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The Federal Aviation Administration violated its own rules by taking more than 40 minutes to alert the military after losing communication with a Northwest Airlines flight last week, according to officials familiar with internal reviews under way at several federal agencies. The delay has sparked consternation within the military, concern within the FAA and special oversight by the White House, these officials said, particularly because such time lags were supposed to be eliminated as a result of the lessons learned from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks... the man charged with protecting the skies above North America, U.S. Air Force...

The Federal Aviation Administration's decision to revoke the licenses of the pilots of the Northwest jetliner that lost radio contact with controllers last week threatens to disrupt voluntary safety reporting programs used by pilots, according to industry officials and aviation-safety experts. Immediately after FAA regulators on Tuesday revoked the licenses of both pilots aboard Northwest Flight 188, leaders of the largest U.S. pilot union began complaining and planning a response, these officials said. Officials of the Air Line Pilots Association decided on Wednesday that the government's enforcement move violated the spirit, and probably the letter, of voluntary incident reporting and...

The licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots involved in last week's "overflying" incident were revoked today by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a day after Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., called for a ban on using laptop computers in airline cockpits. The San Diego-to-Minneapolis flight overshot its destination by 150 miles because the pilots were apparently online in the cockpit (though they initially told investigators that they were distracted by a "conversation") and missed the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. They didn't realize their mistake until they had reached Eau Claire, Wis., at which point they turned around and flew back...

The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles. The pilots — Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash., the captain, and Richard Cole of Salem, Ore., the first officer — told safety investigators they were working on their personal laptop computers and lost track of time and place. The pilots, who were out of communications with air traffic controllers for 91 minutes, violated numerous federal safety regulations in the incident last Wednesday night, the FAA said in a statement. The violations included failing to comply with...

The Federal Aviation Administration has opened its own investigation into the 50-mile flight of the helium balloon that briefly delayed flights at Denver International Airport after a couple reported that their 6-year-old son may have been on board, an official said Tuesday. FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the agency investigates civil allegations rather than criminal ones. He declined to provide details on the nature of the FAA probe or its possible outcome. Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden has said investigators believe amateur storm chasers Richard and Mayumi Heene called 911 Thursday saying they thought their son, Falcon, was aboard the...

Rescuers are tracking and chasing a "homemade flying saucer" that is in flight with a 6-year-old, by himself, on board. The incident started this morning in Fort Collins when the boy got into the balloon-like device, which was built by an adult, and it came loose from a tether, according to the Larimer County Sheriff's Office. The contraption could rise as high as 10,000 feet, the sheriff's office said. The home-made flying saucer was last seen in flight over Weld County. The sheriff's office is working the Federal Aviation Administration to determine how to best get the boy down. The...

Dear Tolerance Sucks Rocks: Did you know that English is the official and international language of aviation and that all repair manuals are printed only in English? It shouldn't be surprising since English is also the international language of business. But it is even more critical for aviation because, when it comes to the safety and reliability of aircraft, multiple languages would open the door for misinterpretation and mistakes. That's why Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-CA) was shocked when he learned of an investigation launched by a Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas television station which revealed the alarming fact that hundreds of aircraft...

HOUSTON - A missile may have just barely miss hitting a Continental Airlines flight on Friday. Liberty County sheriff deputies are meeting with the FBI and FAA to discuss this incident. Sheriff deputies say on Friday a missile may have been launched near Interstate 10 and mount Belview. A continental flight which had just taken off from Bush Intercontinental Airport may have been the target.

From the BNO Newsroom. PHOENIX (BNO NEWS) -- A mid-air collision happened in the Phoenix area on Wednesday, a spokesman for the FAA told BNO News. According to KPHO-TV, at least one small plane came down in Coolidge, which is near Phoenix. Further details are not yet available. Refresh this page for updates.

Employees of the FAA’s air-traffic-control unit were asked to help, but the Transportation Department stressed Friday that essential safety personnel were not diverted from their duties.

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...

