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☆ Delta CEO called last week's FAA outage 'unacceptable' and said the agency needs more funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Taylor Rains | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Air traffic was temporarily halted last week after an FAA system, known as Notice to Air Missions, crashed. Over 10,000 flights were delayed, but Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said he doesn't blame the agency. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing to confirm President Joe Biden's pick for FAA Administrator. In a separate interview, American Airlines CEO Rob Isom told CNBC that there needs to be more investment in FAA technology. "With recent events, including airline troubles and last week's tech problem, this agency needs a leader confirmed by the Senate immediately."

☆ Federal agencies are investigating the near-collision of American and Delta jets in New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Taylor Rains | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Two commercial jets operated by Delta Air Lines and American Airlines nearly collided on Friday. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. "The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority," American told Insider. "We are conducting a full internal review and cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board in their investigation." "The safety of our customers and crew is always Delta's number-one priority," the airline told Insider.

NTSB spokeswoman Sarah Sulick told CNN interviews related to the investigation are ongoing, a detail that has not yet been reported elsewhere. Investigators will be able to listen to the radio transmissions, which have already been recorded and preserved. Those recordings would also reveal if the American pilots heard the instructions completely from the air traffic controllers and if so, how they apparently became confused. If the voice records inside the American cockpit are preserved, they may depict a detailed conversation about the aircraft’s on-the-ground movements. In this incident, radio recordings show controllers instructed the American pilots to place a phone call to officials at the tower to address the “possible pilot deviation” from the assigned route.

☆ Agencies investigate averted plane crash at New York's JFK airport
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Brian Heale, a passenger on the Delta flight, said at first he thought the abrupt stop was a mechanical issue. “There was this abrupt jerk of the plane, and everyone was sort of thrust forward from the waist,” he recalled. The Delta plane stopped about 1,000 feet (about 0.3 kilometers) from where the American Airlines plane had crossed from an adjacent taxiway, according to the FAA statement. The plane returned to the gate, where the 145 passengers deplaned and were provided overnight accommodations, a Delta spokesperson said. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay of their travels,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement.

☆ Move over Ben Franklin: Laser lightning rod electrifies scientists
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] The Laser Lightning Rod, an experimental lighting protection device that diverts the path of lightning bolts using a high-power laser, is seen in action at the top of Mount Santis in Switzerland in this undated photograph. Scientists now are moving to improve on that 18th century innovation with 21st century technology - a system employing a high-powered laser that may revolutionize lightning protection. With further development, this Laser Lightning Rod could safeguard critical infrastructure including power stations, airports, wind farms and launchpads. In experiments during two months in 2021, intense laser pulses - 1,000 times per second - were emitted to redirect lightning strikes. Houard anticipated that 10 to 15 years more work would be needed before the Laser Lightning Rod can enter common use.

☆ Global air traffic may return to pre-Covid levels in June, with China leading the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —Global air traffic will boom this year, returning to pre-pandemic levels in June, according to a new report. On Monday, international aircraft leasing company Avolon said it expected a full recovery in passenger traffic over the coming months, led by the reopening of markets in Asia, especially China. The news has further brightened the outlook for the aviation sector, which already experienced “a 70% recovery in passenger traffic last year led by recovery in Europe and North America,” Avolon noted. Currently, global air traffic has resumed to approximately 75% of November 2019 levels, IATA said last week. “Demand for travel is no longer the constraint to recovery, but airlines’ capacity to put planes in the air,” Avolon said in its statement.

☆ FAA launches investigation after two planes nearly collide at JFK airport
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Grounded Delta Airlines planes are parked at gates at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 11, 2023, in New York. The FAA said a Boeing 737 operated by Delta Air Lines stopped its takeoff around 8:45 p.m. when air traffic controllers noticed another American Airlines aircraft crossing the runway. The Delta flight "stopped its takeoff roll approximately 1,000 feet" from the point where the American Airlines Boeing 777 had crossed, according to the FAA's preliminary analysis. Flight watcher @xJonNYC noticed the near miss and shared audio of the tense air traffic control exchange on Twitter Saturday. A spokesperson for American Airlines said the company will defer to the FAA for comment.

☆ Aging, outdated technology leaves air travel at risk of meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

As early as 2012, the FAA decided it wanted to replace aging legacy voice switches used in air traffic control communications with new, internet-based communications technology. Trying to integrate old systems with newer ones — always in real time, because the global aviation industry never sleeps — can also create its own opportunities for catastrophic mistakes. Many more things can go wrong than you might expect — highlighting the sheer complexity of the aviation industry, and underscoring how there isn’t a quick easy fix for IT-related travel disruptions. But it has had lasting effects on FAA technology. That bureaucratic myopia is its own cause of today’s technological malaise in the aviation industry.

The software that failed and forced the Federal Aviation Administration to ground thousands of flights on Wednesday is 30 years old and not scheduled to be updated for another six years, according to a senior government official. This system was installed in 1993 and runs the Notice to Air Missions system, or NOTAM, which sends pilots vital information they need to fly, the official said. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., was busy Wednesday after an FAA outage canceled and delayed flights. ET “to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information” as it worked to restore the NOTAM system. The FAA lifted the ground stop around 8:50 a.m., and normal air traffic operations began resuming gradually.

