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☆ Senators propose raising US commercial pilots mandatory retirement age
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - A group of seven U.S. senators on Tuesday proposed legislation to raise the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age to 67 from 65, in a bid to address airline industry staffing issues. The proposal, which would require pilots over age 65 to pass a rigorous medical screening every six months, follows complaints of pilot shortages by many regional airlines. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) opposes proposals to increase the retirement age. Graham previously noted that in 2007 the United States raised the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65, and "the sky did not fall." Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has previously said he does not support raising the pilot retirement age.

☆ The FAA is taking action after multiple serious safety incidents among US airlines: 'Now is the time'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Taylor Rains | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Billy Nolen, the Federal Aviation Administration's acting administrator, is creating a safety review committee. The group will assess recent incidents and determine if there are any emerging trends. "Recent events remind us that we must not become complacent. According to the FAA, the CAST has been a vital group in proactively identifying aviation safety risks and addressing them before an accident occurs. Three weeks later, a FedEx Boeing 767 nearly landed on top of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 in Austin, Texas.

☆ U.S. FAA says update will prevent 'bad data' from corrupting key database
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Last month, the FAA told lawmakers it had revoked access to a pilot messaging database by contractor personnel who unintentionally deleted files in the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) database. The NOTAM system provides pilots, flight crews and other users of U.S. airspace with critical safety notices. "We expect that a significant portion of the modernization work will be complete by mid-2025. Nolen's testimony said on Jan. 10, the NOTAM system became unreliable and technical experts sought to address the issue by switching to a NOTAM backup database. The FAA will need support from Congress to fund FAA "modernization needs," Nolen's testimony says.

☆ This is the best place to be sitting if your plane is about to crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Plane crashes are extremely rare. Data from past crashes and crash tests show that the back of the plane is probably the safest. In the rare case that a plane goes down, some research indicates that the safest place to be sitting is in a middle seat near the back of a plane. A 2015 analysis by Time magazine of the Federal Aviation Administration's aircraft accident database looked at 17 plane crashes with seat charts that could be analyzed. Middle of the plane, middle seat: 39% — about one in 2.5 passengers.

☆ U.S. lawmakers focus on aviation safety after 2 near-miss crashes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress needs to address serious concerns about the country's aviation system after recent incidents including two near miss crashes and the failure of a key pilot computing system, lawmakers said on Tuesday. "Right now the alarm bells should be going off across the aviation industry -- our system is stretched and stressed," Representative Garret Graves, the Republican chair of a subcommittee on aviation, said at a hearing. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure committee chair Sam Graves, a Republican, said the incidents showed the aviation system is in need of "urgent attention." David Boulter, the Federal Aviation Administration's acting head of aviation safety, said the two recent events were serious. The FAA has hired 200 new aviation safety employees in the last year and about 200 the year before, Boulter said.

☆ A FedEx aircraft aborted landing to avoid a Southwest Airlines passenger jet that was mistakenly cleared for the same runway
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A FedEx aircraft aborted its landing to avoid a Southwest Airlines jet on Saturday during heavy fog. Both were mistakenly cleared for the same runway at Austin Bergstrom International Airport. "The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out," said the FAA. "Shortly before the FedEx aircraft was due to land, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to depart from the same runway," the FAA said, per Reuters. Southwest Airlines, FedEx, and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider.

☆ U.S. lawmakers call FAA outage 'unacceptable,' demand a fix
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Jim Vondruska/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A group of more than 120 U.S. lawmakers told the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) its computer outage on Wednesday that disrupted 11,000 flights was "completely unacceptable" and demanded the agency explain how it will avoid future incidents. On Thursday, the FAA said its preliminary analysis showed the computer outage was caused by a procedural error related to a corrupted data file. The Senate committee email also said it appears the groundstop actually lasted from 7:21 a.m. Buttigieg tweeted at approximately 8:50am that the groundstop had been lifted, was the NOTAM system full operational at that point?" The Senate email asked "what additional resources does FAA need to expeditiously update the NOTAM system?"

