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SATHER AIR BASE — After a month of work, the west runway at Baghdad International Airport is open for business. That business is running the busiest, highest volume passenger terminal in Iraq. “Repair and improvement of (Baghdad’s) west runway became necessary due to the gradual deterioration of its surface to the point that it would become dangerous in the very near future,” said Lt. Col. Scott Bowen, 447th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron commander deployed from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. “These repairs, combined with the other improvement projects, will ensure long-term use of the west side of Baghdad International Airport.” At...

A FedEx plane left the runway at Memphis Intl Airport shortly after landing. Three people on boeard reported safe.

Saturday July 8, 8:01 AM Haneda halts operations for 2 hours after worker crossed runway (Kyodo) _ Tokyo's Haneda airport suspended flight arrivals and departures for about two hours on Saturday morning after its infrared ray sensor system detected a person crossing a runway without permission, who turned out to be a worker, airport officials said. The incident has caused delays of up to nearly two hours in 14 flights departing and arriving at the airport as of 7:30 a.m. they said. The system sensed an object at around 4 a.m. around the most seaward runway. A security camera showed...

BAYOU LA BATRE, ALA. -- The afternoon before Hurricane Katrina arrived, Vo Loan, 11, who like other Asian-American children in Bayou La Batre serves as English translator for her parents, was out with her mother when the police rapped at their door Her father, Vietnam-born Nguyen Hung, answered. The two officers warned Nguyen in English that flooding from the major hurricane could be deadly and that his family should evacuate. He didn't understand, he explained to a reporter last week, speaking through his daughter at their small white house. "My van was broken, but I could have found another way...

Construction at Kandahar Airfield looks to futureBoardwalk, runway extensions in the works at growing base By Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Monday, March 6, 2006 KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — So what if the nearest ocean is hundreds of miles away? That doesn’t mean coalition troops and civilians stationed at the largest military base in southern Afghanistan can’t enjoy a (sometimes bouncy) walk on the boardwalk, and grab some American fast food while they’re at it. The wooden structure, located near the geographic center of the base, was a pet project of Lt. Col. Jim Hardy, the recently departed...

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."

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Feb. 14, 2006) -- Deployed Marines often depend on their ability to freely travel the skies to accomplish their missions. If that ability is endangered, so are those missions. At Camp Taqaddum, the condition of the flight line here is in need of improvement, which is where the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, 30th Naval Construction Regiment, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force is coming into action. The unit is helping ensure that airborne assets and transportation remains a dependable facet the overall military force here. Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy A. Gridley, in charge of the runway project...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The National Transportation Safety Board is urging that commercial airplane pilots change the way they calculate stopping distances on slippery runways to avoid a crash, such as the one in Chicago that killed a child.

11/3/2005 - BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- Age, weather and more than 3,000 operations every week take their toll on the busiest runway in Afghanistan. Without a continual effort to repair the runway here, the mission would virtually come to a halt. A nine-man spall-repair team from the 455th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron spends more than two hours every day maintaining the runway. A spall is a shallow break in the concrete, usually found along a joint. “We’ve made more than 200 repairs in the last two months,” said Tech. Sgt. Jason Benbrook, the noncommissioned officer in charge of...

Quick action and creative thinking by Air Force and Army engineers had the runway fully active again in less than 30 hours. BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Aug. 9, 2005 — A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft rolled off the runway while landing at Bagram Airfield Aug. 6, damaging its nose and right main landing gears. As a result, the runway was closed, but quick action and creative thinking by Air Force and Army engineers had the runway fully active again in less than 30 hours. There were no injuries in the incident. "This is the best cooperative effort between...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Air traffic at Des Moines International Airport was temporarily halted when a disoriented 70-year-old man drove in through an exit gate and led security on a chase onto an active taxiway. Duane Edwards Sheets drove through an open gate at the adjacent Iowa Air National Guard base Tuesday, nearly striking a guard who tried to stop him, said Col. Greg Schwab, commander of the 132nd Air Fighter Wing. Airport security and police took over the chase after Sheets crossed onto airport property, where he drove along service roads, hit a fence and was chased onto...

RICHMOND, Va. -- An American Airlines plane preparing for takeoff went off the runway and became stuck in mud Thursday at Richmond International Airport, shutting the two main runways and delaying nearly all incoming flights, an airport spokesman said. (snip) It appears the pilot "underestimated his turning radius" and drove off the runway, Bell said. He said weather was not a factor.

Airport expansion takes flight By AARON LONDON Staff Writer Last update: 14 March 2004 BUNNELL -- The sky might be the limit for pilots taking off from the Flagler County Airport, but county officials draw the line at forcing people to give up their property to expand the facility. County commissioners reviewed an updated master plan last week for the airport that included five scenarios for growth. In the end, commissioners decided to pursue the most ambitious option, a $28.4 million, 20-year plan to move the airport's main runway 400 feet south and lengthen it by 2,000 feet, begin...