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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.  

AIRLINES are desperate. With jet fuel over $4 per gallon and still climbing, American, United and other major carriers are raising fares, cutting flights, trimming fleets and laying off pilots. They're also ordering fuel-efficient Boeing 787s and Airbus A350XWBs — the new generation of plastic planes. These new aircraft promise 20-percent-lower fuel consumption. Replacing heavier traditional aluminum alloys, 50 percent of their skins, panels and load-bearing structures are comprised of lighter, stiffer carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastic (CFRP) composites. Then add the latest, most fuel-efficient engine technology. Sounds good. But beneath these advantages danger lurks — novel maintenance challenges for which neither airlines nor...

Don’t blame a bird for the punch that the Northwest Airlines plane took in the nose on Sunday. Northwest is now examining the dented nose cone of a Boeing 757 jet that was damaged during a flight from Detroit to Tampa. Images snapped by passengers... show the front tip of the plane looking a bit like a beer cup smashed in after a football game. Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the F.A.A. in Atlanta, said pilots heard a bang when the plane was at 18,000 feet during its descent into Tampa. Its radar went out, prompting the crew to suspect...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a warning Thursday on the anti-smoking drug Chantix, advising medical examiners "to not qualify anyone currently using this medication for commercial motor vehicle licenses." The FMCSA oversees the interstate trucking and bus industry. Chantix, made by Pfizer, Inc., was attacked in a study by a non-profit group on Wednesday for possible links to seizures, dizziness, heart irregularity, diabetes and more than 100 accidents. The Department of Transportation alerted its agencies about the study, asking the office directors be aware of the report's warnings and recommendations. The Federal Aviation Administration banned the drug for...

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it would no longer permit pilots or air traffic controllers to use the smoking cessation drug Chantix, citing potential side effects that could pose a threat to the safe operation of aircraft. The Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory in February, saying that some Chantix users had developed a variety of serious psychiatric symptoms, and that some had committed suicide. An F.A.A. spokeswoman, Laura Brown, said the agency had approved the use of Chantix for airline pilots and flight controllers last year, but was notifying 150 pilots and 30 air traffic...

A city ordinance that went into effect on Thursday that bars some private jets from using Santa Monica Airport would be grounded under a temporary restraining order sought by federal officials. Citing "a clear possibility of irreparable harm," attorneys for the U.S. government filed an application for a temporary restraining order ... Concerned about safety and noise, the Santa Monica City Council approved an ordinance in November that bars jets with approach speeds of greater than 136 mph, including aircraft popular among business executives. The FAA earlier served the city with a cease-and-desist order challenging the ordinance, contending the city...

ST. LOUIS (Map, News) - Federal airline regulators said Wednesday that 24 jets operated by commuter airline company Trans States Airlines Inc. were grounded because they do not meet safety standards. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory said the airline reported the problem Tuesday and the aircraft were being checked.

The Federal Aviation Administration is going to begin alerting its top headquarters officials when field inspectors miss airline safety inspections, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced Friday. Peters also demanded that the FAA and American Airlines explain to her within 14 days why 250,000 U.S. air travelers endured canceled flights last week. American grounded its MD-80 jetliners and canceled 3,100 flights in order to inspect or redo wiring that was supposed to have been completed between Sept. 5, 2006, and March 5, 2008....

Rival US companies Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have agreed to merge in a $5bn deal that would create the world's biggest carrier. The directors of the two companies agreed the stock-swap deal on Monday. The combined airline, which will be called Delta, will have an annual revenue of more than $35bn and employ more than 75,000 staff. The merger could trigger similar moves by other US carriers struggling with rising oil prices, correspondents say.

Three House members have charged Federal Aviation Administration officials with presenting "misleading" testimony about airline maintenance. Representative James Oberstar of Minnesota and two other Democratic colleagues sent a letter to FAA officials. The lawmakers questioned inconsistencies about the FAA officials' testimony last week about how regulators would implement a 2004 customer service initiative. According to the letter, the new rules were to be delivered, discussed and documented within 60 days of a February memorandum. But the FAA officials testified that the process could occur "during routine visits over the next year." A spokesman for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee...