At least six individuals listed by the FBI as possible terrorists also were listed in the FAA database as pilot certificate holders as of this June, according to The New York Times. After the Times questioned the TSA about the situation, the FAA suspended all six certificates. The Times had received the list of names from a small software company that said it found the six by comparing public records, an effort the TSA apparently never made. "The T.S.A. appears not to have taken notice of the terrorists even when two of them turned up on the Federal Bureau of...

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...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration used economic stimulus money to pay for 50 airport projects that didn't meet the grant criteria and approved projects at four airports with a history of mismanaging federal grants, a government watchdog said Monday. Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel said he plans to examine the Federal Aviation Administration's process for selecting programs for the $1.1 billion in grant money. Among the projects that Scovel said didn't meet the FAA's minimum score was $14 million that went to Akiachak, Alaska, a town of 659 residents, to replace its airfield. The town has a seaplane and...

By its sixth hour sitting on a deserted tarmac, Continental Express Flight 2816 had taken on the smell of diapers and an overwhelmed lone toilet. What should have been a 2 1/2-hour trip from Houston to Minneapolis had moved into its ninth hour, and the 47 passengers on board had burned through the free pretzels and drinks handed out early in their Friday night flight from Houston. It took 12 hours and a new flight crew for Flight 2816 to complete its journey. Passengers on another flight that had been diverted to the airport in Rochester, Minn., because of storms...

Posted Jun 28th 2009 12:58PM by TMZ Staff The FAA is already deflecting blame for the death of Billy Mays -- claiming the legendary TV pitchman wasn't wearing a seat belt when he took a shot to the head during a rough landing on a flight he was on yesterday. Here's what we know -- Billy Mays was aboard US Airways Flight 1241 flying from Philadelphia, which landed roughly when the front tire blew out as it touched down. After the flight, Billy told FOX 13 in Tampa that something struck him in the head -- here's Billy's actual quote:...

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information what appeared to be a model rocket that nearly missed a Continental Express jet late last month. The rocket sizzled past the plane after it took off from Bush Intercontinental Airport about 8 p.m. on May 29, officials said. Investigators determined it lifted off somewhere in Chambers County, but they have been unable to find out who launched it. Ken DeFoor, chief deputy of the Liberty County sheriff's office, said the incident has generated several leads his office has turned over to the FBI. He declined to elaborate. The jet carried four...

FedEx Express is learning what could be the Democrats' economic motto -- "Never Let Success Go Unpunished." Led by Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minnesota), the House on May 21 passed legislation that contains a hidden provision -- a mere 230 words -- that would hobble FedEx Express by completely changing the labor laws under which the company operates. Unless the Senate removes the language from the bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, a mere dozen or so workers in just one city could hamstring much of the nation's overnight delivery service. Americans take for granted that things can "absolutely, positively ......

An employee of the Federal Aviation Administration charged a $3,700 eye surgery on his government credit card, according to a report on government credit card usage completed last month by the Congressional Research Service. This FAA official may have been outdone, however, by a Defense Department official who sought and received reimbursement for thirteen airline tickets worth almost $10,000 that he never purchased, or the State Department official who bought an unauthorized first-class ticket to Hawaii on his government charge card. "Among some of the more egregious examples of card misuse identified by auditors are a Federal Aviation Administration employee...

Even after Flight 1549 glided to a near-perfect forced landing on the Hudson River in January, the plane and its 155 passengers and crew came within inches of catastrophe when someone cracked open a rear door, sending water gushing into the cabin. Who opened the door is one of the questions the National Transportation Safety Board hopes to answer during three days of hearings on the accident beginning Tuesday. Other issues include crew training for forced water landings and dual engine failures, whether aircraft standards for ditching are adequate, bird detection and mitigation efforts at airports, and whether engine standards...

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.

AUTHORITIES ARREST TWO PEOPLE ABOARD U.S. AIRWAYS FLIGHT AT PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AFTER SMUGGLING HANDGUN ON BOARD.

It's still a mystery as to what a pilot reported seeing last week as he flew his Continental Express aircraft over Liberty County, Texas. However, the "Houston Chronicle" reports information is being exchanged by the FAA, the county sheriff's department and the FBI.

