The turbulent air above a wildfire is punishing to aircraft structures. The excessive and frequent loads place an inordinate number of loading cycles on an aircraft, leading to accelerated crack ...

Inside the massive testing hangars across Seattle and Everett, the world's biggest jetliners are turned into mechanical lab rats. Hydraulic actuators yank their wings skyward, compressors simulate ...

Normally, a plane moves along three rotational axes. “Inertia coupling” takes place when the plane inadvertently moves on two at the same time, usually resulting in loss of control.

The probable cause of the American Airlines Flight 587 crash on Nov. 12, 2001, was "in-flight separation of the vertical stabilizer as a result of the loads beyond ultimate design that were created by ...