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Five years ago, a Comair flight taxied onto the wrong runway at the airport in Lexington, Ky., and crashed on takeoff, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard. It turned out that the lone air controller on duty who should have caught the mistake was operating on two hours of sleep. Two years before that, a tired controller nearly let two commercial jets collide on an LAX runway. Now, in the wake of a raft of air traffic controllers caught sleeping on the job, the Federal Aviation Administration issued new rules to combat fatigue. But this problem has dogged the...

Do you ever fall asleep on the job? Posted by: Jay Kernis - Senior Producer ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today's OFF-SET questions is Billie H. Vincent, president an CEO of Aerospace Services International. --------- Based on your experience, will these changes make a difference? "And, is a controller better suited to function alertly if he/she has to work a week of straight mid-shifts, a month of these shifts - or an occasional one every other week? In addition, the FAA Administrator has announced that he will take the head of the Air Traffic Controller’s union along with him on...

An air traffic controller thought letting a child direct planes at John F. Kennedy Airport was such a good idea last month that he did it again the next day. The Post has learned that on Feb. 17 a child was allowed to talk to two planes from the control tower. The kid on the second day is believed to be the child of the air-traffic controller. On Feb. 16, a different child directed pilots, according to audio clips. AUDIO: HEAR THE SECOND RECORDING Today, a tower controller and his supervisor were suspended. Their names weren't released. “This behavior is...

The FAA says it has benched an undisclosed number of air traffic controllers from their regular duties as they investigate an incident in which a young boy is heard giving instructions to departing aircraft from the JFK Airport control tower. According to a recording found on the air traffic control database at LiveATC.net, the incident happened on February 17th. At one point during the course of the child’s five transmissions, an adult male voice in the tower explains the situation to local air traffic: “This is what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school.” The pilots involved...

The National Transportation Safety Board today removed the National Air Traffic Controllers Association as a party to its investigation into the August 8 midair collision of two aircraft over the Hudson River that killed all 9 persons aboard. Under the Safety Board's procedures, organizations and agencies are invited to participate in NTSB investigations if they can provide technical expertise. At the outset of the investigation, the organizations sign an agreement to abide by NTSB party rules. Among the rules parties agree to is that they will not reveal investigative information being learned through that process, nor publicly comment on it....

WASHINGTON — Two minutes after he cleared a private plane for takeoff and a fateful flight over the Hudson River, an air traffic controller at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport was on the phone with a woman in the airport operations office, joking about barbecuing a dead cat. "We got plenty of gas in the grill?" the controller asked. "Fire up the cat." "Ooh, disgusting, augh, that thing was disgusting," the woman responded. According to a draft government transcript obtained by The Associated Press, the two continued to banter until seconds before the private plane collided with a tour helicopter over...

WASHINGTON – An air traffic controller was joking on the phone about barbecuing a dead cat minutes before a small plane collided with a tour helicopter over the Hudson River, transcripts obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press show. *snip* The controller then called the woman back. "We got plenty of gas in the grill?" the controller asked. "Fire up the cat." "Ooh, disgusting, augh, that thing was disgusting," the woman responded. *snip* "Hey, Teterboro, Newark. Would you switch that guy, maybe put him on a two-twenty heading to get away from that other traffic please?" the Newark controller said. "Say...

As federal officials investigate last week's deadly collision between a helicopter and small plane over the Hudson River, new details are emerging about the conduct of an air traffic controller in the moments before the crash. A report by the National Transportation Safety Board says a controller at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey made a phone call after clearing the single-engine Piper plane for takeoff on August 8 at 11:48 a.m. According to the Associated Press, the controller's conversation was about a dead cat that had been removed from the airport. The report says the controller then told the pilot...

