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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.

  Combat Controllers Play Key Role in Terror War By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, April 23, 2004 -- The largest-ever class of future Air Force combat controllers is training at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., to provide critical skills required in the war on terror. Air Force Senior Airman Jared Peitras and Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mark Harris, assigned to the combat control team at Baghdad International Airport, inspect a building for a weapons cache, April 29, 2003. Photo by Staff Sgt. Cherie A. Thurlby, USAF(Click photo for screen-resolution image); high- resolution image available. The current class of...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Traffic at the nation's airports is rebounding, but the Transportation Department's inspector general cautioned Thursday that the improvement hasn't come without problems.</p> <p>In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Ken Mead warned of an increase in flight delays, serious runway incursions and air traffic controller errors.</p>

The truth is out there. And it may have zoomed over Winnipeg last month. Three air traffic controllers at Winnipeg International Airport were among the witnesses who reported seeing an unidentified flying object streak thorough the sky on March 28 about 9:45 p.m. "I don't think this was the 5:15 from Mars on an approach, but certainly we have to classify it as unexplained. We don't have any evidence to classify this as an extraterrestrial. It's puzzling," said Chris Rutkowski, a Winnipeg UFO researcher. Didn't appear on radar Rutkowski interviewed the three air traffic controllers who saw the object. "It...

Today, Ed Ballinger will speak to a roomful of strangers about the one subject he doesn't care to discuss: The first two hours of his shift as a flight dispatcher for United Airlines on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The Arlington Heights resident and former United Airlines employee will meet with a sub-committee of the 9/11 commission in Washington, D.C., so panel members can decide whether his testimony warrants his appearance before the full commission. Ballinger is there because he was in charge of United flights 175 and 93 when they crashed into the World Trade Center and a...