Three Points: 60 Minutes’ eVTOL softball, sanctions kill MC-21-300, EK231 prompts FAA warning

• Anderson Cooper’s uncritical 60 Minutes feature on the eVTOL industry injected more hot air into a sector that’s already inflated with hype, setting up naive investors to be taken for a ride. There are big questions about eVTOLs that deserve more than marketing platitudes.
• Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation has pulled the plug on the Pratt & Whitney-powered MC-21-300 as western sanctions solidify the long-term impact on the global aerospace industry. The impact of the sanctions isn’t localized, but a line of reporting prompts us to ask what role, if any, is the availability of Russian titanium from VSMPO-Avisma having on the production of the 777X?
• Four months after Emirates 231 narrowly avoided crashing in Dubai following its botched take-off, the FAA is advising Boeing 777 and 787 operators about a “quirk” in the auto flight behavior of those two aircraft that could give pilots erroneous flight director guidance.

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