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United, Delta and USAir have suspended all flights to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport after a Hamas rocket this afternoon landed in Yahud, some 5 kilometers from the airport (Hat Tip: NY Nana). The White House says that it did not order the flights suspended, but Delta said it made its decision in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration. Delta said it suspended service to and from its New York JFK hub "until further notice," while the Israel Airports Authority would only confirm that the carriers had suspended flight scheduled for Monday. US Airways has not yet released a...

John Kerry Files (sic) to Tel Aviv Despite FAA Ban AP and ABC NewsTEL AVIV, Israel — Jul 23, 2014, 4:12 AM ET The top U.S. diplomat defied a Federal Aviation Administration ban and flew into Israel's main airport Wednesday in a sign of sheer will to achieve a cease-fire agreement in the warring Gaza Strip despite little evidence of progress in ongoing negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry planned to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during what appeared to be a crucial day in the...

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH — A man who flew a drone into a fireworks show over West Palm Beach and captured stunning video that went viral over the weekend might have to answer to federal investigators. The Federal Aviation Administration said the video is “under investigation.” “The FAA is looking into multiple incidents in which unmanned aircraft flew into fireworks displays to determine if there was any violation of federal regulations or airspace restrictions,” the agency said in a statement to The Palm Beach Post. Punishments can include “a verbal warning and an order to stop...

According to a notice released by the United States Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration last Monday, the new regulations now include Amazon drones and even some toy planes. Before Monday's notice, the FAA had distinguished model aircraft from small drones according to their usage: commercial or recreational. Hobbyists were free to use model aircraft as they pleased but with these new rules, even toy quadcopters are considered drones and require users to have special permits to operate them. The Hubsan FPV X4 Mini RTF Quadcopter is targeted towards children but this, and other first-person-view model aircraft, will require a...

On the same day last month, airline pilots trying to land at two of the nation’s busiest airports got on their radios to report the unnerving sight of small rogue drones buzzing at high altitudes. In the first incident on May 29, the pilot of a commercial airliner descending toward LaGuardia Airport saw what appeared to be a black drone with a 10-to-15-foot wingspan about 5,500 feet above Lower Manhattan, according to a previously undisclosed report filed with the Federal Aviation Administration. In the second, two airliners separately approaching Los Angeles International Airport soared past what they described as a...

DENVER - Thousands of potential FAA air traffic control trainees, with College Initiative Training (CTI) degrees or previous military experience, have been told by the federal agency they are no longer eligible for job interviews. Instead, the FAA has decided to accept less qualified applicants, apparently to satisfy concerns that the agency needs a more diverse workforce. "We were told through the FAA, if you want to be a controller you need to go through one of our CTI-approved programs," said CTI graduate Ryan Meryhew. In the past, Ryan Meryhew would have been considered "highly qualified" for the FAA's air...

'We've engineered the biographical questionnaire in a way that we think will promote diversity.'" The initial hurdle for all applicants was based solely on a new, online biographical questionnaire that gave test takers instant results. "It didn't ask me anything about my college experience, my grades, my scores, (and) my ability for the actual job. It asked me what sports I played in high school. What was my least favorite subject in high school. Nothing related to aviation," remembered Meryhew

The FAA requires every non-recreational drone user in the U.S. to seek its approval. So far, the FAA has authorized only two commercial drones, both in Alaska. Separately, the agency has fined two drone pilots, both for alleged reckless flying. In March, an administrative law judge overturned the first fine—a $10,000 penalty—ruling that the drone policy was a safety guideline and the agency had no legal authority to enforce it. The FAA is appealing. "Fewer and fewer people seem deterred by threats," said one federal official. "Nobody is asking the FAA how to proceed, so it's turned into a modern...

A U.S. airliner nearly collided with a drone over Florida earlier this year, a federal official said, a near miss that highlights risks posed by the proliferation of unmanned aircraft in U.S. skies. A pilot of an American Airlines Group Inc. AAL +0.03% regional jet told officials that on March 22 he came dangerously close to a "small remotely piloted aircraft" about 2,300 feet above the ground near Tallahassee Regional Airport in Florida, said Jim Williams, head of the unmanned-aircraft office at the Federal Aviation Administration. Mr. Williams disclosed the incident publicly for the first time at a drone conference...

