Free Republic

MALVERN, Pa.—Jonathan Stewart was into his fourth hour overseeing the planes flying near Newark, N.J., when he noticed two aircraft speeding nose-to-nose on his radar scope. A business jet that had departed the Morristown airport was heading toward another small plane that had taken off from nearby Teterboro, a hub for corporate flying. A midair collision was potentially seconds away with planes flying at the same altitude. The veteran air-traffic controller had been scribbling callsigns for the planes and flight information in a notebook, worried that radar and radio communication might fail as they had days earlier. After recognizing the...

Denver airport’s air traffic control was reportedly struck by a staggering six-minute outage earlier this week after several radio transmitters suddenly went dark. The frequency outage meant that as many as 20 pilots were unable to reach air traffic controllers as they descended into Denver International Airport on Monday afternoon, ABC7 reported, citing sources. A controller eventually made contact with one aircraft on a “guard line,” which is typically only used when a pilot is in distress. That pilot was then able to contact other nearby planes and tell them to switch radio frequencies, the sources said. At the time...

There’s more to Donald Trump’s Middle East trip than billion-dollar contracts, parades of camels and a storm back home over Qatar’s offer to give the president a new Air Force One. A tour narrowly billed by the White House as a chance for Trump to show he’s a master dealmaker is jumbling the region’s geopolitical jigsaw puzzle.Wherever he goes, Trump’s brings disruption that can forge possibilities. And he takes risks – for instance, his decision on this trip to lift sanctions on Syria to give a war-ravaged nation a second chance.But the move revives a perennial question about Trump’s entire...

A business jet that flew over Washington with no response from the pilot – prompting a chase by F-16s which caused a sonic boom – likely lost pressure, causing everyone onboard to pass out, according to the final report from the National Transportation Safety Board. The pilot and three passengers died in the crash. On June 4, 2023, the Cessna Citation was flying from Elizabethton, in eastern Tennessee, to Long Island, New York when the pilot stopped responding to air traffic control. The jet rose to 34,000 feet and flew over Long Island and then turned back to the southwest,...

The safety nightmare continues at Newark Liberty International Airport, where all air traffic control will be manned by just one fully qualified person during its busiest time tonight, The Post can exclusively reveal. One air traffic controller (ATC) and a trainee will operate every flight in and out of Newark between 6.30pm-9.30pm — despite 15 staffers being the standard requirement for a shift. A New York-based ATC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described the situation as “pure insanity” and warned that the schedule shows the control tower for the airport will operate “at bare bones” while between 168...

It’s a plane. It’s a helicopter. It’s both. Meet "FLRAA," the Army’s new tiltrotor for Future Long-Range Air Assault. This is how the Army will island hop in the Pacific to fend off China. And by the way, Chinese President Xi Jinping has nothing like it. With a stunning announcement, the Army did more than ax 40 generals and open the door to AI. The Army bet its future on this radical aircraft, whose engines swivel to take off and land like a helicopter, or fly high and fast like an airplane. This aircraft was on pace to enter the...

Pakistani use of PL-15Es against Indian fighters opens up a new vector for intelligence exploitation on one of China's most threatening missiles. ================================================================= The largely intact rear section and other parts of a Chinese-made PL-15E active-radar-guided air-to-air missile came down in India during a battle in the skies along the country’s border with Pakistan earlier this week. While many details about the aerial confrontation between the two countries remain murky, it marked the first known combat use of any version of the PL-15. Recovery of any parts of what is one of China’s most modern air-to-air missiles could be of...

A ground stop was ordered at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport on Sunday due to an equipment outage. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the ground stop at 10:40 a.m. ET on Mother's Day. 'Departures to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International are grounded due to equipment outage,' the agency said. The ground stop was issued for flights scheduled to leave from East Coast area airports bound for Atlanta, reported Atlanta News First. Arrivals were slowed down due to 'a runway equipment issue,' and technicians worked to fix the issue. The ground stop was lifted shortly before 12:30 p.m., and departures continued to be delayed by...

Nearly 80 flights have been cancelled and more than 40 delayed at Newark Liberty International Airport after yet another an equipment outage brought more chaos to the NYC-area hub. A 45-minute ground stop was ordered on Sunday morning by the FAA following the outage at Newark’s air traffic control facility, officials told WABC. It comes after a radar malfunction on Friday morning brought Newark to a standstill briefly on Friday morning. The number of flights in and out of the airport will be reduced for the “next several weeks,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” following travel...

Air Traffic Control lost radar for 90 seconds at Newark Airport on Friday. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there was a telecommunications outage at Newark Liberty International Airport. “There was a telecommunications outage that impacted communications and radar display at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport airspace. The outage occurred around 3:55 a.m. on Friday, May 9, and lasted approximately 90 seconds,” the FAA said on Friday morning. ... United Airlines pulled 35 round-trip flights a day following a radar outage at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey...