Air travelers in the United States, whose plans have already been disrupted by thousands of canceled flights recently, may face continued chaos in coming weeks as the Federal Aviation Administration and the airlines expand their scrutiny of passenger planes. The groundings at airlines like American, Alaska, Delta and Southwest resulted from a broader round of inspections, ordered by the FAA, to determine whether the airlines have complied with past directives to check airplane structures, wires, electronics and other components. A second wave of audits began on March 30 and will continue through June 30. Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - American Airlines canceled almost 1,100 flights, or nearly half its schedule, on Wednesday to reinspect aircraft, a disruption that affected about 100,000 passengers and triggered chaos at the busiest U.S. airports. The airline said it expects about 900 cancellations on Thursday.

The whistle-blowers who exposed maintenance and inspection problems at Southwest Airlines told Congress their jobs were threatened and their reports of noncompliance were ignored for years. Federal Aviation Administration inspector Douglas Peters choked up Thursday at a House hearing and needed a few sips of water to tell lawmakers about how a former manager came into his office, commented on pictures of Peters' family being most important, and then said his job could be jeopardized by his actions. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said FAA managers' actions displayed "malfeasance bordering on corruption," adding that if presented to a grand jury, the...

Officials: Planes Avoid Mid-Air Crash Two airplanes carrying more than 120 passengers narrowly averted a mid-air collision east of Pittsburgh after an air traffic control trainee told a Delta Air Lines pilot to turn into the path of an oncoming plane, officials said. The Delta pilot made a nosedive and missed the plane by about 400 feet, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The other pilot also took evasive action, the FAA said. A cockpit collision avoidance system alerted the pilots to the danger. Delta Flight 1654 was en route from Cincinnati to LaGuardia International Airport in New York Tuesday morning...

DALLAS -- Dozens of federal inspector credentials giving access to airports have gone missing, an NBC 5 investigation revealed. According to the investigation, 122 Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector badges have been stolen or lost in the past five years. The credentials are one of the few forms of identification that give complete and unfettered access to airport facilities, including the cockpits of planes in flight.

Federal aviation regulators are seeking a penalty of at least $3 million from Southwest Airlines Co. for failing to properly inspect nearly four dozen older planes for potentially hazardous structural cracks, according to people familiar with the details. The penalty is expected to be the largest imposed against any passenger carrier in about two decades. The Department of Transportation and a congressional committee are examining why the Federal Aviation Administration didn't ground the planes temporarily last March after learning of the missed inspections. The case focuses on the carrier's failure to perform certain inspections on its older-version Boeing 737-300s as...

Last month, technology news sites and blogs breathlessly reported on a Federal Aviation Administration document suggesting that Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet may be vulnerable to computer hackers. Boeing now says that the problem was fixed even before the FAA issued its warning. But there may be yet another way bad guys could get into the plane's control system, one that neither the company nor the FAA may have noticed. The FAA was specifically concerned that a passenger could use the on-board entertainment network, which personal laptops can plug into, to access the plane's navigation system and disable or...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2008 – The anticipated landing tomorrow of the space shuttle Atlantis will open the window of opportunity for the U.S. military to shoot down a dying intelligence satellite headed toward Earth, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today. President Bush has authorized Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to give the shoot-down order, and the secretary received a briefing on the plan today, Morrell said. The secretary is prepared to make that call from the road, if necessary, during his nine-day, around-the-world trip that begins tomorrow, he said. Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryFebruary 9, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: Judicial Nominees THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. One of the most important jobs of any President is to find good men and women to lead government agencies, preside over our courts, and provide vital services to the American people. So I have nominated talented individuals for these positions. Unfortunately, the Senate is not meeting its responsibility to consider these nominees in a timely manner. More than 180 of my nominees are waiting for confirmation. Some have been waiting for more than...

SHANGHAI, China (AP) — China's first fully homegrown commercial aircraft rolled off the production line Friday, marking a potential milestone for the country's aviation program. In a nationally televised ceremony, the Xiangfeng, or "Flying Phoenix," was towed into a hangar at the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory amid flashing laser lights and rousing music. The rollout ceremony was closed to most media, apart from state-run CCTV and the official Xinhua News Agency. "Today, China's aviation industry has turned over a new leaf," Lin Zuoming, general manager of China Aviation Industry Corp. I, or AVIC I, said in comments carried on the...

