they also found at least 57 bodies in the wreckage. Police in protective masks struggled to clear away crowds amid the smoke and dust so ambulances and firetrucks could reach the crash site. Sir, mayday, mayday, mayday, mayday Pakistan 8303, the pilot said before the transmission ended. Science Minister Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry said this year has been a catastrophe just survival is so difficult, with the pandemic and now the tragedy of the plane crash. Ownership records for the Airbus A320 showed China Eastern Airlines flew the plane from 2004 until 2014.

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – A small single-engine aircraft skidded off the runway at Merritt Island Airport on Sunday, News 6 partner Florida Today reports. The incident was reported at about 11:30 a.m. at the airport, located at 900 Airport Road. The unidentified aircraft reportedly ran off the end of the runway and into a nearby grassy area. The pilot onboard the airplane refused further treatment. The incident is under investigation by the FAA.

Bacteria can linger for days on airplane surfaces, study shows Airplane cabins are known to be a hotbed for germs. Now new research from Auburn University shows bacteria can linger on airplane surfaces for more than a week. David Begnaud reports.