Free Republic

Federal transportation safety officials were investigating on Friday after two commercial flights aborted landings because an Army helicopter had entered the airspace around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where helicopter traffic has been restricted since a fatal collision in January.Air traffic controllers instructed Delta Air Lines Flight 1671 and Republic Airways Flight 5825 to abort their landings around 2:30 p.m. Thursday because of the helicopter’s presence, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which has begun an investigation along with the National Transportation Safety Board.The helicopter was a Black Hawk headed to the nearby Pentagon, the safety board said.Both planes later...

An Army Black Hawk helicopter decided to take the “scenic route” near the Pentagon—and came way too close to two passenger planes trying to land in D.C. Both jets were forced to pull up at the last second—one was just 450 feet from the ground. This is the same Army brigade involved in a January crash that killed 67 people, the worst U.S. aviation disaster in over 20 years. Officials are fuming, again. And Reagan Airport? Still dealing with controller shortages, near-misses, and—oh yeah—a literal fistfight in the control tower last year. Flying into D.C. is starting to feel like...

A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter flying through restricted Washington, D.C. airspace on Thursday triggered urgent evasive maneuvers by two commercial jets inbound to Reagan National Airport. An American Airlines jet collided with a military Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport on Jan. 29, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft. Just four months after the deadly incident, it was reported that an Army chopper deviated from its approved flight path, veering around the Pentagon instead of heading directly to the helipad, according to a Friday email from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Assistant Administrator Chris Senn ... The unexpected...

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...

National Security Council chief Tzachi Hanegbi spoke about a military operation in Rafah, stressing that, "the decision has been made - the question is not if, but when." Speaking to Israel's "Meet the Press" program, Hanegbi said, "Sinwar is living on borrowed time." "He escaped from one burrow to the next, we were very close to him. There are those who would say that we were incredibly close, at one point. Maybe even less than a few days." Comparing Sinwar to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was eliminated by US forces in 2011, Hanegbi promised that Sinwar "won't...

‘Ambitious’ Limited Access Channel Opens Less than a month after the Dali rammed a pillar of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse, a portion of the federal channel has been opened to deep draft ships. The opening of the 35-foot-deep Limited Access Channel allowed the departure of some of the ships trapped in Baltimore Harbor. The first ship through was the general cargo ship Balsa 94, bound for Canada, followed by the cargo ship Saimaagracht and car carrier Carmen. More transits are expected. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the LAC is open to scheduled passages...

Some aviation experts argue the FAA’s focus on ‘diversity’ instead of ’merit' in hiring pilots and controllers is leading to serious safety concerns... As the U.S. Justice Department decides whether to pursue a criminal case against Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating dozens of airplane incidents since January, including one in which a Swiss Air jet almost collided with four other planes on the runway at JFK International Airport in New York City. The FAA has more than 100 aviation accidents and incidents since the beginning of 2024. These include airplane and helicopter crashes, equipment and mechanical malfunctions,...

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed to WTOP it is investigating a near collision that occurred Thursday morning at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. Two passenger jets came within 400 feet of each other before controllers took last-minute evasive action and immediately stopped the two planes. It’s not clear why the jets were authorized to be on the same runway at the same time.

A Boeing 737 Max 8 operated by United Airlines veered off the runway after landing in Houston early Friday in the latest near-miss involving the embattled airliner. The aircraft, which arrived from Memphis, is said to have suffered some form of gear collapse as it exited the runway at George Bush Airport, although the 160 passengers and six crew were not injured. Shocking footage showed the plane lying flat on its wings on grass by the side of the runway, while passengers were hurried off from an emergency gate ladder.

There have been at least 19 separate instances in which airplanes nearly smashed into one another in the first 10 months of the year, according to a shocking report. The staggering number of near-misses between January and October marks a dramatic increase in narrowly averted airline crashes — the most since 2016, according to Federal Aviation Administration data viewed by the Wall Street Journal. The total number for the year is not yet known, but is expected to continue to climb.

A JetBlue Airbus A320 struck its tail on the runaway as it accelerated to avoid a collision with a Beechcraft King Air 350.. The JetBlue plane was taking off from the same runway at Yampa Valley Regional Airport that the King Air plane was about to land on.. Aircraft near-misses are on the rise in the US, amid a severe air traffic controller staffing shortage ... Investigators said a JetBlue plane's tail struck the runway at a Colorado airport when a captain took-off quickly to avoid a head-on crash, as airport near-misses surge due to air traffic controller shortages. ......

