Free Republic

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...

If SpaceX can clean up Starship's reliability issues, the company is free to fly ... the company was limited to 5 launches, but now it will be able to conduct up to 25 Starship launches and landings during a calendar year.

As delays continue to roil travel at Newark Liberty International Airport, United Airlines Inc.’s CEO announced plans to reduce its schedule. Air traffic controller staffing issues have been at the center – combined with technology failures and a runway rehabilitation project – that led to a nightmare scenario over the last week for travelers. The situation led United Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby to cancel 35 flights per day from the Newark schedule, beginning over the weekend. “For many years, United has been very clear and vocal about the need to fix the Air Traffic Control system in EWR. While...

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has launched a new cash incentive program aimed at recruiting and retaining air traffic controllers, he announced Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will give $5,000 bonuses to all academy graduates and new hires that complete initial qualification training. Academy graduates assigned to 13 facilities that have faced additional hiring struggles will get $10,000. Additionally, certified professional controllers who are younger than 56 and opt not to retire when eligible will receive bonuses equal to 20 percent of their basic pay for each year they continue to work. The new incentives are being offered for a...

This turbulence is on the ground. United Airlines cut 35 daily round-trip flights at Newark Liberty International Airport Friday, citing Federal Aviation Administration technology failures and staffing issues that resulted in five days of excessive delays — including one flight from Boston that was set back more than five hours. The cancellations — which are about 10% of the carrier’s service at the major East Coast airport — starts this weekend. The move comes after nearly one-quarter of all FAA air traffic controllers for Newark Airport (EWR) “walked off the job” this week due to malfunctioning technology, further compounding chronic...

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,...

After my story on the FAA’s hiring scandal went viral, many of the people impacted and involved in bringing it to light reached out to me to share their stories in detail. While I initially intended to publish this in another outlet, after a couple of instances of radio silence and with life getting in the way, I put it on the shelf. Now, in the wake of the tragic plane crash on January 29 and a resurgence of focus on this topic, it’s more important than ever to get the story straight. I neither have nor claim to have...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is implementing a data privacy policy that allows people with private jets to hide travel information from the public. “Starting today, they can submit a request through the Civil Aviation Registry Electronic Services (CARES) to withhold this information from public display on all FAA websites.” In its statement, the FAA said the data protection decision was taken based on a privacy provision included in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. The provision allows aircraft owners to request that certain personally identifiable information not be made publicly available via FAA websites. “The FAA will publish a...

Two air traffic controllers traded punches when a shocking fight erupted inside the tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. The facility is already under massive scrutiny following January’s deadly midair collision between an American Airlines flight on final approach and an Army helicopter. And trouble flared again Thursday when a pair of on-duty tower controllers got into a blazing argument before one threw a punch at the other, a source tells us. By the time the brawling colleagues were separated, there was blood spattered over a control console, according to our insider. The tower would likely...

Family members of January's Potomac River plane and helicopter crash victims voiced frustrations after Thursday's Senate aviation subcommittee hearing. ... Family members of the victims of the January plane and helicopter crash at Reagan National Airport (DCA) voiced frustrations with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after a preliminary report found that the airport had 1,500 near misses in the past three years. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)’s preliminary report was presented at Thursday’s Senate Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation hearing. Victims’ families and their lawyers argued that the NTSB’s findings suggested the deadly crash was preventable. “I was...

An unruly airplane passenger had to be restrained on board after allegedly biting and hitting other travelers on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles. The bizarre incident, which involved an adult male passenger, happened Shortly after Delta Flight 501 landed at LAX Monday night, the man allegedly biting one passenger and hitting several others ... There have been over 300 reports of unruly passengers so far this year, according to the FAA. Over 2,100 reports of unruly passengers were logged in 2024. ... The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.

A watchdog group has filed a conflict-of-interest complaint over concerns that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has “blatantly” pressured the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use Starlink. The Washington, DC-based Campaign Legal Center also filed a lawsuit to stop Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from making “unlawful” cuts to the federal budget. On Thursday, the group sent the 12-page conflict-of-interest complaint about Musk to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Transportation, which oversees the FAA. The center argues that the billionaire is using his position in the Trump administration to push the FAA into buying...

United States government agencies have come together to advance the understanding of persistent contrails and their impacts to inform future decision making. Current models indicate that persistent spreading contrail cirrus has a significant net warming impact on the global climate; however, the magnitude of this impact is uncertain. Research is needed to improve scientific understanding, reduce process-level uncertainties, develop integrated decision support tools and mitigation strategies, and demonstrate and assess prediction and operational capabilities. Improved understanding will allow the U.S. to make informed decisions that will ensure U.S. competitiveness in the aerospace sector while managing the impacts of civil aviation...

A man trained as a pilot at a Lawrenceville airport three years ago raised an international terror alert this week. He was found in Britain on Friday, the FBI said. Zayead Christopher Hajaig, a 35-year-old British national, "remains a person of interest" although he has been located, said Steve Emmett, an FBI spokesman in Atlanta. FBI officials released little information about Hajaig on Friday. They would not say whether he had been detained or how he had been located. Earlier this week, authorities issued a "special alert bulletin" warning airports about Hajaig, who took flight lessons at Astron Enterprises at...

FAA regulations require Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting units to be on site at all commercial airports when a pilot declares an emergency... DENVER — Federal investigators are working to determine what caused an engine fire on American Airlines Flight 1006 at Denver International Airport, which forced passengers to evacuate onto the wing. The fire broke out after the Boeing 737-800 landed and was taxiing to the gate Thursday, prompting a chaotic evacuation that has raised questions about why passengers had to go out onto the wing, why emergency responders were not in position when the plane touched down and...

An official with the FAA helped non-white applicants cheat on their entrance exam. Of course, he still has a job. Sources: https://x.com/RedWave_Press/status/18... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GFVvNBZWU... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GFVvQPYW8... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GFVvI73Wk... https://x.com/RedWave_Press/status/18... https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/03/... https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/03/...

A top 'DEI' activist is caught on voicemail allegedly offering minority air traffic controller candidates the chance to cheat in a make-or-break entry exam. Shelton Snow, a powerful figure in the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NBCFAE), can be heard promising advance access to test answers in a shocking audio clip obtained by DailyMail.com. 'There are some valuable pieces of information that I have taken a screenshot of and I am going to send that to you via email,' says Snow, an air traffic operations supervisor based out of New York. 'I am about 99.99 percent sure that...

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating why multiple commercial flights about to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport, near Washington DC, repeatedly received midair collision alerts over the weekend when there were no other aircraft nearby.The alerts occurred only miles from the site of the deadly January 29 midair collision of American Eagle 5342 and a US Army Blackhawk helicopter.Several flight crews reported the mystery alerts on their Traffic Collision Avoidance System, known as TCAS, on Saturday “indicating another aircraft was nearby when no other aircraft were in the area,” the FAA said in a statement on Monday.“We were about...

Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service could take over a Federal Aviation Administration contract to upgrade the nation's air traffic control systems, The Associated Press reported. Starlink's internet equipment has already been installed in at least two different FAA facilities, according to the wire service, which cited government employees and other people familiar with the matter. Starlink is also preparing to take over a $2 billion contract currently held by telecom provider Verizon, the AP said. Starlink, which is owned by Musk's SpaceX, provides satellite internet access for residential and business customers. It bills itself as the most "advanced internet...