Free Republic

He could not be revived. Cause of death unknown; American will not disclose any details, including his vaccination status. The co-pilot took over and averted catastrophe.. At 7:59 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 19, Captain Patrick Ford collapsed at the controls of his American Eagle Embraer 175 - only seconds after the 76-seat jet had left the runway in Chicago. Ford was speaking to an air traffic controller at Chicago O’Hare, one of the world’s busiest airports, when his voice abruptly stopped, a publicly available recording of the incidents show. “Can I help you?” the controller anxiously asked, seconds later. “We...

Some of the nation's largest airports have been targeted for cyberattacks Monday by an attacker within the Russian Federation, a senior official briefed on the situation confirmed to ABC News.Importantly, the systems targeted do not handle air traffic control, internal airline communications and coordination, or transportation security."It's an inconvenience," the source said. The attacks have resulted in targeted "denial of public access" to public-facing web domains that report airport wait times and congestion.

President Joe Biden expressed frustration about the state of American airports on Monday, even though he made funding for trains a greater priority in his infrastructure bill. “America invented modern aviation, but we’ve allowed our airports to lag behind our competitors’,” Biden said. The president spoke about airports during a visit to Logan International Airport in Boston to promote more government infrastructure spending. He griped that the United States did not have any airports listed as the best in the world. “Today, not a single solitary American airport, not one, ranks in the top 25 of the world,” he said,...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has warned airlines that his department could draft new rules around passenger rights if the carriers don’t give more help to travelers trapped by flight cancellations and delays. Buttigieg is asking airline CEOs to, at a minimum, provide lodging for passengers stranded overnight at an airport and give out meal vouchers for delays of three hours or longer when the disruption is caused by something in the airline’s control. The Transportation Department on Friday released a copy of the letters, which it said were sent to CEOs of the major U.S. airlines, their regional affiliates, and...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in lockstep with Klaus Schwab’s Great Reset agenda now that the Liberal government has unveiled its ambitious federal “Digital Identity Program.” ... details about how the federal government is building a digital identity infrastructure that will affect all Canadians. “The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for government services to be accessible and flexible in the digital age. The next step in making services more convenient to access is a federal Digital Identity Program, integrated with pre-existing provincial platforms,” the report reads. “Digital identity is the electronic equivalent of a recognized proof-of-identity document (for example, a...

Erik Prince —ex-Navy SEAL, ex-CIA spy, ex-CEO of private-security firm Blackwater —calls himself an "accidental tourist" whose modest business boomed after 9/11, expanded into Iraq and Afghanistan, and then was "blowtorched by politics." To critics and conspiracy theorists, he is a mercenary war-profiteer. To admirers, he's a patriot who has repeatedly answered America's call with bravery and creativity. Now, sitting in a boardroom above Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, he explains his newest title, acquired this month: chairman of Frontier Services Group, an Africa-focused security and logistics company with intimate ties to China's largest state-owned conglomerate, Citic Group. Beijing has titanic...

One of the few facts of American life in 2022 that is pretty much beyond dispute is the reality that air travel is a disaster these days. It wasn’t very good before the pandemic if we’re being honest, but at least the airlines usually managed to get you where you needed to go, albeit in tiny, cramped seats and with barely edible snacks. But that’s no longer the case today. Flight delays and cancellations are just a fact of life now. I’ve gone back and forth in terms of where the real blame lies for this because there’s just so...

Airports have been the main stages for security and hygiene "theater.". Bureaucrats cling to power. It’s their institutional predisposition. So it was no surprise on Wednesday when the Department of Justice appealed the recent Federal court ruling that struck down the mask mandate imposed on mass transportation by the Centers for Disease Control. As the appeal demonstrates, governments are especially reluctant to give up emergency powers. When they do, the relinquishment is grudging and only partial. That is a big reason why big government keeps getting bigger. As economist Robert Higgs showed in his book Crisis and Leviathan, since the...

Travelers were in a state of mask confusion Tuesday, with airports and other major transport hubs in New York still requiring face coverings — even as other states, including New Jersey, axed requirements almost immediately after a judge struck down a federal mandate.

The White House has only days to decide if it will renew the mask mandate on public transportation systems as COVID-19 cases once again show signs of rising. The requirement to wear a mask on airplanes, in airports and on buses and trains has been in place for 14 months under the Biden administration, including several extensions, but is finally set to expire Monday.