CHICAGO (AP) - Another error by controllers at an air traffic center put planes too close to each other over central Illinois, but they were never in danger of colliding, the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday. It was the second error by controllers at the FAA's Chicago Center radar facility in Aurora reported this week. The Boeing 737 jet came within 3.6 miles horizontally of a Beechcraft Super King Air 200 about 20 miles from Springfield on Wednesday morning, said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro. Minimum spacing between planes is 5 miles horizontally or 1,000 feet vertically. The 737, operated by...

Ten ways to outsmart the airlines and not spend your holiday season at the airport Schlotzsky's. In the past year, I have flown on 110 flights—and 11 arrived on time. As awful as that performance is, it doesn't even reflect the worst travel nightmares of the year, including record numbers of lost bags, overflowing lavatories, and the infamous JetBlue odyssey... In the first half of the year, more than 93,000 flights were canceled, an increase of 44 percent over the first half of 2006, according to the Department of Transportation. 2007 will go down as the worst year in history...

Increasing the mandatory retirement age of airline pilots is now in the President's hands, after the Senate voted late Dec. 12 to pass a measure increasing the age from 60 to 65. "Forcing our nation's pilots to retire at 60 is out-of-date and only succeeds in removing our most experienced pilots from our skies," said Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. The law would change Federal Aviation Administration regulations from the 1960s, and would be in line with mandatory retirement age requirements adopted by the Civil Aviation Organization in 2006. The FAA has indicated it...

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...

You're one of those people who likes airplanes and airports. You look up when an airplane goes by. Perhaps you've been to a small airport and watched the Cessnas and Pipers come and go, daring to wish that it could be you. Well, it can be you, and even better, the U.S. government is here to help you. "I'm from the FAA and I'm here to help" In late 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) introduced a simplified license called the sport pilot certificate, offering basic flying privileges in a new class of simplified aircraft called light sport aircraft, or...

By June 2008, the city of Houston will use the same military drone aircraft currently used to hunt down terrorists overseas to write speeding citations on Texas freeways. Local television station KPRC exposed the Houston Police Department's plan by using the station's news helicopter to spy on what was supposed to be a confidential gathering of area law enforcement personnel where the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capabilities were demonstrated. The test took place seventy miles northwest of Houston in Waller County. While police have used aircraft to issue speeding tickets for years, the practice can be quite expensive. The cost...

WALLER COUNTY, Texas -- Houston police started testing unmanned aircraft and the event was shrouded in secrecy, but it was captured on tape by Local 2 Investigates. Neighbors in rural Waller County said they thought a top-secret military venture was under way among the farmland and ranches, some 70 miles northwest of Houston. KPRC Local 2 Investigates had four hidden cameras aimed at a row of mysterious black trucks. Satellite dishes and a swirling radar added to the neighbors' suspense. Then, cameras were rolling as an unmanned aircraft was launched into the sky and operated by remote control.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - In a terrible year for flight delays nationwide, this city's outdated airport has become a hub of the East Coast maelstrom. Holiday travelers from Maine to Florida shouldn't hold their breath, either. It could be decades before passengers see significant improvements at Philadelphia International Airport, routinely one of the nation's most delayed. Federal Aviation Administration officials, airlines, air traffic controllers and others say Philadelphia plays a major role in delays up and down the coast thanks to poor airport design, bad weather, heavy traffic and close proximity to New York.

The Transportation Security Administration touts its programs to ensure security by using undercover operatives to test its airport screeners. In one instance, however, the agency thwarted such a test by alerting screeners across the country that it was under way, even providing descriptions of the undercover agents. The government routinely runs covert tests at airports to ensure that security measures in place are sufficient to stop a terrorist from bringing something dangerous onto an airplane. Alerting screeners when the undercover officer is coming through and what the person looks like would defeat the purpose. But that's exactly what happened on...

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....

