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Flight delays of up to 3-1/2 hours are expected at some busy U.S. airports this summer because of furloughs of air-traffic controllers, the top U.S. aviation regulator warned on Thursday. The estimate from the Federal Aviation Administration is the first to detail, in minutes and hours, the potential delays from the agency's decision to furlough 10 percent of its staff, starting Sunday, as it struggles to meet budget cuts required under so-called sequestration. Other groups, including the air-traffic controller's union, have warned of potentially long delays and reduced capacity to handle airplanes, which could force airlines to cut flights. But...

“[Drones are a] game-changing technology, akin to gunpowder, the steam engine, the atomic bomb—opening up possibilities that were fiction a generation earlier but also opening up perils that were unknown a generation ago.”—Peter Singer, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution America will never be a “no drone zone.” That must be acknowledged from the outset. There is too much money to be made on drones, for one, and too many special interest groups—from the defense sector to law enforcement to the so-called “research” groups that are in it for purely “academic” reasons—who have a vested interest in ensuring that drones...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The closings of control towers at 149 small airports, due to begin this weekend because of government-wide spending cuts, are being delayed until mid-June, federal regulators announced Friday. The Federal Aviation Administration said it needs more time to deal with legal challenges to the closures. Also, about 50 airport authorities and other "stakeholders" have indicated they want to fund the operations of the towers themselves rather than see them shut down, and more time will be needed to work out those plans, the agency said in a statement. The first 24 tower closures were scheduled to begin...

Texas will pay to keep 13 local air traffic control towers that the Obama administration plans shut down in order to play politics with the sequester. Last week, the Obama administration announced it would close 149 air traffic control towers nationwide starting on April 7 to save $600 million. The Texas Department of Transportation said safety and Texas's economy, which relies on air travel, prompted the state to keep the air traffic control towers open. “Safety is the primary reason we felt a need to take immediate action for the air travelers and business aircraft that use these airports," Texas...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts 10,000 commercial drones could be in the skies by 2020 after guidelines are approved. For now, Congress has asked the FAA to write regulations on civil operation of small unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace and submit them by 2015. "Once enabled, commercial UAS markets will develop. There are many potential ways for a company to generate revenue from UAS applications, whether from new markets or more efficient applications in established markets. Based upon the expected regulatory environment, FAA predicts roughly 10,000 active commercial UASs in five years," states the FAA Aerospace Forecast...

Sequestration chatter isn’t going away any time soon, and one of the expected headlines is making the rounds again this week. Air traffic control towers at nearly 150 airports across the nation are going to sit empty, forcing pilots to figure out safe landing procedures by a combination of the seats of their pants and furiously cracking open fortune cookies. In other words, you’re all going to die. The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday told 149 regional airports across the country it would begin closing their air traffic control towers in April, but said it would spare another 40 towers...

(Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday it will close 149 air traffic control towers at small airports across the country beginning on April 7 as it copes with automatic federal spending cuts. The White House and transportation leaders have warned for weeks that the $85 billion in federal cuts known as "sequestration" would force smaller airports across the country to curtail operations. The across-the-board cuts started kicking in on March 1 because Congress was not able to reach an alternative budget deal to replace them. The FAA must absorb $637 million in cuts by September 30. Transportation...

A possible drone sighting near JFK Airport has led to a federal investigation after a pilot spotted the unknown flying object as he landed a commercial jet yesterday. The Alitalia pilot was in his final approach into JFK over Brooklyn, New York, just after 1pm when he saw something hovering about 200 feet away. Sources told the New York Post that the 'drone' was black in color, and had helicopter rotors on its corners. The FAA said that all flights landed without incident, and the agency is currently investigating. The Post reported that the Joint Terrorism Task Force is also...

Will President Obama’s sequester interrupt government services you depend on? The media runs alarmist stories about how average Americans will suffer if Uncle Sam has to pass up a fourth sticky bun for breakfast. Politicians often panic the public to keep the money flowing. Washington is warning of three-hour delays at airports. Remember: Democrats insisted on requiring airport security screeners to be federal employees. So now you must support Democratic spending plans or else. Since 2008, federal spending has increased by $800 billion per year. The looming sequester will shave off $100 billion per year. Washington will still be spending...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major step toward opening U.S. skies to thousands of unmanned drones, federal officials Thursday solicited proposals to create six drone test sites around the country.</p> <p>The Federal Aviation Administration also posted online a draft plan for protecting people's privacy from the eyes in the sky. The plan would require each test site to follow federal and state laws and make a privacy policy publicly available.</p>

An official with the Federal Aviation Administration reassured the public Wednesday that no armed drones will be permitted in U.S. airspace, but he acknowledged the agency can do little about privacy fears associated with the unmanned craft.

