Free Republic

The runway lights were out, a weather alert system wasn’t working and there was heavy fog at a San Diego airport when a pilot who had flown across the country made the decision to proceed with landing but came up short and crashed into a neighborhood, killing all six aboard the aircraft, investigators said Friday. Investigator Dan Baker of the National Transportation Safety Board said officials will work over the next year to determine what caused the Cessna 550 Citation to crash just before 4 a.m. local time Thursday. The jet was carrying a music executive and five others. No...

AFederal Aviation Administration warning system outage could lead to “residual delays” on Sunday morning, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy wrote on X. The FAA is working to restore the system. In the meantime, the agency has activated contingency systems to allow flight operations to continue. “The primary NOTAM system is experiencing a temporary outage, but there is currently no impact to the National Airspace System because a backup system is in place,” he wrote on X, “The (FAA) is working to fully restore the system, and there may be some residual delays tomorrow morning,” he also wrote. “We are investigating...

The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily banned drone operations over parts of New Jersey until mid-January and warned that the government may respond with “deadly force” against drones that pose a threat. Beginning on Wednesday and through Jan. 17, unmanned aircraft are barred from flying within a nautical mile of specified airspace outlined in an FAA Notice to Airmen, or NOTAM. The government may use “deadly force” against the drones if they present an “imminent security threat,” the NOTAM said.

Iran has issued a NOTAM (flight operations notice) for the center, west, and northwest of the country, advising aircraft to change their routes.

Critical Airspace Warning: Extreme Radiation Hazard at Kwajalein Atoll #image_title A Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) has been issued for Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, warning of a severe radiation hazard. The airspace north of the airport’s runway should be avoided at all costs, as it poses significant risks to life. In order to mitigate these dangers, all flights are directed to utilize southern approach and departure routes instead. This information has been provided by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

- United States closes airspace over parts of Lake Michigan, NOTAM states "national defense airspace

With the Federal Aviation Administration's Notice To all Air Missions, or NOTAM, system back up and running, staffing remains high and systems monitoring is at an urgently high level this morning, a senior official told ABC News Thursday. Computer traffic on the NOTAM system is at super-high levels as airlines, pilots and airports start the day with normal flight operations while also trying to make up for delays and cancellations yesterday. At the same time, public and media computer traffic on the NOTAM system is running high because of global interest in the antiquated system that crashed on Wednesday. The...

FDC 0/4707 ZDC PART 1 OF 3 VA..AIRSPACE RICHMOND, VA..TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS. JANUARY 20, 2020 LOCAL. PURSUANT TO 49 USC 40103(B)(3), THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA) CLASSIFIES THE AIRSPACE DEFINED IN THIS NOTAM AS 'NATIONAL DEFENSE AIRSPACE'. ANY PERSON WHO KNOWINGLY OR WILLFULLY VIOLATES THE RULES CONCERNING OPERATIONS IN THIS AIRSPACE MAY BE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN CRIMINAL PENALTIES UNDER 49 USC 46307. ... 1) UAS FLIGHT OPERATION CONDUCTED IN DIRECT SUPPORT OF AN ACTIVE NATIONAL DEFENSE, HOMELAND SECURITY, LAW ENFORCEMENT, FIREFIGHTING, SEARCH AND RESCUE, OR DISASTER RESPONSE MISSION.

A notam issued Sept. 1 announced that, beginning Sept. 2, both ADS-B surveillance and TCAS may be unreliable in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, as well as in airspace extending approximately 200 nautical miles off shore. The situation is expected to last through Oct. 1 as a result of military exercises in the area. But similar military exercises in the past have caused no interference with civilian ADS-B or TCAS, and AOPA is asking the FAA to explain both why the notam was issued so late and what has changed to raise these new concerns.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Pilot’s Bill of Rights, which made it through the legislative process in “record time,” according to an official with the Experimental Aircraft Association, has been approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and is now on President Obama’s desk awaiting his signature. The president has 10 days from the time it made it to his desk on July 26 to sign the bill, said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate General Aviation Caucus and a CFI with more than 10,000 hours who introduced the bill. “We have every reason to...

The Department of Defense is slamming the door on questions about the mysterious contrail filmed Nov. 8 by a KCBS television crew near Los Angeles after questions were raised about a warning from the National Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency that there could be missiles fired in that area at that time.

Excerpt - GALVESTON — Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas on Monday ordered all city employees not to talk to news reporters. She did not say when that order would be lifted. Thomas and City Manager Steve LeBlanc will be the only officials allowed to talk to reporters. City spokeswoman Mary Jo Naschke vehemently denied the city was trying to clamp down on coverage. She said emergency personnel and city employees were too busy to talk to reporters. Naschke also said the city had been accommodating news reporters by allowing them access to the island when others weren’t allowed, giving them escorted...

The US military has issued a warning notice barring flights above a large area of the northern Pacific for two and a half hours early on Thursday morning. The stricken spy satellite marked for destruction by US warships will pass over the taped-off area just at this time, indicating that the first shot will take place then. The NOTAM (NOTice To AirMen) warning reads: 02/062 (A0038/08) - AIRSPACE CARF NR. 90 ON EVELYN STATIONARY RESERVATION WITHIN AN AREA BNDD BY 3145N 17012W 2824N 16642W 2352N 16317W 1909N 16129W 1241N 16129W 1239N 16532W 1842N 17057W 2031N 17230W 2703N 17206W SFC-UNL. 21...