Free Republic

Pilots at the controls of the Boeing Co. 737 MAX that crashed in March in Ethiopia initially followed emergency procedures laid out by the plane maker but still failed to recover control of the jet, according to people briefed on the probe’s preliminary findings. After turning off a flight-control system that was automatically pushing down the plane’s nose shortly after takeoff March 10, these people said, the crew couldn’t get the aircraft to climb and ended up turning it back on and relying on other steps before the final plunge killed all 157 people on board. The sequence of events,...

It’s horrible news, but with a silver lining for Boeing and the FAA. Investigators have determined that the stall-detection system at the heart of an earlier Boeing 737 Max jet crash late last year also activated in the Ethiopian Airlines crash earlier this month. No final conclusions have emerged in either investigation, but the news confirms suspicions that Boeing’s new MCAS system on the 737 Max platform played significant roles in both deadly crashes:

For most of the history of powered flight, the United States has been a world leader in aviation. But now, our credibility as leaders in aviation is being damaged. Boeing and the FAA have been found wanting in this ugly saga that began years ago but has come home to roost with two terrible fatal crashes, with no survivors, in less than five months, on a new airplane type, the Boeing 737 Max 8, something that is unprecedented in modern aviation history. For too many years, the FAA has not been provided budgets sufficient to ensure appropriate oversight of a...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday ordered two Boeing 737 Max jets — one model of which was involved in the fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people — to be temporarily grounded in the U.S. The agency said the decision was made to ground both the Boeing 737 Max 8 and 737 Max 9 models "as a result of the data gathering process and new evidence collected at the site and analyzed." "The grounding will remain in effect pending further investigation, including examination of information from the aircraft's flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders," the FAA...

Pilots repeatedly voiced safety concerns about the Boeing 737 Max 8 to federal authorities, with one captain calling the flight manual "inadequate and almost criminally insufficient" several months before Sunday's Ethiopian Air crash that killed 157 people, an investigation by The Dallas Morning News found. The News found five complaints about the Boeing model in a federal database where pilots can voluntarily report about aviation incidents without fear of repercussions. ************ The disclosures found by The News reference problems with an autopilot system, and they all occurred during the ascent after takeoff. Many mentioned the plane suddenly nosing down. While...

Full title: DGCA lays down the law , says no Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will be allowed to enter, transit Indian airspace An official of aviation watchdog DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), on Wednesday, said that all Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in India will be grounded by 4 pm today.  According to news agency PTI, the regulator, which on Tuesday, decided to immediately ground the aircraft amid global concerns following the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people, including four Indians, shall ground all the Bowing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in India by 4 pm. The planes will...

I am Gerald Eastman, The Last (Boeing) Inspector. You can find more about me here and throughout this site. I have been fighting the Boeing/FAA fraud noted above since January 11th, 2002, when I was explicitly faced with the fact that this fraud was put in place and directed by Boeing Management by my QA supervisor of the time. My QA supervisor was just the most honest of several corrupt Boeing QA supervisors I had had at that point. QA supervisors at Boeing were the same as similarly corrupt Boeing Manufacturing Management. Both focused on achieving cost and schedule goals...

NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- Federal authorities say a Newark-to-Houston United Airlines flight declared an emergency when an engine shut down as the plane was descending into their destination Sunday night. Flight 1168, a Boeing 737-900, was carrying 174 passengers and six crew members when engine trouble began as the plane neared George Bush Intercontinental Airport. One passenger told Houston media outlets that he heard a loud bang, felt a strong vibration and saw a flash of light. "I noticed as we were coming into Houston airport, I heard sounds that I don't normally hear when I fly," passenger Leonard...

Aviation regulators from China to Britain have grounded Boeing 737 Max 8 planes, joining a growing list of countries suspending the plane’s operation and banning it from their airspace after the second deadly crash of the popular aircraft in less than five months. After the U.K. issued its statement about the planes, President Donald Trump on Tuesday tweeted: “Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. “I see it all the time in many products,” he said. “Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and...

