Latest news with #ForeFlight
Newsweek
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Pilot Asks for Friend's Location—Nobody Prepared for What He Does Next
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. In a video that has stunned viewers across TikTok, a young pilot pulled a surprise on his friend that soared far beyond expectations. During flight training, Dylan, a 23-year-old pilot student, surprised his friend with a stunt as he was lounging by the pool of a South Florida clubhouse. In the viral clip, shared in April under the username @wildflys which has so far racked up over 467,100 views, Dylan, who is flying a Skycatcher 162, asks his friend to look up at the sky in 20 seconds so he can say hi. As the video transitions to the second half, Dylan, accompanied by a certified flying instructor, flies right over his friend chilling at the clubhouse, which can be identified by the sparkling pool and palm trees right beneath. "POV [Point of view]: you share locations with your pilot friend," he writes in the clip. "My friend in the pool knew I was having a flight lesson that day, and they were tracking my flight on ForeFlight, waiting for me to pass by the neighborhood clubhouse on my way to the practice area," Dylan told Newsweek. Screenshots of the viral video show Dylan flying over his friend lounging by a South Florida hotel pool. Screenshots of the viral video show Dylan flying over his friend lounging by a South Florida hotel pool. wildflys The clip was filmed using Meta Ray-Ban glasses, a hands-free POV [point of view] recording device that allowed the student pilot to capture every thrilling second of his cockpit perspective while ensuring no distractions from his role. The aviation industry is attracting young talents at a rising rate. In its latest aerospace forecast released last year, the Federal Aviation Administration says that in 2023, it issued 69,503 student pilot certificates, about 24 percent more than the previous year. The number of passengers flown by air carriers also increased by 13.9 percent, to about 1 billion in 2023. Air travel is still by far the safest means of transportation, followed by rail and bus travel. Cars and motorcycles pose significantly higher risks to passengers, according to TK Injury Lawyers. Planes are getting even safer. Data shared by Statista says that while back in the '90s planes would experience about one fatality in 1.3 million passengers boarding, now that number has shrunk further down to one fatality in 13.7 million. The video proved popular on TikTok, receiving over 104,500 likes on the platform. One user, Vibez, commented: "The way I'd be closer circling like a bird." B4ts4for1f3 said: "This is gonna be the type of stalker ima be if I become a pilot." Sav added: "Bro takes I see you to the next level." Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Business Insider
07-05-2025
- Business Insider
U.S. safety board releases report on crash that killed Nigerian billionaire, others
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the federal agency responsible for investigating civil transportation accidents, has released its report on the helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Nigerian billionaire Herbert Wigwe, his family, and others. The NTSB released findings on a helicopter crash that killed Nigerian billionaire Herbert Wigwe, his family, and others in February 2024. Investigators found the pilot relied on visual cues at night despite worsening weather, leading to disorientation and loss of control. Poor weather and adverse conditions delayed rescue efforts, with the wreckage discovered over an hour after the crash. The NTSB report provided detailed information on the Airbus Helicopter EC130B4, with registration N130CZ, operated by Orbic Air, LLC, which was destroyed in a crash near Halloran Springs, California, on February 9, 2024 killing the Nigerian billionaire and some family members. Nigerian billionaire, Herbert Wigwe, ex-CEO of Access Bank, was on board the aircraft along with his wife and their 29-year-old son. Also among the victims was Bamofin Abimbola Ogunbanjo, former chairman of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, whose death stunned the Nigerian public and the financial sector. The two pilots—Benjamin Pettingill, 25, and Blake Hansen, 22—also died in the crash. The NTSB investigation result Below is an excerpt from the report: Before the Part 135 charter flight, there was no record that the pilot or safety pilot obtained an official weather briefing. It's unclear what weather information, if any, they reviewed through apps like ForeFlight. The pilot completed a flight risk analysis form showing a low-risk score under company standards. The helicopter departed at night under visual flight rules, relying on freeway and vehicle lights for orientation. As the flight progressed, deteriorating weather—including low ceilings and reduced visibility—likely led the pilot to fly lower and slower. The helicopter deviated from its route, possibly in response to worsening conditions. Two minutes before the crash, the helicopter increased speed and altitude, possibly indicating an attempt to recover from entering poor visibility. It then entered a right turn and a rapid descent, ultimately crashing in hilly terrain. Witnesses saw a fireball and reported rain and snow at the time. Adverse weather also hindered rescue efforts. The wreckage was found over an hour later, with no survivors. Regarding the probable cause of the accident, the NTSB found that the pilot's decision to continue flying by visual cues despite poor weather conditions led to disorientation and loss of control.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Private Credit Just Crushed Wall Street--$4B Loan Fuels Thoma Bravo's $10.6B Boeing Buyout