A JetBlue flight landing at Logan International Airport in Boston nearly smashed into a private jet which took off without permission, the National Transportation Safety Board has revealed. The incident, on February 27, was captured in a chilling photograph from the JetBlue flight's cockpit which shows the LearJet aircraft obstructing the runway as it came into land. Only the quick-thinking of the JetBlue Flight 206 pilot prevented a collision, investigators said. The pilot performed a 'climb-out maneuver' to narrowly avoid the other aircraft. The LearJet's 63-year-old captain - flying for Hop-A-Jet, a Florida-based private charter company - had been told...

The Boeing 737 and 777 came within 1,000 feet of a collision on the groundThe FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating an incident at John F. Kennedy International Airport that happened Friday night when a Boeing 777 taxied in front of a departing Boeing 737-900.The 737 was operated by Delta Air Lines, the 777 by American Airlines.According to the FAA, air traffic controllers “noticed another aircraft crossing the runway in front of the departing jetliner” and canceled the aircraft’s takeoff clearance.The statement continues, “Delta Air Lines Flight 1943 stopped its takeoff roll approximately 1,000 feet before reaching...

Friday at John F Kennedy International Airport, between a Boeing 777 headed to the UK and a Boeing 737 headed to the Dominican Republic. One plane was about to take off while the other was crossing the same runway. The collision was averted when an air controller noticed the two. Using an expletive, the air traffic controller attempted to stop the Delta aeroplane as it was preparing to take wing. "Delta 1943, cancel take-off clearance! Delta 1943, cancel take-off clearance!" the controller was captured saying in an audio recording made by LiveATC, a website that posts flight communications. The Delta...

Joe Biden’s reign as US president is due to get off to a rocky start – a barrage of asteroids are set to make “close approaches” to our planet as the Democrat takes the oath of office on Wednesday. NASA has identified six asteroids that will blaze past Earth on inauguration day. The space agency labelled the plethora of space rocks as Near Earth Objects (NEOs), meaning they warrant close scrutiny. “NEOs are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighbourhood,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion...

Wow. A low-flying space rock set a record last Friday (appropriately, the 13th), when 2020 VT4 passed just under 400 kilometers (250 miles) over the Southern Pacific. The asteroid was spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii in the early morning hours of Saturday, November 14, just 15 hours after approach. This is not uncommon for fast-movers, especially asteroids that are coming at the Earth from our sunward blind-spot, like 2020 VT4. Newly-discovered asteroid A10sHcN approached Earth yesterday, passing only a few hundred miles above the South Pacific Ocean. This...

On Sunday (Aug. 16), the asteroid, initially labeled ZTF0DxQ and now formally known to astronomers as 2020 QG, swooped by Earth at a mere 1,830 miles (2,950 kilometers) away. The flyby wasn't expected and took many by surprise. In fact, the Palomar Observatory didn't detect the zooming asteroid until about six hours after the object's closest approach. "The asteroid approached undetected from the direction of the sun," Paul Chodas, the director of NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, told Business Insider. The close flyby was also a fast one, as 2020 QG swooped near Earth at a blistering 27,600...

Several passengers on an Iranian airline were injured on Thursday over Syria after the pilot changed altitude to avoid collision with a US fighter jet, Reuters reported, citing Iranian media. The US military, however, said its F-15 was at a safe distance from the Iranian plane. The Iranian plane, belonging to Mahan Air, was heading from Tehran to Beirut when the pilot staged a safety maneuver, in an incident that Iran’s Foreign Ministry said would be investigated. The incident was initially blamed on Israel, with Iranian television claiming that an Israeli fighter jet had flew "threateningly close" to an Iranian...

Workers were working on repairs on a runway at Asuncion silvio pettirossi international airport. 'Too close for me. Video at the link.

https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=2018+GE3 http://spaceweather.com/ SURPRISE ASTEROID FLYBY: With little warning, a relatively large asteroid flew through the Earth-Moon system on April 15th only 192,200 km (0.5 LD) from our planet. 2018 GE3 was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey approaching Earth on April 14th. Hours later, amateur astronomer Michael Jäger of Weißenkirchen Austria video-recorded the space rock rushing through the southern constellation Serpens: "According to wikipedia, 2018 GE3 is the largest known asteroid to pass that close to Earth in observational history," says Jäger. "It was shining like a 13th magnitude star at the time of my observations." Based on the intensity of its reflected...