DALLAS — Yes, those 7-foot-tall machines at Dallas Love Field are watching you. They want to make sure you’re wearing a mask if you’re boarding a flight or not parking too long at the curb if you’re picking up a returning traveler. Love Field is testing out two Security Control Observation Towers at the airport, one near baggage claim and another near security checkpoints, to figure out whether robotic assistants can both help customers get around and warn passengers who are breaking rules. The robots can also contact airport security and operations in case more help is needed. While not...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may impose more travel restrictions and rules over the emergence of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus Omicron variant, according to federal officials. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters Tuesday that the CDC is evaluating whether to change its policy by having travelers to the United States test for COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus, closer to their departure as well as “additional post-arrival testing and quarantine” measures. The CDC is working with airlines to obtain information on passengers for contact tracing should the need arise, she continued. “Based on...

This is not the only chaotic incident to transpire at the airport recently. Earlier this month, a man was arrested after he allegedly threatened to kill TSA agents. “This is a free country,” he said before swinging a line post at officers who shocked him with a stun gun, according to charges brought against the man. Shortly before his confrontation with TSA, he was reportedly seen headbutting TV screens, stripping naked and masturbating in the airport.

Tuesday on “The Five,” Fox News host Geraldo Rivera said Rep. Chip Roy (R- TX) was getting ‘”sexual pleasure from the chaos and the disruption” at Southwest Airlines. On pilots balking at the companies coronavirus mandate, co-host Jesse Watters said, “I think this is just the beginning. You will have firefighters, police officers, teachers. you will lose 10% of the reports on all union jobs, and that is not returning to normal.”

Current Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) is hoping to snag a U.S. Senate seat in 2022 and has publicly shamed China for its communist ways within the past two years — seemingly aligning himself with the GOP’s “America First” priorities. But when Schmitt was a Missouri State Senator, he took quite the opposite posture and looked to partner with China in the hopes of bringing a thriving enterprise to the state. In 2011, Schmitt was one of the main proponents of Aerotropolis, more colloquially known as “China Hub,” a global cargo hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport which he...

In his State of the State address, Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted the $306 billion in current and proposed infrastructure projects around New York that he said would revitalize the economy after COVID-19 shut down businesses and non-essential construction. In his Jan. 14 speech, the governor said a total $51 billion was being spent for projects to revive Manhattan's Midtown West neighborhoods, citing potential new projects as well as those well into planning. That figure includes the $1.6 billion Moynihan Train Hall, which opened Jan. 1; the $1.5 billion Jacob K. Javits Center expansion, expected to be completed this year; and...

CNN will no longer be broadcasted in airports, its president says, ending a decades-long run. In a letter to staff members, CNN President Jeff Zucker said the CNN Airport Network will stop operations as of March 31.

CNN is shuttering the CNN Airport Network effective March 31. That means an end to those televisions blaring news across approximately 50 U.S. airports. The cable network explains that this is because of a decline in air travel, and more people “consuming content on their personal devices” rather than watching their broadcasts.Producing separate content isn’t the primary expense. It’s true that CNN Airport Network, which broadcasts 24 hours a day 7 days a week, is different than the primary channel. It doesn’t show sexually explicit or violent content or air disasters. However the main cost is payments to airports (at...

Many privately-owned aircraft at Colorado Air and Space Port (CASP) are owned and operated by individuals, businesses, and organizations that fall into the category of "critical business," as defined by the Executive Order signed by Gov. Polis on March 25, 2020. These include medical, medevac, food services, small cargo, fire prevention, law enforcement, public safety, and others. General aviation has always been a critical part of helping communities, especially during times of emergency and disaster, and CASP remains open to support these important missions. However, for the safety of our employees and you, we ask, in this very unusual time...

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) confirmed Wednesday that on Tuesday, the agency saw a record low in the number of passenger screenings in airports nationwide.According to CBS News Transportation Reporter Kris Van Cleave, the TSA screened only about 297,000 people on Tuesday seeing a 16 percent drop from Monday. Tuesday’s screenings were reported to be an 88 percent drop from the more than 2.3 million people screened on March 1. .@tsa confirms this is an all time record low for passengers screened in a day. https://t.co/JYKnIFTOUZ— Kris Van Cleave (@krisvancleave) March 25, 2020 The updated numbers from the TSA...