Free Republic

The Federal Aviation Administration violated its own rules by taking more than 40 minutes to alert the military after losing communication with a Northwest Airlines flight last week, according to officials familiar with internal reviews under way at several federal agencies. The delay has sparked consternation within the military, concern within the FAA and special oversight by the White House, these officials said, particularly because such time lags were supposed to be eliminated as a result of the lessons learned from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks... the man charged with protecting the skies above North America, U.S. Air Force...

The Federal Aviation Administration's decision to revoke the licenses of the pilots of the Northwest jetliner that lost radio contact with controllers last week threatens to disrupt voluntary safety reporting programs used by pilots, according to industry officials and aviation-safety experts. Immediately after FAA regulators on Tuesday revoked the licenses of both pilots aboard Northwest Flight 188, leaders of the largest U.S. pilot union began complaining and planning a response, these officials said. Officials of the Air Line Pilots Association decided on Wednesday that the government's enforcement move violated the spirit, and probably the letter, of voluntary incident reporting and...

Armed F-16s from the Wisconsin Air National Guard were on the runway and could have shot down the errant Northwest flight, officials said today. "As a force of last resort, NORAD is always prepared to do whatever is necessary," NORAD spokesperson Mike Kucharek told ABCNews.com. Air traffic controllers feared Northwest Flight 188, might have been hijacked after its pilots failed to respond to radio transmissions for more than an hour. Air traffic controllers reported the pilots initially failed to respond to commands as it passed from the air space controlled by the FAA Denver Center into the area controlled by...