Aviation Daily Digest — May 9, 2026

# Aviation Daily Digest — May 9, 2026

Your daily 60-second briefing for pilots, drone operators and aviation pros — auto-aggregated from the industry's top sources.

Top stories

• MD-11 Return: How A Small Engine Fix Is Getting FedEx's Tri-Jets Back In The Air — Simple Flying. The return of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 to the skies could be near, with Boeing having designed a fix.
• "Money In Their Pocket": Spirit Airlines Pilots Hired To Fly Their Own Jets To The Boneyard — Simple Flying. Nomadic Aviation Group, ferrying the planes to desert storage locations.
• How The 64-Year-Old Chinook Taught Itself To Land With No Pilot At The Controls — Simple Flying. /how-64-year-old-chinook-taught-itself-land-no-pilot-controls/
• Why The US Air Force Needs Far More KC-46 Tankers Than It Originally Thought — Simple Flying. Why the US Air Force is expanding KC-46 orders to 263 aircraft, driven by aging KC-135s, rising demand, and a looming tanker capability gap.
• The Multibillion-Dollar Race To Upgrade America's Busiest Airports — Simple Flying. From New York-JFK to Dallas/Fort Worth, major aviation hubs are embarking on ambitious redevelopment programs.
• Canada Addition? The Airline That Could Be oneworld’s Newest Member — Simple Flying. The alliance might be growing.
• EU Authorizes Use of US Jet Fuel to Mitigate Supply Chain Disruptions — AVweb. European Aviation Safety Agency says the fuel type is safe for properly managed operations.
• Manna – Embedded Engineer- Aircraft — sUAS News. At Manna, we’re changing how the world receives things — by taking delivery to the skies.
• Former SriLankan Airlines CEO found dead amid Airbus bribery case — AeroTime. Former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena, who faced corruption charges tied to a $2.3 billion Airbus aircraft purchase,… The post Former SriLankan Airlines CEO found dead amid Airbus bribery case appeared first…
• [Breeze Airways Launches 14 Exciting New Routes In Just 3 Days [Full List]](https://simpleflying.com/breeze-airways-launches-14-exciting-new-routes-in-just-3-days/) — Simple Flying. Nearly all of them were unserved when Breeze took off. Find them all here!

Pilot community highlights

_The community is quiet today._

What pilots are talking about (X / Twitter)

_No fresh aviation Twitter activity captured._

Jobs of the day

_No new postings today — see all open roles on our jobs board._

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