Citing the hundreds of drones that flew around military sites last year, defense officials warn that the Pentagon is still unprepared to defend its installations—but say a new standard operating procedure, and expanded authorities, could help. “Mass drone incursions over Joint Base Langley-Eustis in December 2023 reminded us that the homeland is no longer a sanctuary, and should our adversary choose to employ drones for surveillance or even attack, we would not be prepared to adequately defend our homeland and only marginally capable to defend our military installations,” Rear Adm. Paul Spedero, vice director for operations for the Joint Staff,...

MAY DAY May Day ushers in a traditional celebration of flowers and spring. In many ancient calendars, May 1 welcomed the first day of summer, which was truly a cause for celebration. #MAYDAY May Day has been a traditional day of celebration for centuries, with some of the earliest appearing in pre-Christian times. One of the more popular rituals was harvesting flowers and giving them to neighbors and strangers in cone-shaped baskets. These May Baskets become more commonly known as May Day Baskets. The current tradition is observed by hanging a cone-shaped basket full of flowers or other gifts on...

A tragic midair collision between a Blackhawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet near Reagan National Airport left 67 people dead — and now shocking details are emerging. Officer Tatum breaks down the New York Times report, which reveals that pilot Rebecca Lobach ignored a critical co-pilot order before the crash. He questions why military protocol was violated to conceal her identity and scrub her social media, and whether this was another example of DEI hiring gone wrong. This is more than just pilot error — this is about truth, accountability, and dangerous double standards. Buckle up. 0:00 – NYT:...

The Volonaut Airbike **************************************************** +VIDEO Just coming out of ‘stealth’ mode is the Volonaut Airbike, a flying machine madder than the maddest box of frogs but somehow hugely appealing. The Volonaut is the creation of Polish inventor and entrepreneur Tomasz Patan, who is the man behind the equally left-field Jetson One. VIDEO AT LINK: Thrilled to share a sample of what I have been working on in "stealth" mode.Stay tuned for the official launch video soon.@Volonaut #airbike pic.twitter.com/Ie5KKAehCT— Tomasz Patan (@TomaszPatan) April 26, 2025Tomasz calls the Volonaut a ‘superbike for the skies’. It’s powered by jet propulsion and is designed...

Since President Donald J. Trump took office 100 days ago, it has been a nonstop deluge of hoaxes and lies from Democrats and their allies in the Fake News suffering from terminal cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome.In no particular order, here are some of the most egregious hoaxes peddled by the usual suspects so far in President Trump’s second term:HOAX: Fake News CNN attempted to “fact check” President Trump’s claim that the Biden Administration spent millions on “making mice transgender.”FACT: After their so-called “fact check” was thoroughly debunked, they were forced to update it in disgrace and admit the claim...

They made no sound, left no visable trail, and traveled from the western horizon to the eastern horizon. I thought it was unusual, so I pointed it out to a Durhan Police Officer standing near me, and he thought so too. They appeared to be very close in line, but it was hard to tell at that altitude. Any ideas? How could they fly in a straight line without massive turbulence?

An F/A-18E fighter jet rolled off the side an aircraft carrier and sank to the bottom of the Red Sea, the Navy announced on Monday. There was one enlisted crew member aboard the jet and a second enlisted crew member inside the tractor when the incident occurred. Both personnel were able to jump out in time with only one person sustaining a minor injury, according to officials. In the extraordinary mishap, the $70 million jet was being towed out of the hanger bay of the USS Harry S. Truman when the crew lost control. "The F/A-18E was actively under tow...

An Austin-based tech company is pitching lawmakers on a drone defense system designed to disrupt school shootings in under a minute without using deadly force. Justin Marston, CEO and founder of Campus Guardian Angel, said the system is modeled after tactics used in modern warfare, particularly the war in Ukraine. “I came up with the idea watching the war in Ukraine and how successful small, low-cost drones were against people with guns,” Marston said. “They were able to get to those folks no matter how many times they were firing at them. So it really gave us the idea, if...

“The pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with the American Airlines passenger airplane did not comply with directions to change course seconds before the fatal incident, a bombshell new report has revealed”

The Black Hawk was 15 seconds away from crossing paths with the jet. Warrant Officer Eaves then turned his attention to Captain Lobach. He told her he believed that air traffic control wanted them to turn left, toward the east river bank,” the Times reported. “Turning left would have opened up more space between the helicopter and Flight 5342, which was heading for Runway 33 at an altitude of roughly 300 feet. She did not turn left,” the report stated.