DOT's Peters Applauds Move ANN REALTIME REPORTING 10.23.07 1400 EDT: When searching for a replacement for former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, President George W. Bush apparently didn't look very far. On Tuesday, reports surfaced the President plans to nominate Bobby Sturgell, currently the Acting FAA Administrator and previously Blakey's deputy, to take on the job full-time.

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - Anxious to avoid upsetting air travelers, NASA is withholding results from an unprecedented national survey of pilots that found safety problems like near collisions and runway interference occur far more frequently than the government previously recognized. NASA gathered the information under an $8.5 million safety project, through telephone interviews with roughly 24,000 commercial and general aviation pilots over nearly four years. Since ending the interviews at the beginning of 2005 and shutting down the project completely more than one year ago, the space agency has refused to divulge the results publicly. Just last week, NASA ordered...

A search is under way in southern Colorado's San Juan Mountains for a missing medical plane that crashed near Alamosa with three people aboard. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus says flight controllers last had radio and radar contact with the twin-engine Beech King Air C-90A at about 11:20 p.m. Thursday. Glendale-based HealthONE spokeswoman Leslie Horna says the Eagle Air Medical plane was based out of Chinle, Arizona. Horna says a search and rescue effort is under way, but weather at the suspected crash site is unfavorable. Those aboard the plane were the pilot, a flight nurse and a paramedic.

My wife was flying between 2 cities in the midwest this week and noticed that the arabic man next to her was texting the entire time of the flight. It is my opinion that the guy was testing the limits of cell-phone texting capability during flight. Perhaps a dry-run for another coordinated attack. I urged her to call DHS and let them know what she saw. Anybody else witness this kind of behavior?

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Federal officials showcased an experimental air traffic control system that would let pilots see other nearby planes and help prevent gridlock in the skies. The Federal Aviation Administration hopes the satellite-based navigation system will replace the current land-based system in the coming decades. On a flight out of a Philadelphia airstrip on Friday, the FAA demonstrated parts of the system to a group of reporters. During the U-turn flight between Philadelphia and suburban Washington, D.C., the plane used current navigational systems, but officials showed how the new technology worked. A small, brightly colored screen provided a detailed...

DENVER, Colo. -- A passenger tried to open a plane door during a Frontier Airlines flight on Saturday morning but was subdued by airline staff and passengers, an airline spokesman said. Police and Transport Security Administration staff met Flight 514 after the plane landed in New York City and took the man into custody, said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas. Hodas said the man would not have been able to open the door even if he had not been subdued. "You need special training to open the door," he said. There were 128 passengers and five crew members on the plane,...

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.

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Science Applications International Corp. said Monday it has received U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approval for its SKYBUS 30K Airship UAS. The SKYBUS 30K Airship Unmanned Aerial System "was recently granted a Federal Aviation Administration U.S. Experimental Airworthiness Certificate for Unmanned Airships," SAIC said in a statement. SAIC said it had functioned as lead system integrator for the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command and that it had teamed up with Telford Aviation Services of Bangor, Maine, "to develop and test the prototype at the Loring Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Center in Limestone, Maine." "The prototype...

WASHINGTON - Regions-Air is suing the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, alleging they illegally shut down the air carrier that served four Illinois cities. Regions-Air filed the lawsuit Monday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C,, seeking $11.6 million plus interest. The FAA grounded all Regions-Air planes in March after taking issue with the air carrier's line check airman certification and training program.

By ALAN ZIBEL AP Business Writer WASHINGTON — U.S. airline delays are at their highest level in at least 13 years, and analysts say fliers can expect more of the same for the rest of the summer. The Department of Transportation on Monday said the industry's on-time performance in the first six months of the year was its worst since the agency began gathering comparable data in 1995. In June, nearly a third of domestic flights on major U.S. airlines were late. Part of the explanation for the worsening delays is that demand for air travel is rising, both on...

ULY 23, 2007 -- Lawmakers and watchdogs are ringing the alarm on domestic carriers' use of foreign repair stations for aircraft maintenance and repairs. A U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General report released last month said airlines increasingly are outsourcing aircraft maintenance, and gaps remain in Federal Aviation Administration supervision of some repair stations that they use. "We have emphasized that the issue is not where maintenance is performed, but that maintenance requires effective oversight," DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovel III said in the report. Based on a review of 19 U.S.-based carriers' maintenance vendor lists, the Inspector General found...

