Week to Wednesday, 23 September 2026
FAA equipment outage grounds Teterboro and the New York satellite airports
An FAA equipment outage stopped Teterboro traffic on 21 September. The agency's Air Traffic Control System Command Center issued the first Teterboro ground stop at 13:30 UTC and logged the impacting condition as equipment and outage. That programme alone carried 600 minutes of total delay, a maximum of 70 minutes and an average of 50. Ground stops on the airport then ran in near-continuous succession for the next seven hours, and the command centre activated diversion recovery for Teterboro at 14:06 UTC.
The disruption reached the satellite fields that carry much of the New York and Philadelphia business traffic. At 17:34 UTC the command centre placed Morristown, Essex County, Linden, Northeast Philadelphia, Trenton-Mercer and Wilmington under a single ground stop, again citing an equipment outage. The three New Jersey satellites stayed stopped until 21:45 UTC.
Arrival delays spread wider. An advisory issued at 17:02 UTC told operators to expect airborne holding of up to 60 minutes into Boston, Newark, LaGuardia, Kennedy, Washington National, Dulles, Baltimore and their satellites, on equipment outages.
Teterboro moved from ground stop to a ground delay programme at 21:43 UTC. The programme ran to 00:59 UTC the following morning at rates of 16, 16, 20 and 26 arrivals an hour, with a maximum assigned delay of 500 minutes and an average of 159. Westchester County ran a separate programme from 20:00 UTC that exempted air carriers and applied to general aviation only, with a maximum delay of 327 minutes. The FAA recorded Westchester's impacting condition as volume rather than the outage.
Aviation International News reported that an accidental cable cutting caused the interruption. While the programmes ran, the command centre also instructed facilities not to approve airborne changes of destination into Newark, Teterboro, Morristown, Essex County or Linden.
Source: FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center advisories, 21 September 2026; Aviation International News, 22 September 2026.
Also this week
Textron wins FAA approval for all-Garmin retrofit on early CitationJets
Textron Aviation has cleared an FAA supplemental type certificate for the original Cessna CitationJet. The retrofit covers Model 525 serial numbers 525-0001 through 0359. The flight deck combines the Garmin G600 TXi display, TXi engine indication, a GTN 750Xi navigator and the GFC 600 digital autopilot. Stabilised approach monitoring and aural V-speed alerting on take-off come with it. The GWX 8000 weather radar and the GDL 60 datalink are options. Installation runs through Textron Aviation's own service network, which the company puts at more than 300 authorised facilities worldwide.
Source: Textron Aviation, 22 September 2026.
FAA proposes tighter life limits across the Leonardo AW139 fleet
The FAA would supersede airworthiness directive 2022-02-12 on all AB139 and AW139 helicopters. Operators would revise the airworthiness limitations section of the maintenance manual within 30 days of the effective date, adopting issue 015 of the AW139 maintenance planning information dated 7 January 2025. EASA airworthiness directive 2026-0003 of 12 January 2026 prompted the proposal, which cites new and more restrictive life limits and maintenance tasks. The agency counts 156 helicopters on the United States register and prices compliance at one work-hour, or $85 an aircraft and $13,260 across the fleet. Comments close on 6 November 2026.
Source: Federal Register, 22 September 2026.
FAA proposes Bell 429 door inspection after jamming reports
Sliding doors on the Bell 429 have jammed when opened from inside the helicopter. The aft lower roller assembly disengages from its rail, which could obstruct evacuation. The FAA proposes inspecting the lower aft bracket and rail cavity for contact marks, then modifying the roller assembly on both sides. Transport Canada directive CF-2025-64 of 1 December 2025 is the origin. The inspection costs $85 an aircraft and the modification $680, reaching up to $102,000 across 150 helicopters on the United States register. The manufacturer says warranty may cover some of it. Comments close on 6 November 2026.
Source: Federal Register, 22 September 2026.
FAA orders Bell 505 tail cone plate check from October
Airworthiness directive 2026-18-10 takes effect on 22 October 2026. Identification plates on certain Bell 505 tail cone assemblies carry the wrong part number, which could leave a life-limited component read as having no life limit at all. An assembly left in service past its limit could crack the tailboom by fatigue. Operators must verify the part number, fit a corrected plate where needed and update the logbook. The FAA counts 182 helicopters on the United States register, at $85 to verify and $175 for a replacement plate. No comments were filed on the proposal.
Source: Federal Register, 17 September 2026.
Embraer delivers first Praetor 600E to launch customer Flexjet
Embraer handed over the first Praetor 600E on 18 September 2026. Flexjet is the launch customer and expects twelve of the type by the end of the year. The aircraft carries the Smart Window, a 42-inch 4K OLED touchscreen set into the cabin sidewall. The handover falls under a $7 billion order for 182 aircraft with options on 30 more, signed in February 2025. Praetor 500E deliveries are due later this year, again with Flexjet first. The 600E took certification from ANAC, the FAA and EASA in April 2026.
Source: Flexjet, 18 September 2026; Corporate Jet Investor, 18 September 2026.
Textron Aviation rolls out 500th Cessna Citation Latitude in Wichita
The 500th Citation Latitude left the Wichita production line on 22 September. Textron Aviation calls the type the best-selling midsize business jet. The aeroplane carries four passengers 2,700 nautical miles at high-speed cruise and seats up to nine. Maximum cruise is 446 knots true airspeed and full-fuel payload 1,000 pounds. Cabin height is six feet on a flat floor, and take-off field length is 3,580 feet. Textron Aviation put no delivery or backlog figure alongside the rollout.
Source: Textron Aviation, 22 September 2026.