Three planes landed during "inconvenient" incidentAs investigators revealed that a Teterboro air traffic controller making a personal phone call initially failed to warn a small plane of aircraft in its way, NBC New York has learned the same tower involved in the fatal collision over the Hudson had another piece of bad luck recently. The FAA confirms the only controller on duty on the overnight shift at Teterboro airport back on July 5th was inadvertently locked out of the cab, or work area, for 43 minutes. "There was an inconvenience, but he took appropriate steps," said FAA spokesman Jim Peters....

The air traffic controller at Teterboro Airport was on the phone with his girlfriend during the mid-air collision over the Hudson River. His supervisor had wandered off and wasn't even in the tower. Horrified officials called their actions "unacceptable," even though they were not blamed for Saturday's crash. Both controllers - who were not immediately identified - have been suspended and will likely be fired. Crash probes by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration revealed the two controllers seriously deviated from their assignments at the time of the collision. Nine people died when a single-engine Piper...

The federal government yesterday moved forward with a controversial proposal that would close weather offices at 20 regional air traffic control centers around the country and instead provide controllers with forecasts from two central units in Maryland and Missouri.

Hackers have broken into the air traffic control mission-support systems of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration several times in recent years, according to an Inspector General report sent to the FAA this week. In February, hackers compromised an FAA public-facing computer and used it to gain access to personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers, on 48,000 current and former FAA employees, the report said. Last year, hackers took control of FAA critical network servers and could have shut them down, which would have seriously disrupted the agency's mission-support network, the report said. Hackers took over FAA computers in...

Freedom is out of fashion at Ground Zero. Once hailed as a beacon of rebirth in the aftermath of Sept. 11, the Freedom Tower has been stripped of its patriotic name -- which has been swapped out for the more marketable "One World Trade Center," Port Authority officials conceded yesterday. More than seven years after the terror attacks and amid an effort to market the tower to international tenants, sentiment gave way to practicality. "As we market the building we will ensure that the building is presented in the best possible way," said PA Chairman Anthony Coscia. "One World Trade...

The air traffic controller who handled US Airways Flight 1549 said he thought he was hearing a death sentence when the pilot said he was ditching in New York's Hudson River. Meet some of the survivors of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 that made an emergency landing in the frigid waters of the Hudson River after a flock of birds took... Controller Patrick Harten said, "I believed at that moment I was going to be the last person to talk to anyone on that plane alive." The 10-year veteran controller publicly described his reactions to last month's miracle landing in the...

Most of the nation’s air traffic controllers charged with making the friendly skies safe for millions of airline passengers won’t be in their jobs in the next few years. A generation of rookies hired in the early 1980s, after President Reagan fired more than 10,000 controllers for going on strike, is now approaching the mandatory retirement age of 56. By next year alone, about 7,000 controllers—nearly half of the workforce—will be retiring from the Federal Aviation Administration, according to a report by the General Accounting Office in 2002. Thousands more will reach retirement age within about five years. The anticipated...

Key bombing suspect deported from Bahrain By ARIS R. ILAGAN & YUL MALICSE One of the alleged masterminds of a ferry bombing that killed 116 people four years ago and the Makati Valentines Day bombing in 2005 was captured in Bahrain and deported to the Philippines, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, chairman of the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC), said yesterday.

The FAA has offered an unprecedented $100,000 bonus to air-traffic controllers throughout the country to lure them to the New York area's five understaffed radar centers - and has even begun trolling local high schools to recruit for the jobs. The FAA began its recruitment efforts in high schools and through online ads on MySpace and Craigslist because of a severe staffing shortage and lack of experience among workers at its air-control towers.   (edit) By 2011, 59 percent of all controllers will have less than five years on the job.  

Two commercial jets came within 300 feet of hitting each other at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport last weekend, federal aviation officials said yesterday. The incident occurred about 7:25 p.m. Sunday when a Delta Connection regional jet took off and flew over a US Airways Airbus A320 that was landing on a crossing runway, officials said. Airline representatives said there were 43 passengers on the Delta Connection jet, which is operated by Comair and was headed to Boston. There were 150 passengers on the US Airways jet, which was arriving from Phoenix. No one was hurt on either plane. The...

