Journalist Rebuilds FAA Aircraft Defect Database with AI: 1.5M Cryptic Reports Made Readable
henkvaness · x · 2026-08-28
Inspired by the Netflix documentary Freefall, data journalist Henk van Ess used AI to turn the FAA's Service Difficulty Report database into a searchable site, aircraftdefects.com. The raw database holds 1,541,548 reports from 2000 onward covering 44,812 planes, but it's full of codes like "ZONE 700" and single-letter flags, and the official search tool frequently times out.
His approach: "bend data toward your questions"—using AI to translate cryptic codes and zone numbers into plain language, plus a full manual so anyone can replicate a public-question-friendly lookup tool. The piece is part one of a paid series.
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