Private credit just scored another power play. Thoma Bravo is buying Boeings (NYSE:BA) flight navigation unitincluding Jeppesen, ForeFlight, and other digital assetsfor $10.6 billion, and its not turning to Wall Street banks for help. Instead, a $4 billion loan is coming from private lenders led by Apollo Global Management and Blackstone. The seven-year financing carries a spread of 4.75% over benchmark rates and was structured as a unitranche. Apollo, the administrative agent, has been on this for a while, even offering pre-agreed staple financing as part of its private credit partnership with Citigroup. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 9 Warning Signs with KKR. The lender lineup reads like a who's who of alternative credit: Ares, KKR (NYSE:KKR), Blue Owl, and JPMorgans (NYSE:JPM) private credit arm are all in. While the final structure could still shift, one things cleardirect lenders are now writing checks the size of small IPOs. And Citigroup? Its playing middlemanadvising Boeing on the sale while sourcing deals for Apollo in their $25 billion partnership. Citi brings in the deals. Apollo brings the money. Simple. Effective. Disruptive. This isnt just a big buyoutits a signal. Private capital is no longer just an alternative; its becoming the primary route for mega deals. With traditional banks sidelined by regulation and public markets still wobbly, institutional money is stepping in fast, light, and fully loaded. For investors, its a shift worth watching. Because when the biggest names in credit are underwriting the future of M&A, the rules of the game arent just changingtheyve already changed. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Times
22-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Boeing Will Sell Its Digital Businesses for $10 Billion
Boeing on Tuesday announced that it would sell a handful of navigation, flight planning and other businesses for more than $10.5 billion as the company works to refocus on manufacturing planes and other aircraft. The company, which also wants to reduce its large debt, said it would sell four businesses from a digital unit to Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm specializing in software. Those include Jeppesen, which provides navigational charts and information to pilots, and ForeFlight, an app that helps plan flights and monitor weather. 'This transaction is an important component of our strategy to focus on core businesses, supplement the balance sheet and prioritize the investment grade credit rating,' Kelly Ortberg, Boeing's chief executive, said in a statement. The company said that it expected to close the all-cash deal by the end of the year. The digital unit that houses those businesses employs about 3,900 people, though some of the unit will remain at Boeing. The company employed about 172,000 people as of the start of the year. Mr. Ortberg, who joined the company last summer, made streamlining Boeing's operations a strategic goal as he tries to address concerns about the quality of the company's planes that were raised after a panel blew off a 737 Max plane during a January 2024 flight near Portland, Ore. No one was seriously injured in that incident, but it renewed worries about Boeing's planes several years after two fatal crashes of the 737 Max in 2018 and 2019. Safety and quality issues have stymied Boeing's commercial plane production in recent years. Then last fall, production of the 737 Max, Boeing's most popular commercial plane, came to a near standstill during a two-month worker strike. In January, Mr. Ortberg said that the company had resumed production of the Max, and was making more than 20 of those planes per month as well as five of the larger 787 Dreamliners. That is well below the goal the company had set before last year's panel incident of delivering 50 of its 737s and 10 of its 787s per month. Boeing has about 5,500 outstanding commercial plane orders, valued at hundreds of billions of dollars.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lakeland pilot entered restricted airspace around Mar-a-Lago
LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — Federal authorities said an 'excessive' number of pilots have violated flight restrictions around President Donald Trump's Florida home since his inauguration. One of the most recent incidents involved a pilot flying out of Lakeland. 'If that happens, you just need to accept that you've made that mistake and comply in any way,' said Alex Reed, a flight instructor at Kingsky Flight Academy. As a flight instructor, Reed teaches his students not only how to fly, but about how to check their aircraft pre-flight and put together a flight plan. 'We have electronic flight bags, so, like, ForeFlight for example. When we build these flight plans, it will look at the route that you're going and show if TFRs are going to be existing during the time that you're passing based on the route that you're flying,' he said. A TFR is a 'temporary flight restriction,' which is put in place for large events and for certain public figures, including Trump when he is at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach home. Pilots are not allowed to fly within the designated areas when a TFR is in place. On Sunday, a pilot who flew out of Lakeland violated that restriction. 'When I hear about a pilot flying into a TFR, it just shows that that pilot probably didn't plan their route properly and didn't do their due diligence to plan where they were going,' said Reed. A flight path, shown on FlightAware, shows the Cessna Skyhawk leave from Lakeland at 10:53 Sunday morning, heading north and then south along the eastern side of Florida. The plane took a turn near Mar-a-Lago, likely when it was intercepted by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. According to NORAD, it utilized F-16 aircraft and flares to get the pilot to leave the airspace. The plane returned to Lakeland at 2:56 Sunday afternoon without incident. 'Even though we're humans, pilots are humans, we make mistakes. We can always learn when we make these accidents for future pilots as well,' said Reed. NORAD's commander, Gen. Gregory Guillot, said adherence to TFR procedures is essential to ensuring flight safety, national security and the security of the president. 'The excessive number of recent TFR violations indicates many civil aviators are not reading Notice to Airmen, or NOTAMs, before each flight as required by the FAA,' wrote Gen. Guillot in a statement. NORAD reports more than 20 flights have been intercepted entering the Palm Beach restricted area since Trump's inauguration. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