Bush to nominate acting FAA chief to be administrator * Story Highlights * Robert A. Sturgell is the acting FAA administrator * President Bush to nominate him for promotion to the permanent position * Sturgell is a lawyer and former Topgun Navy fighter pilot WASHINGTON (AP) -- A former Topgun Navy fighter pilot who went on to fly commercial jetliners is being nominated to run the Federal Aviation Administration for the next five years. Now acting FAA administrator, Robert A. Sturgell, 48, who goes by Bobby, will be nominated by President Bush for promotion by Congress to the permanent position....

The administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration was named chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association on Tuesday, the top lobbying group for aerospace manufacturers. Marion Blakey's five-year term at FAA ends on Sept. 13. She will remain with the agency until that time, a spokeswoman said. Blakey will succeed John Douglass, who has led the trade organization since 1998. Blakey's successor at FAA has not been named. AIA members include Boeing Co., General Electric Co., United Technologies Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp., BAE Systems PLC and Lockheed Martin.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- A federal judge indicted two Long Island pilots and four Brazilian air traffic controllers on manslaughter-related charges Friday in Brazil's worst air disaster, court officials said. Judge Murilo Mendes accepted the charges filed by a prosecutor last week in a federal court in Sinop, a small city near the Amazon jungle site where a Boeing jetliner last year plunged into the rain forest after a collision with an executive jet. All 154 people aboard the jetliner died, while the executive jet landed safely. "Now the criminal process begins," court spokesman Fabio Paz said by...

You want a leak case? Here's a leak case: socialite-actress-producer Zeta Graff suing socialite-actress Paris Hilton for libel and slander for Hilton's alleged leak to Page Six of the New York Post. Hilton allegedly falsely reported that Graff had gone "berserk" at a London nightclub when she saw Hilton dancing to "Copacabana" with Graff's ex-boyfriend Paris Latsis. Hilton allegedly also reported that Graff tried to rip a $4 million diamond necklace off Hilton's neck, and that Graff, according to Hilton, is allegedly "a woman who is older and losing her looks, and she's alone. She's very unhappy." Graff is in...

A computerized air traffic system experienced a temporary outage in South Florida, forcing controllers to ground some flights and resulting in at least four instances in which planes almost came too close together, officials said Tuesday. Monday’s outage affecting the Miami Center radar complex lasted about an hour, but a backup system was activated and flights in the air were not in danger, said Kathleen Bergen, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman in Atlanta. “There was never a loss of communication with flights and controllers did not lose their radar displays,” Bergen said. Still, the outage caused confusion and tension among...

LEXINGTON, Ky. - What is known is that a string of mistakes preceded the deadly crash of Comair Flight 5191, but what is less clear is which one was the crucial turning point. Was the problem the airport itself? The captain had to follow an unfamiliar taxi route that had been changed by a repaving project just a week earlier. Or, was it a decision by the tower manager to break the federal rule that two controllers should be working there at all times? Or even earlier, when the airport built intersecting runways rather than parallel ones? "It just breaks...

The U.S. attorney’s office today joined in warning attorneys that they would be fined if they violate federal law barring unsolicited communications with family members of Flight 5191 crash victims. “We are also concerned that victims’ families may be subjected in this time of grief to unsolicited, and thus improper, communications concerning the accident by attorneys and law firms seeking to obtain clients for subsequent litigation,” said U.S. Attorney Amul R. Thapar. Until 45 days after a plane crash, federal law prohibits attorneys from contacting victims’ families about possible personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits. A $1,000 fine can be...

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The lone air traffic controller on duty the morning Comair Flight 5191 crashed had only two hours of sleep before starting work on the overnight shift, a federal investigator said Wednesday. National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said the controller had only nine hours off between work shifts Saturday. That was just enough to meet federal rules, which require a minimum of eight hours off between shifts, Hersman said. "He advised our team that he got approximately two hours of sleep," Hersman said. The controller, a 17-year veteran whose name has not been released publicly, worked...

