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Air travellers could face more frustration as busy US airports need to meet a higher Federal Aviation Administration target for reducing flights Tuesday after already cancelling thousands to scale back demands on the nation's aviation system during the government shutdown. The FAA ordered domestic airlines last week to drop 4 per cent of their flights at 40 major US airports, saying absences and signs of stress among traffic controllers made it imperative to act in the name of public safety. After already cancelling more than 7,900 since Friday, the goal for cutting flights is set to rise to 6 per cent on Tuesday and again to 10 per cent on Friday. But it was unclear exactly how many additional flights would need to be cancelled Tuesday. The average cancellation rate over the last few days already exceeded the FAA's requirement, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. The FAA also expanded its flight restrictions Monday, barring business jets and many private flights from ..
JetBlue passengers were taken to a hospital after a sudden altitude drop on a flight from Mexico forced an emergency landing in Florida on Thursday, according to officials. The flight from Cancun was travelling to Newark, New Jersey, when the altitude dropped. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that it is investigating. The Airbus A320 was diverted to Tampa International Airport around 2 pm, according to the FAA. It was not immediately clear how many were hurt or how severe their injuries were. Air traffic audio from LiveATC.net captured a radio call reporting the injuries: We've got at least three people injured. It seems like maybe a laceration in the head. Medical officials evaluated the passengers and crew members at the airport before some were taken to hospitals, according to JetBlue. Our team has taken the aircraft out of service for inspection, and we will conduct a full investigation to determine the cause, according to a JetBlue statement. The safety
Tens of thousands of planes take off, land and perform touch-and-goes at the Marana Regional Airport in southern Arizona every year. Without an air traffic control tower, it's a calculated dance that requires communication by pilots. Two small planes collided in midair over one of the runways on the outskirts of Tucson last week. One hit the ground and caught fire, sending up a plume of black smoke. The remains of two people were found in the charred wreckage. The other plane was able to land, with those occupants uninjured. The collision was the latest aviation mishap to draw attention in recent weeks. The circumstances vary widely with each case, however, and experts who study aviation accidents say they don't see any connection between them. Chatter over the airwaves has provided some clues about what happened in Arizona. A chief flight instructor who was in the air with a student that day heard the commotion over the radio: One plane was attempting a touch-and-go when another ..
The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Probationary workers were targeted in late-night emails on Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement. The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told AP. The air traffic controller was not authorised to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. A Transportation Department official told AP late on Monday that no air traffic controllers were affected by the cuts, and that the agency has "retained employees who perform critical safety functions". In a follow-up query the agency said they would have to look into whether the radar, landing and ...
A year after a panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during flight, the nation's top aviation regulator says the company needs "a fundamental cultural shift to put safety and quality above profits. Mike Whitaker, chief of the Federal Aviation Administration, said in an online post Friday that his agency also has more work to do in its oversight of Boeing. Whitaker, who plans to step down in two weeks to let President-elect Donald Trump pick his own FAA administrator, looked back on his decision last January to ground all 737 Max jets with similar panels called door plugs. Later, the FAA put more inspectors in Boeing factories, limited production of new 737s, and required Boeing to come up with a plan to fix manufacturing problems. Boeing is working to make progress executing its comprehensive plan in the areas of safety, quality improvement and effective employee engagement and training, Whitaker said. But this is not a one-year project. What's needed is a fundamental cultural shift at
The top US aviation regulator said on Thursday that the Federal Aviation Administration should have been more aware of manufacturing problems inside Boeing before a panel blew off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. FAA's approach was too hands-off too focused on paperwork audits and not focused enough on inspections, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told a Senate committee. Whitaker said that since the January 5 blowout on the Alaska jetliner, the FAA has changed to more active, comprehensive oversight of Boeing. That includes, as he has said before, putting more inspectors in factories at Boeing and its chief supplier on the Max, Spirit AeroSystems. Whitaker made the comments while his agency, the Justice Department and the National Transportation Safety Board continue investigations into the giant aircraft manufacturer. The FAA has limited Boeing's production of 737 Max jets to 38 per month, but the company is building far fewer than that while it tries to fix