Airworthiness Directive DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Part 39 [Docket No. FAA-2008-0046; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-270-AD;Amendment 39-15650; AD 2008-17-12] Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Model A318, A319, A320, and A321 Series Airplanes Equipped With Certain Northrop Grumman (Formerly Litton) Air Data Inertial Reference Units DATES: This AD becomes effective October 2, 2008. SUMMARY: The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD), which applies to certain Airbus Model A319, A320, and A321 series airplanes equipped with certain Litton air data inertial reference units (ADIRUs). That AD currently requires modifying the shelf (floor panel) above ADIRU 3, modifying the polycarbonate guard...

...Sheriff and FAA expected to meet: Pilot reported to the Federal Aviation Administration that at about 8:15 p.m. Friday, an object passed within 150 feet beneath the aircraft, sheriff’s officials said.

Liberty County Sheriff’s officials are expected to meet with the FAA on Tuesday to discuss what a Continental Express pilot reported as a “missile or rocket” flying near his airplane. A pilot reported to the Federal Aviation Administration that at about 8:15 p.m. Friday, an object passed within 150 feet beneath the aircraft, sheriff’s officials said. The aircraft was near the southern edge of the county, flying at about 13,000 feet, officials said. “The pilot, from what we understand, was former military. He was able to get the coordinates down real quick,” said Cpl. Hugh Bishop with the Liberty County...

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2009 – A North American Aerospace Defense Command exercise designed to test the command’s aerospace defense capabilities in the national capital area has been rescheduled after inclement weather last week forced its postponement. Exercise Falcon Virgo, originally planned for the May 15-16 overnight period, now is scheduled for May 19-20. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon jets, Coast Guard Dolphin choppers and Civil Air Patrol Cessnas will participate in the exercise over the nation’s capital and its suburbs. A number of Falcon Virgo exercises have taken place since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, officials said. The most...

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...

An FAA memo ( PDF) floating around the Internet Wednesday suggests that if the FAA didn't originate the secrecy surrounding Monday's White House photo op over New York, it certainly went along with it. The memo—authored by James J. Johnston of the agency's security operations branch—clearly indicates the FAA was notified well ahead of the planned flyover and that it recognized the kind of reaction it might cause. The memo begins by saying: "The information in this document is considered FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY, and should only be shared with persons with a need to know. Information in this document...

LINTHICUM, Md. - There were some tense moments at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Tuesday night as two passengers had to be evaluated for swine flu. AirTran Airways Flight 85 from Cancun, Mexico radioed ahead to the airport about the two men, said airport spokesman Jonathan Dean. They had fevers and were sick to their stomachs. "The airport's fire and rescue department responded," Dean tells WTOP. "They evaluated the passengers and determined that there was no public health threat. They were actually ill before boarding." According to David Paulson, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the...

NEW YORK (CBS) ― An F-16 fighter jet trails a larger military aircraft over Lower Manhattan Monday, April 27, 2009, conducting a photo shoot that panicked thousands of New Yorkers who believed the city was in jeopardy for another terrorist attack. A furious President Barack Obama ordered an internal review of Monday's low-flying photo op over the Statue of Liberty. CBS 2 HD has discovered the feds will have plenty to question. Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and a 747 from the presidential fleet to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of...

The FAA knew letting a presidential jumbo jet and an F-16 fighter fly ominously near Ground Zero Monday might cause panic in the streets --but the White House still insisted the photo-op be kept classified, sources said yesterday. A cryptic, classified alert -- obtained by The Post yesterday -- written by James Johnston, a high-ranking Federal Aviation Administration official in Washington, predicted the fear and confusion. "Due to the possibility of public concern regarding DOD [Department of Defense] aircraft flying at low levels, coordination with federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies, emergency-operations centers and aviation units has been accomplished," the...

Threatened Federal Sanctions Against NYPD, Secret Service, FBI & Mayor's Office If Secret Ever Got Out Furious Obama Apologizes: "It Will Never Happen Again" A furious President Barack Obama ordered an internal review of Monday's low-flying photo op over the Statue of Liberty. CBS 2 HD has discovered the feds will have plenty to question. Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public. In a memo obtained by CBS...