LEXINGTON, Ky. --The lone air traffic controller on duty the morning Comair Flight 5191 crashed cleared the jet for takeoff, then turned his back to do some “administrative duties� as the aircraft veered down the wrong runway, a U.S. government investigator said Tuesday. Separately, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged violating its own policies when it assigned only one controller to the Lexington tower. The commuter jet struggled to become airborne and crashed in a field before daybreak Sunday, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard, after taking off from a 1,067-metre runway, instead of an adjoining one that was...

Dallas Air Traffic Controller Dallas ATC: "Tower to Saudi Air 911 -- You are cleared to land eastbound on runway 9R." Saudi Air: "Thank you Dallas ATC. Acknowledge cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R - Allah be Praised !!" Dallas ATC: "Tower to Iran Air 822 -- You are cleared to land westbound on runway 9R." Iran Air: "Thank you Dallas ATC. We are cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R. - Allah is Great !!" Pause: Static............. Saudi Air: "DALLAS ATC! DALLAS ATC!!!" Dallas ATC: "Go ahead Saudi Air 911?" Saudi Air: "YOU HAVE CLEARED BOTH OUR AIRCRAFT...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House threatened on Tuesday to veto legislation that would reverse the Bush administration's decision to impose contract terms on the nation's 14,500 unionized air traffic controllers. The move put pressure on congressional Republicans not to follow one of their own, Ohio Rep. Steven LaTourette, who has proposed a measure that would send disputed aspects of the contract to binding arbitration. LaTourette's bill would change the law that permitted FAA Administrator Marion Blakey to impose contract terms after Congress opted not to intervene in the dispute during a 60-day review that ended on Monday. The unusual...

Dallas ATC: "Tower to Saudi Air 911--You are cleared to land eastbound on runway 9R." Saudi Air: "Thank you Dallas ATC. Acknowledge cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R -Allah be Praised !!" Dallas ATC "Tower to Iran Air 711--You are cleared to land westbound on runway 9R." Iran Air: "Thank you Dallas ATC. We are cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R. -Allah is Great !!" Pause: Static............. Saudi Air: "DALLAS ATC! DALLAS ATC!!!" Dallas ATC: "Go ahead Saudi Air 911?" Saudi Air: "YOU HAVE CLEARED BOTH OUR AIRCRAFT FOR THE SAME RUNWAY GOING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS!!! WE ARE...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) have been engaged in contract negotiations since July 2005. The FAA is currently seeking to unilaterally impose a contract on the air traffic controllers, gutting basic principles of fairness and good faith bargaining... An imposition would further deepen the air traffic controller staffing crisis. "The bi-partisan FAA Fair Labor Management Dispute Resolution Act of 2006”, would ensure fairness and accountability by creating a three-step process... More info at Fair FAA

LOS ANGELES -- Federal investigators are trying to figure out why an air traffic controller directed three planes onto the same runway at Los Angeles International Airport last week. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said, "It was pretty close."

AL ASAD, Iraq (Jan. 3, 2006) -- Marines are blazing new trails for an expeditionary Air Traffic Control detachment in Al Asad, Iraq. The detachment, primarily based out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., is a mix of Marines from Marine Air Control Squadron 1, based at MCAS Yuma, MACS-2, based at MCAS Cherry Point, N.C., and MACS-24, a reserve squadron based at Ft. Worth, Texas. The detachment recently expanded its role from controlling aircraft in and around Al Asad, to broadcasting information via pictures across western Iraq. A Joint Interface Control Cell team from Al Udeid, Qatar, helped...

