Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

EASA executive director Patrick Ky said on Friday he felt satisfied with the results of changes to the 737 Max, adding that the airplane could resume flying in Europe before the end of the year. Ky told Bloomberg that EASA will soon complete document reviews ahead of a proposed airworthiness directive (PAD) it expects to issue in December, at which point a four-week comment period will begin.

 


In a written statement, EASA’s communications director confirmed that the agency expected to issue the PAD in December and that it would publish a final airworthiness directive at the end of the public consultation period.

 


Notwithstanding his apparent endorsement, Ky also told Bloomberg that EASA has asked Boeing to add a so-called synthetic sensor to supplement the airplane’s two angle-of-attack (AoA)&nbsp;sensors. An AoA sensor malfunction in the Max triggered the airplane’s maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) to improperly activate in both of the airplanes involved in the fatal crashes that killed 346 people. Ky said he expected the third sensor to become available at around the time of expected certification of the Max 10 late next year.

 


Ky’s statements come&nbsp;as U.S. regulators continue their review of comments submitted on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) containing the draft airworthiness directive to return the airplane to service. The NPRM would require updating flight control software with new control laws to prevent erroneous MCAS activation; incorporating new and revised&nbsp;procedures in the airplane flight manual to ensure the flight crew can recognize and respond to erroneous stabilizer movement; installing new Max display system software to alert the pilots&nbsp;if the aircraft’s AoA sensors disagree by a certain amount and indicate a potential failure; and changing the horizontal stabilizer trim wire routing installations to bring them into compliance with the agency’s latest standards. It also would require operators to complete an AoA sensor system test and perform an operational readiness flight before returning each airplane to service.&nbsp;

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

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