MCLEAN, Va. — A top official with the Federal Aviation Administration reassured the public on Wednesday that, despite the fear and paranoia of some, no armed drones will be permitted to fly in U.S. airspace. “We currently have rules in the books that deal with releasing anything from an aircraft, period. Those rules are in place and that would prohibit weapons from being installed on a civil aircraft,” said Jim Williams, head of the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Office, in an address to the drone industry’s leading trade group meeting this week in Northern Virginia.

I found this link from Micheal Yon on Facebook. I haven't heard of Electronic Frontier Foundation before but I found there map very interesting. The have a Google map of all FAA approved drone operations. If you follow there link to larger you can see details on what they say they are doing with the drone.

The crisis that has enveloped Boeing over the grounded Dreamliner, at a cost of billions of dollars in losses in addition to what has already been “invested” in it -- voluntarily by its owner/investors and coercively from taxpayers – exemplifies perhaps more than any other redistributionist corporatism scheme why government intervention is more headache than help. Pass the industrial-strength Excedrin. Of immediate concern to the Chicago-based jet-manufacturer is the lithium-ion battery that powers so many of the 787’s critical functions. Two instances of “thermal runaway” on Dreamliners’ owned by Japan-based airlines caused that country, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration,to...

When Federal Aviation Administration officials grounded Boeing's fleet of 787 Dreamliner commercial jets last week due to unexplained battery fires, one of President Obama's favorite green energy technologies got another black eye. Technologists and safety experts had long warned of problems with the lithium ion battery when in 2009 the president began betting billions of tax dollars that it should be the green power of choice for cars, trucks, and even aircraft.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration says it is requiring airlines to temporarily stop flying Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday ordered U.S. airlines to temporarily stop flying Boeing's 787 Dreamliner following a series of mishaps. The agency said the decision to ground Boeing 787s was prompted by a second incident involving lithium ion battery failure. Earlier Wednesday, Japan's two leading airlines grounded their fleets of Boeing 787s after one of the Dreamliner passenger jets made an emergency landing.

The Federal Aviation Administration this morning announced a comprehensive review of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner -- including the company’s plant in North Charleston -- in light of a series of recent incidents. The review will focus on the technologically advanced jet’s extensive electric system but will not be limited to any one aspect of the program or any one of the recent glitches, according to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. Despite his agency’s decision to undertake an open-ended look at Boeing’s prize jet program, Huerta emphasized that the 787 is safe to fly. “Nothing we have seen would indicate that this airplane...

Ever wonder what your flight attendant really thinks of you? What they’d tell you if they had the nerve? Or weren’t afraid of being fired? What deep, dark secrets would they reveal about their jobs? I have a number of friends who work as flight attendants. One of them recently retired after 20 years flying for the most storied name in commercial aviation, while others work for less glamorous domestic U.S. airlines. I asked them what they’d tell their passengers if they could tell them anything at all, or what secrets they’d reveal only if granted complete anonymity. All I...

U.S. airlines are facing what threatens to be their most serious pilot shortage since the 1960s, with higher experience requirements for new hires about to take hold just as the industry braces for a wave of retirements. Federal mandates taking effect next summer will require all newly hired pilots to have at least 1,500 hours of prior flight experience—six times the current minimum—raising the cost and time to train new fliers in an era when pay cuts and more-demanding schedules already have made the profession less attractive. Meanwhile, thousands of senior pilots at major airlines soon will start hitting the...

SOMERSET — Two F-22 fighters were scrambled over Somerset County this morning to intercept two small planes whose pilots breached a temporary no-fly zone set up Monday over New Jersey and New York and lasting until this afternoon, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the Federal Aviation Administration. The fighters intercepted the planes at about 11 a.m. after they entered the temporary no-fly zone and were out of out radio contact, the NORAD spokesman said.......