FAA computer systems reported down across East Coast... Developing...

To finance the nation's aviation system through 2017, the FAA is proposing swooping changes in its funding structure, including more than tripling taxes on fuel for small planes. The uproar among the general aviation community -- which includes all planes outside commercial and military use -- has been loud and constant, according to the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association, which represents more than 411,000 pilots. "We surveyed our members before the FAA's proposal came out," said Chris Dancy, spokesman. "At the level the FAA is proposing, 88 percent said they would dramatically reduce or even cease flying." General aviation, which...

Scouts have bumpy landing http://tinyurl.com/2ron93 Web Posted: 03/18/2007 01:39 AM CDT Chuck McCollough Express-News Three Boy Scouts and their pilot walked away from a hard landing at Hondo Municipal Airport on Saturday after part of the plane's landing gear failed to lock in place, witnesses said. "I'm glad to be down safe. I was really scared after I saw part of the wheel fall off," said 12-year-old Eric Riegel. He and fellow scouts Nathaniel Mayberry, 13, and Kirby Vandervort, 10, all of Houston, were flying with pilot Thomas Skiles to earn their aviation merit badges. Dozens of other Scouts were...

Passenger bill of rights proposed Fri Feb 16, 1:00 PM ET Senator plans passengers' bill of rights WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record) says she plans to introduce a "Passengers' Bill of Rights" that would give passengers the right to deplane when an aircraft has been on the ground for more than three hours past its scheduled departure time. "I've been stuck on the tarmac many times in my travel back and forth to California," Boxer said in a statement posted on her Web site. "Sometimes with the weather and traffic, it's unavoidable. But to keep...

FAA PROFILING: FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION TRANSPORTATION SECURITY SCREENER ATTITUDE ASSESSMENT … To insure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport screeners will not be allowed to profile people. They will continue random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, Secret Service agents who are members of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winning former state Governors. In accordance with this policy, Transportation Security Screener applicants are being asked to take the following test, which will ensure that employees do not harbor hidden biases...

Clay: (05:40:27.1) It's amazing though right now. They are using everybody pretty efficiently. Um, just shows you what they can do. Like I mean I don't have more than 10 hours in a hotel, any of these days that I've been on. Polehinke: (05:40:38.2) Really. Clay: (05:40:38.7) And it's been that way for all month. Now September rolls around, and I'll guarantee you it'll be a different story. Polehinke: (05:44:04.9) I guess, when I'm, I'm deciding on making a major decision, if it doesn't feel right in my gut. Or if I don't have a little voice, if it starts...

Federal officials say it was probably just some weird weather phenomenon, but a group of United Airlines employees swear they saw a mysterious, saucer-shaped craft hovering over O'Hare Airport in November. The workers, some of them pilots, said the object didn't have lights and hovered over an airport terminal before shooting up through the clouds, according to a report in Monday's Chicago Tribune. The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged that a United supervisor had called the control tower at O'Hare, asking if anyone had spotted a spinning disc-shaped object. But the controllers didn't see anything, and a preliminary check of radar...

Taking a lesson from the 1981 Sean Connery sci fi western Outland, which showed how dangerous it can be to mix guns with spaceflight, the Federal Aviation Administration wants to keep passengers from carrying firearms on rocket ships. Given the FAA's rules for air travel, that much is unsurprising. But while defending its space travel regulations in the December 15 Federal Register, the FAA casually and gratuitously endorsed the "collective right" interpretation of the Second Amendment, according to which the amendment poses no obstacle to gun control because it has nothing to do with an individual right to keep and...

FAA issues 1st-ever space tourism rules By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer Fri Dec 15, 6:40 PM ET   WASHINGTON - Thrill-seekers looking to blast into space would need to be informed in writing of serious risks — including death — and promise not to sue the government under the first-ever rules for commercial space travel. The rules issued Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration mandate training and medical fitness evaluations for crew members, preflight testing and other steps companies must take before getting licenses to carry paying passengers into the beyond.The rules apply to American companies launching from...