Posted on 09/12/2001 8:36:59 AM PDT by Silly
Edited on 04/29/2004 1:58:44 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
FAA says flights will not resume at noon. Details to come.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TRAVEL/NEWS/09/12/faa.flights/index.html
Wednesday, September 12 11:26 PM SGTFAA says midday opening of airspace now uncertain
WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (AFP) -US plans to reopen civilian airspace at midday Wednesday (1600 GMT) are now uncertain, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta cancelled a mid-morning news conference at which he had been expected to announce details of the lifting of a nationwide closure of civilian airspace.
No reason was given for the cancellation.
"No official announcement (on the timing) has been made," said FAA spokesman Hank Price, adding that another FAA spokesman who earlier gave the time of midday had misspoken.
"He regrets that he misspoke," Price said.
An announcement would now come from the White House.
All civilian planes were banned from take-off in the United States at 1325 GMT Tuesday as hijackers took over four commercial aircraft with a total 266 people aboard and used them in suicide missions against the United States, destroying the World Trade Center and punching a hole in the Pentagon.
It was the first "national groundstop" order in US history.
Mineta had already said curbside check-ins -- under which bags can be checked in for flights before entry into the airport building -- would be banned, FAA spokesman Les Dorr said earlier.
Planes, many of which landed in the midst of the disaster, could not immediately resume all flights, Dorr said.
"There are a number of airlines that literally have airplanes in the wrong place because they chose to land at the discretion of the captain and the airline at some other airport," he said.
"So those planes would have to be moved around or devoted to different routes so it is fair to say there would be adjustment of schedules," the spokesman added.
The FAA spokesman said he could not estimate how many planes were involved. But on a typical day there were 36,000 to 40,000 departures, he said.
New York and Washington area airports may be treated as special cases in any resumption of flights, but the FAA had not made a final decision, Dorr said.
The truth is that the ATC system will reopen at noon eastern time, but each airline will only be allowed to fly when they are capable of complying with the new security restrictions.
CNN's trying to get the jump on Fox by "breaking news." They were severely bitten in the as* yesterday with their "exclusive" of the US attacking Kabul, Afghanistan. Problem was, the United Front was attacking, not the US. They are desperate, and it is fun to watch them make as*es of themselves.
Sounds right, probably most will fly around 2pm est.
Just how DO you prevent a repeat?
Unfortunately, I just heard a report from IAH (Houston Bush-Intercontinental) that it may be as late as tomorrow afternoon before operations resume.
The FAA and FBI have not figured out how to stop teams of well dressed and close shaved covert islamic suicide bombers from buying tickets and boarding a jet with plastic handled or ceramic knives.I'm watching CSPAN 2 right now.
Kay Baily-Hutchinson (RINO, TX) is talking. She thinks it's great that the FAA is now banning all knives on airline flights. Even the little pen knife on your key ring is now illegal on an airplane. They are also eliminating curbside baggage check in.
Could you keep me updated on the status of this airport via FReepmail, if it's not too much trouble? Thanks.
I, for one, would feel safer flying if I knew the plane came with an armed guard could protect us from a terrorist or deranged passenger.
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