Man Kills Air Traffic Controller After Family Dies In Crash POSTED: 2:42 pm EDT October 26, 2005 ZURICH, Switzerland -- A Russian architect whose family died when two planes collided acknowledged in court Tuesday that he later killed the air traffic controller who had been on duty, but said he could not remember doing it. Vitaly Kaloyev said he never wanted to cause physical suffering to anybody and only sought an apology from the head of the air navigation service Skyguide, whom he called the "main culprit" in the July 1, 2002, air crash that killed his wife and children....

ZURICH (Reuters) - A Russian who lost his wife and two children in Germany's worst aviation disaster went on trial in Switzerland on Tuesday for killing the air traffic controller he held responsible. Vitaly Kaloyev, 48, lost his family when a DHL cargo plane and a Russian passenger jet collided in Swiss-controlled airspace over southern Germany on July 1, 2002. He is charged with the premeditated killing of Peter Nielsen, the only air traffic controller on duty at the time. Under Swiss law this charge ranks between murder and manslaughter and carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. "I went...

AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 13, 2005) -- Marines from three Marine Air Control Squadrons recently expanded the scope of sight in Iraq’s skies. The Al Asad Air Traffic Control detachment, primarily based out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., is a mix of Marines from Marine Air Control Squadron 1, based at MCAS Yuma, MACS-2, based at MCAS Cherry Point, N.C., and MACS-24, a reserve squadron based at Ft. Worth, Texas. In addition to their regular mission of supporting Al Asad, the detachment began providing information to the U.S. Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) in Qatar. “As an ATC...

FAA defends 'very secure systems' WASHINGTON - High-tech networks that link key parts of the U.S. air traffic control system lack important controls and are potentially vulnerable to hackers and others familiar with how those computer programs work, congressional investigators concluded Monday. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in an update to a 2000 report that the Federal Aviation Administration has made progress in protecting information technology systems and noted the agency's contention that its interconnected networks are secure. Greg Martin, an FAA spokesman, said separately the investigation was too narrowly focused and the agency has adequate controls in place...

Today, on July 21, 2005, the Facts About Islam (FAI) website returned after being down for over six months. The FAI was originally founded under the name of "TE" (known as "AMS" by some) in November 2002 by Former ATC President Stalfos. During the rest of 2002 and the first few months of 2003, the TE received hundreds of visitors a day (and sometimes up to 2000 visitors a day). Since its very existence, the TE was faced with attacks and bannings. Yahoo Geocities, on which the TE was hosted on, had and still has a double standard when it...

I saw a live air traffic radar display on CNN this morning. Is there a site on the internet where you can get the live display of air traffic?

ATC Announces Return to InternetATC Press Release - 02/25/05The ATC is now back after having been down since January 11, 2005, when terrorists struck their hosting companies Super Verticals, Yahoo and the ATC websites. "After the 1-11 Attacks the ATC Leadership decided not to return until high security could be assured and today we have that security." stated ATC President Stalfos. The ATC is now up at http://www.atcoalition.netOn January 13, 2005, ATC Vice President Benyamin B stated, "We shall return." "And today, we have indeed returned," stated Vice President Benyamin B earlier today. "On behalf of the Leadership of The...

Even as commercial air travel rebounds to pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels, the Federal Aviation Administration is faced with a looming crisis in its air traffic controller system. Over the next decade, 73% of the agency's nearly 15,000 controllers will become eligible to retire, according to an FAA report. Replacing them with new controllers takes time to provide the necessary training, as much as five years. The agency must hire 12,500 controllers over the next 10 years in order to have enough controllers in the pipeline to meet its needs. The mass retirement problem is a result of the air traffic...

ATC Announces Cyber-Attack ATC Press Release - 02/17/05On January 11, 2005, the Anti-Terrorism Coalition (ATC) was attacked by unknown hackers. Around 6 pm Eastern Standard time, January 11, 2005, the ATC-owned Facts About Islam website was attacked. All of the accounts on which it was hosted on were completely destroyed within an hour. Shortly after the attacks, a message was posted by one of the suspected attackers: "I WILL CONTINUE HACKING DOWN YOUR FILTHY ZIONIST SCUM WEBSITES UNTIL THEY DISAPEER! ALAHU AKBAR! f***ink k***s!" The ATC immediately went to a Red Alert and increased its security. Early on January 12,...

WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration announced a plan Tuesday to hire 12,500 new air traffic controllers and let some existing workers stay on the job longer than their mandatory retirement age to offset a tidal wave of looming retirements. The plan outlined by FAA Administrator Marion Blakey also calls for speeding up training to get controllers on the job faster and reducing the workforce at airports with less air traffic. The genesis for the moves can be traced to 1981, when President Reagan fired more than 10,000 controllers and hired replacements. Nearly three-quarters of those workers will be eligible...

Officers said they would be brought over.. south of MSG between 7th and 8th street

WASHINGTON - A military plane carrying Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) came within almost half a mile of a small private plane over Bridgeport, Conn., last month, forcing the pilot to take evasive action, the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) said Friday. The plane, which is Air Force II when the vice president is aboard, was flying at about 7,500 feet while en route to Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y., when an on-board alert system alarmed, telling the pilot to climb to avoid colliding with the other plane. The FAA (news - web...

...Our air traffic control system still operates in Lily Tomlin world, as if human operators were still required to physically connect and disconnect every phone call. Pilots can't taxi, take off, turn left, turn right, ascend, descend or land without exchanging words and getting permission from somebody on the ground. Not only does this fill the airwaves with low-efficiency chatter, but useful information is transferred at speeds that would embarrass your dialup modem. The cost in delays, inefficient routing and perpetual gridlock is huge. Planes are perfectly able to fly around thunderstorms, but the ATC system often won't let them....

Anti-Terror Coalition Urges Nuclear PreparednessSites "Internet Chatter" As Rationale for Recommendation by John S. PappasWashington - 07/13/04Sighting "chilling" Internet chatter within the past few days, cyber-terror watchdog group Anti-Terrorism Coalition (http://atci.showsit.info/) is recommending that Americans familiarize themselves with information on dealing with a nuclear attack.The ATC is sighting recent Internet chatter as cause for their recommendation that people study the procedures for dealing with a nuclear or radiological attack. One threat in particular, posted on a message group believed to be operated by al Qaeda sympathizers contained a specific threat of nuclear/radiological attack against America. The message announced July 14th...

Internet Haganah Ally Reaffirms SolidarityAnti-Terrorism Coalition States Support & Commitment to Fight Terrorismby John S. PappasWashington - 07/12/04In response to the beheading threat received by Internet Haganah (story), fellow Anti-Cyber Terrorism group Anti-Terrorism Coalition (ATC) has released a statement (statement) of support for Internet Haganah and has vowed to continue targeting terrorist websites.Benyamin B., Director of ATC Intelligence, released the following statement Sunday following a Johnny P News report on the beheading threat:"The terrorists have been losing more websites and eGroups lately, as the ATC, Internet Haganah, and other allied organizations are increasing their activities against cyber terrorism. I believe...

A report by Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth Mead said the manager for the New York-area air traffic control center asked the controllers to make the recordings a few hours after the crashes in belief they would be important for law enforcement. Investigators never heard it. Sometime between December 2001 and February 2002, an unidentified Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) quality assurance manager crushed the cassette case in his hand, cut the tape into small pieces and threw them away in multiple trash cans, the report said. "We were told that nobody ever listened to, transcribed or...

WASHINGTON — Air traffic controllers who handled two of the hijacked flights on Sept. 11, 2001, recorded their experiences shortly after the planes crashed into the World Trade Center but a supervisor destroyed the tape, government investigators said Thursday. A report by Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth Mead said the manager for the New York-area air traffic control center asked the controllers to make the recordings a few hours after the crashes in belief they would be important for law enforcement.