A cargo plane carrying at least three people crashed into a bay in the southeastern part of Texas on Saturday, officials said. The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement confirming that a twin-engine Boeing 767 cargo jetliner crashed into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas about 12:45 p.m.

The Federal Aviation Administration is delaying flights into New York's LaGuardia Airport due to 'staffing' issues.

The Federal Aviation Administration halted flights into La Guardia airport in New York City on Friday amid a shortage of air traffic control staff, according to multiple reports. The partial government shutdown has impacted air traffic controllers, who are deemed essential workers and have to work without pay. Newark and Philadelphia reportedly are also stopping all incoming flights, according to Bloomberg.

While everyone’s eyes were on now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s hearings and votes the Republicans grew government. Again.President Donald Trump signed into law the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 – a law which regulates everything from airline seat sizes to whether people can make cell phone calls on flights (something Jazz wrote in favor of earlier today). The bill also defined exactly what a Lactation Area is (they can’t be in restrooms) and includes money for studies looking at the design specifics of aircraft oxygen and on allergic reactions on board airlines. There’s also a study on what...

The Federal Aviation Administration would be required to set new minimum requirements for seats on airplanes under legislation to be considered in the House this week, possibly giving passengers a break from ever-shrinking legroom and cramped quarters. The regulation of seat width and legroom is part of a five-year extension of federal aviation programs announced early Saturday by Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate committees that oversee the nation’s air travel. Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to keep FAA programs running. The Senate will also need to take up the bill this week or both chambers...

ATCs must necessarily be among the most skilled and competent federal government employees. In accordance with an Obama administration plan to “transform” the Federal Aviation Administration into a “more diverse workplace” however, the FAA has abandoned its merit-based hiring program for ATCs, as it implements a plan to hire 1,000 ATCs a year to replace a generation of retiring controllers. Congress can and should intervene in this unfortunate plan to restore sanity and safety to the skies, because it endangers people’s lives. ... It is expensive and time-consuming to train ATCs, and many candidates who believe they have what it...

Tamar Braxton Responds to Delta Airlines’ Statement Rebuking Her ‘Unusual Behavior’ Wednesday, August 1, 2018 Tamar Braxton has responded to a Delta Airlines statement blaming her “unusual behavior” and her refusal to follow a flight attendant’s instructions during a recent flight. Tamar’s sister Towanda accused a Delta pilot of ridiculing Tamar after the pilot left the safety of the reinforced cockpit to deal with the part-time singer’s unruly behavior. “@tamarbraxton got ridiculed by a pilot for flying while black on Delta,” Towanda wrote in an Instagram post dated July 28. “Wow! I guess being a diamond and double million miler...

The Federal Aviation Administration has become consumed by diversity and inclusion. Prior to becoming so, the FAA worked with about 36 colleges to create the Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative. The colleges offered nonengineering aviation degrees requiring basic courses in air traffic control and aviation administration. Graduates became qualified candidates for training as air traffic control specialists. The FAA gave hiring preferences to veterans, those with AT-CTI program degrees, references from administrators and high test scores. In 2013, resident Obama-appointed FAA Administrator Michael Huerta deemed that these hiring standards had not produced a pleasing mix of air traffic controllers when...

... attorney tells Tucker CarlsonVideo.

My column a fortnight ago, titled "Diversity and Inclusion Harm," focused on the dumbing down of science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula to achieve a more pleasing mixture of participants in terms of race and sex. Heather Mac Donald, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, wrote about this in her article titled "How Identity Politics Is Harming the Sciences." MacDonald quoted a UCLA scientist who said, "All across the country the big question now in STEM is: how can we promote more women and minorities by 'changing' (i.e., lowering) the requirements we had previously set for graduate level study?"...

Shame on Trump for continuing Obama’s insane policy of hiring air-traffic controllers based on race instead of merit! When Obama was president, he abandoned the old system of hiring qualified air-traffic controllers who had a college degree in air-traffic control and/or were military veterans with aviation experience, because too many of these people were white males. Obama then replaced the old system with a new system that tried to achieve racial diversity by asking applicants how many different sports they had played when they were in high school. I explain this below in detail.But first, I want to post this new...