NEW YORK (CBS) An F-16 fighter jet trails a larger military aircraft over Lower Manhattan Monday, April 27, 2009, conducting a photo shoot that panicked thousands of New Yorkers who believed the city was in jeopardy for another terrorist attack. A furious President Barack Obama ordered an internal review of Monday's low-flying photo op over the Statue of Liberty. CBS 2 HD has discovered the feds will have plenty to question. Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but...

Sen. Chuck Schumer echoed the mayor's sentiments in a separate news conference Monday afternoon, saying the Federal Aviation Administration should have notified the public to avoid panic.

Whose idea was it to not inform the public when authorizing an extremely low-flying airliner to fly over the Hudson River near lower Manhattan? Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Air Force, New York State or city officials? Or perhaps a better question is, who had responsibility to inform the public, and who dropped the ball? The Wall Street Journal has posted some of the first video of the flight . . .

F-16s Escort A 747 From Air Force One Fleet Near Statue Of Liberty; Defense Dept. Says It Was Just Photo Op

White House Deflects Questions on NYC Plane Incident Susan Davis reports on the White House. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs offered little clarity on this morning’s incident in New York City in which Air Force One—escorted by a military jet—flew over Manhattan this morning for a photo op, prompting evacuations and other concerns. The president was not on board. (For more on the incident, read this Wall Street Journal story.) New York City police said the flight was authorized by the Federal Aviation Authority. The Air Force is directing media inquiries to the White House. But asked at the podium...

Obama's FAA and Air Force scare the s%!t out of New York office workers by flying Air Force One, escorted by an F-16, low over Manhattan in what was described by the the FAA as a "photo-op".

A photo shoot involving a 747 used as Air Force One and two fighter jets flying at low altitude led to hundreds of frightened calls from residents and workers in Lower Manhattan this morning, triggering memories of 9-11 as many evacuated their offices... According to officials, the flight -- authorized by the FAA -- came in as low as 1000 feet to 150 feet above the city as it made a large circle over Manhattan, Staten Island, and New Jersey... Other officials noted that they were led to believe the flight would be limited to the area near the...

Compare the markings...

Large commercial jet seen flying low over Hudson River, appeared to be accompanied by military jet.

Breaking! No details available yet!

FAA says low-flying plane over Staten Island is 'pre-planned' flight to take photos by Staten Island Advance Monday April 27, 2009, 10:03 AM A plane, that appears to be a commercial jet tailed by fighter jets, is a "pre-planned" military flight taking photos of the Statue of Liberty, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Reports indicate it may be Air Force One. "It is pre-planned, pre-coordinated with everyone involved," said FAA spokesman Jim Peters. "It's a military flight over New York to take photos." Peters, who stressed it is not an emergency, said the flight is circling the Statue of...

Twenty times a day, pilots nationwide report that birds have hit their airplanes, according to a national data base of wildlife strikes made public on Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration. Denver International Airport had the highest number of reported bird strikes this decade — 2,090 — according to the database. Nationwide, the most common bird species involved in the collisions was the mourning dove.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration has made good on its promise to release for the first time, records of where and when airplanes have struck birds over the last 19 years. The disclosures come thanks largely to pressure after the dramatic ditching of a US Airways jet in the Hudson River after bird strikes knocked out both its engines in January.

The plane that slammed into a mountainside near Nome in February lacked a voluntary but key piece of equipment that could have sped the rescue of the five passengers and pilot, a federal investigator said last week. Frontier Flying Service hadn’t removed the plane’s emergency beacon — a type that is no longer being heard by satellites — and replaced it with an updated model, said Jim La Belle, regional director for the National Transportation Safety Board in Alaska. The Fairbanks airline isn’t alone. Most of the state’s small commercial airlines apparently haven’t updated their equipment, though doing so is...

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A passenger landed a twin-engine plane in Florida after the pilot died in flight with a total of six people on board. Federal Aviation Administration officials say the pilot died after takeoff from an airport in Naples on Sunday. It was on autopilot and climbing toward 10,000 feet when the pilot died. The passenger who took over is licensed for single-engine planes but isn't certified to fly the larger King Air craft. An air traffic controller helped the passanger down by calling a friend in Connecticut who knows the King Air plane and relaying instructions. The...