**SNIP** "CTI students, much, much better. They're better trained better prepared they outperform the off the street hires," said Gilding. Anthony Foxx is the head of the Department of Transportation that oversees the FAA. This is how he described the hiring changes to Congress in March. "The FAA took an opportunity to take a broad opening of the aperture if you will to try to get a larger universe of applicants into the program," he said. "Opening the aperture", code for diversity. But just a year ago the FAA gave the CTI program a glowing review. Stating, "It is clear...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) or “no fly zone” over Mesquite, NV, the area which includes Cliven Bundy’s ranch in Bunkerville, on the same day the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) halted its cattle impoundment operation at the ranch, Breitbart News confirmed with FAA Pacific Division Public Affairs Manager Ian Gregor. "Our Temporary Flight Restriction website shows there are no current restrictions for Nevada. We cancelled the TFR when it was no longer needed for safety reasons. If no TFR is in place in a specific area, aircraft can freely operate provided the pilots...

In March 2012, volunteers spent four days looking for a 2-year-old boy who wandered away from his home outside Houston, Texas. They found him only after volunteers reviewing images captured by a drone-mounted aerial camera saw a flash of red in a pond that had already been searched. It turned out to be a shirt worn by the child, who had drowned. That was not the first time members of Texas EquuSearch had used these small model planes to help locate a missing person. But if the Federal Aviation Administration has its way, it won't happen again. In February, the...

WASHINGTON – A federal judge has dismissed the Federal Aviation Administration's only fine against a commercial drone user on the grounds that the small drone was no different than a model aircraft, a decision that appears to undermine the agency's power to keep a burgeoning civilian drone industry out of the skies. Patrick Geraghty, a National Transportation Safety Board administrative law judge, said in his order dismissing the $10,000 fine that the FAA has no regulations governing model aircraft flights or for classifying model aircraft as an unmanned aircraft. FAA officials said they were reviewing the decision and had no...

COMMERCE TWP. (WWJ) – A Commerce Township floral delivery company says the Federal Aviation Administration has grounded its experiment in delivering flowers by unmanned mini-helicopter. FlowerDeliveryExpress.com said the FAA has informed them that commercial drone use is only allowed on a pre-authorized, case-by-case basis — and told the company to knock it off.“Cupid’s wings have been clipped,” said the company’s CEO, Wesley Berry.But at least the FAA was nice about it, Berry said. “The FAA was extremely professional and polite,” he said. “I couldn’t have been chastised in a nicer way.”Berry said he agreed with the FAA’s characterization of delivery...

"The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed to FOX CT News Thursday they are investigating the use of a drone at a Hartford fatal crash scene Saturday. Questions about officer safety and public privacy are emerging now after the drone was spotted above a fatal car crash on Main Street. FOX CT was the only media organization to obtain the official Hartford Police Department incident report Thursday, detailing the chain of events. According to the report, officers spotted a drone flying over the scene of the crash, in which the bodies were still in the car."

The Lakemaid micro brewery started delivering beer to ice fishers using drones, at least until the FAA coldly shut their operation down. The FAA is currently reviewing their policies. According to the beer company’s president, Jack Supple, “They think it’s a great idea, though they’re telling me to stop.”

The Federal Aviation Administration will authorize test sites for drone aircraft in upstate New York, New Jersey and at least eight other states, the agency said on Monday, but integrating the aircraft into the nation’s airspace, set by Congress for 2015, will be phased in gradually. The agency picked six institutions to operate test locations, which will explore how to set safety standards, how to train and certify their ground-based pilots, how to ensure that the aircraft will operate safely even if they lose their radio links with the ground and, most of all, how to replace the traditional method...

Authorities struggled to explain how a small plane crashed at an international airport, erupted in fire, but evidently went unnoticed for hours. The incident occurred early Tuesday in Nashville. But exactly what time remains a mystery.

Nearly 3,000 aviation safety inspectors are being furloughed by the Federal Aviation Administration as part of the government shutdown, the union representing the inspectors said Monday. The inspectors check to make sure airlines are maintaining their planes safely, conduct inspections at airports of planes and pilots, and visit domestic and foreign repair stations where airlines send planes for major overhauls, among other safety jobs, said Kori Blalock Keller, a spokeswoman for the union, Professional Aviation Safety Specialists. …

On board flight out of #DCA. Still on runway. Flight crew just told us "all planes have been grounded indefinitely." No reason given.@wusa9