☆ U.S. lawmakers call FAA outage 'unacceptable,' demand fix plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Passengers exit a bus at Terminal 2 as they wait for the resumption of flights at O'Hare International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered airlines to suspend all domestic departures due to a disruption in the system, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A group of more than 120 U.S. lawmakers told the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) its computer outage Wednesday that disrupted 11,000 flights is "completely unacceptable" and demanded the agency explain how it will avoid future incidents. Lawmakers want details of what went wrong with a pilot messaging database that led to the first nationwide grounding of departing flights since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. They want Buttigieg to provide an "estimated cost to commercial airlines and passengers due to the delays resulting from the outage." Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Airbus withdraws from U.S. FAA Boeing safety culture panel
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - European planemaker Airbus (AIR.PA) said it had withdrawn from a U.S. government-named panel reviewing Boeing’s (BA.N) safety processes and how they influence Boeing safety culture after two fatal 737 MAX crashes in recent years killed 346 people. Congress directed the agency to appoint a panel by early 2021, but the FAA missed that deadline. Boeing last week declined to comment on the panel, but previously emphasized it has significantly reformed its safety culture after the MAX crashes cost it more than $20 billion. read moreIn May, the FAA opted to renew Boeing's Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program for three years rather than the five years Boeing sought. The FAA continues to subject Boeing to enhanced oversight, inspecting all new Boeing 737 MAXs and 787s before they can be delivered.

☆ This map shows which airports in the US are the worst to fly out of right now
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

FlightAware's MiseryMap shows which airports are experiencing delays and cancellations in real-time. Airlines have canceled or delayed thousands of flights this holiday season. A winter storm stranded thousands of travelers over Christmas weekend. Airlines have postponed or outright canceled thousands of flights in recent days as a winter storm swept through much of the US, stranding travelers and upending holiday plans. As of Tuesday morning, the map shows a whole lot of red — and red is bad.

☆ Biden administration drafting executive order to simplify space rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who chairs the National Space Council, has signaled her intention to codify new rules for private space activities, but the plan for the executive order has not been reported. The executive order is considered an early step to simplify existing regulations before new rules take shape. Companies like Blue Origin, Axiom Space and others are developing private space stations with unclear procedures for how they can court foreign governments as customers or execute their missions in space. Private space stations like Orbital Reef, which Blue Origin is developing with Boeing and Sierra Space, could be deployed by 2030. White House officials have held several "listening sessions" with space companies since Nov. 14 to discuss what rules the space industry would like to see, according to people familiar with the meetings.

☆ Exclusive: Biden administration drafting executive order to simplify space rules -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who chairs the National Space Council, has signaled her intention to codify new rules for private space activities, but the plan for the executive order has not been reported. The executive order is considered an early step to simplify existing regulations before new rules take shape. Companies like Blue Origin, Axiom Space and others are developing private space stations with unclear procedures for how they can court foreign governments as customers or execute their missions in space. However, a lack of rules governing private in-space activities complicates space companies' ties with prospective customers, investors and insurers that need more legal certainty. Private space stations like Orbital Reef, which Blue Origin is developing with Boeing and Sierra Space, could be deployed by 2030.

☆ SpaceX has become the largest employer in Brownsville, Texas, and estimates $885 million gross output for the county it’s based in, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-23 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The company estimates a gross output of $885 million for the county. The company expects to contribute $885 million in gross economic output for Cameron County, Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez said on Thursday at the "State of the City" event, per the outlet. SpaceX wanted to expand its Brownsville site and add another launchpad but US Army Corps halted the plans earlier this month as it sought more data. The Brownville-based rocket production site, called Starbase, first started testing rocket engines and flights in 2019. The company started buying up Cameron County properties as early as 2012 and unveiled Texas as its launch site in 2014.

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