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. airline operations returned to normal on Thursday even as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to investigate pinpoint the cause of a computer outage that grounded flights nationally and to prevent it from happening again. "FAA operations are back to normal, and we are seeing no unusual delays or cancellations this morning," the FAA said in a tweet. More than 11,300 flights were delayed or canceled on Wednesday in the first national grounding of domestic traffic in about two decades. As of noon Thursday, 1,400 U.S. flights were delayed and 117 were canceled, according to FlightAware, a typical aviation day given current weather issues. Major carriers Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), United Airlines (UAL.O), American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) and Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) all were reporting normal operations on Thursday.

☆ Ryanair CEO sees high single digit air fare rise in 'very strong' summer
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Angelo Amante | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary poses for a photo after an interview with Reuters in Rome, Italy, January 12, 2023. "The outlook for the summer at the moment is very strong, strong booking, strong pricing," the CEO of Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers said in an interview after announcing new routes from Italy. "I think there is a reasonable prospect that this summer again we will see high-single digit price increases, certainly for short-haul European air travel," he said, despite risks from new variants of the coronavirus and adverse developments in Ukraine. "We don't worry too much about recession or consumer spending because that would drive more and more people to low cost airlines like Ryanair," he added. ($1 = 0.9265 euros)Reporting by Angelo Amante, editing by Jane Merriman and Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ FAA has struggled to modernize computer, air traffic operations
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The FAA has struggled to modernize some long-standing parts of air traffic control. A 2021 Transportation Department Office of Inspection General (OIG) report repeatedly cited challenges in the FAA's multi-billion dollar Next Generation Air Transportation System (Next) infrastructure project. In October, for example, the FAA said it was working to end a long-ridiculed, decades-old practice of air traffic controllers using paper flight strips to keep track of aircraft. ERAM in 2015 replaced the 40-year-old En Route Host computer and backup system used at 20 FAA Air Route Traffic Control Centers nationwide. House Transportation Committee chair Sam Graves, a Republican, labeled as "inexcusable" FAA’s failure to properly maintain and operate the air traffic control system.

☆ FAA is years away from upgrading the system that grounded all US flights
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Pete Muntean | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The Notices to Air Missions (NOTAM) database failure triggered the FAA to implement the first nationwide stop of air traffic in more than 20 years. “The core operating system for the database has been around since the 1990s,” the source said. “Regardless of the improvements made to the system in recent years, it still has the heart of an 89-year-old man.”CNN has reached out to the FAA for comment on updates to the NOTAM system to date and its modernization timeline. Late Wednesday, the FAA continued to downplay the possibility of a cyberattack as the root cause of the system failure. “The FAA needs more funding,” Kirby said in an on-stage interview before aviation leaders.

[1/2] Passengers wait for the resumption of flights at O’Hare International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures due to a system outage, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Jim VondruskaWASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. airlines said they expect operations to return to normal on Thursday as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) scrambles to pinpoint the cause of a computer outage that grounded flights nationally and to prevent it from happening again. More than 11,300 U.S. flights were delayed or cancelled on Wednesday, according to FlightAware, in the first national grounding of domestic traffic in about two decades. Major carriers such as Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), United Airlines (UAL.O) and Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) said they expected normal operations on Thursday. "The health of that agency and its ability to deliver on its mission really is important," he said in an interview.

"At this time, we do not believe the cause is related to the FAA outage experienced earlier today." Share this -Link copiedNearly half of Southwest flights delayed just weeks after mass cancellations Nearly half of Southwest Airlines flights were delayed as of about 11:15 a.m. Share this -Link copiedMore than 540 Delta flights delayed, 14 canceled More than 540 Delta flights were delayed as of 9:13 a.m. ET, the airline had three flights canceled and 208 flights delayed, amounting to 21% of its overall flights, according to FlightAware. Alaska Airlines had 11 flights canceled and 149 flights delayed, also amounting to 21% of its overall flights, FlightAware noted as of 8:53 a.m.

Passengers stuck at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago greeted the latest air travel disruption with a collective shrug. And our nation’s economy depends on a best-in-class air travel system. "We call on federal policymakers to modernize our vital air travel infrastructure to ensure our systems are able to meet demand safely and efficiently," he said. "An FAA system outage is causing ground stops at AUS and other airports across the country," the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said in a tweet. Air France said all of its U.S.-bound flights were operating as planned and were not affected by the FAA computer outage.

☆ U.S. Congress to investigate FAA computer outage that snarled flights
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The public needs a resilient air transportation system." House Transportation Committee Chair Sam Graves, a Republican, said the ground stop "highlights a huge vulnerability in our air transportation system." The administration needs to explain to Congress what happened, and Congress should enact reforms in this year’s FAA reauthorization legislation." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said "the FAA needs to get to root causes so this doesn’t happen again." The FAA authorization is due to expire on Sept. 30 and the outage may put pressure on Congress to complete action.

Travelers wait in the terminal after flights were delayed and canceled due to an FAA outage. FAA officials told reporters early Wednesday that the issues developed in the 3 p.m. It has a backup, which officials switched to when problems with the main system emerged, according to the source. They decided to perform the reboot early Wednesday before air traffic began flying on the East Coast in order to minimize disruption to flights. During this process, the FAA told reporters that the system was "beginning to come back online," but said it would take time to resolve.

FAA officials said a preliminary review traced the outage to a damaged database file, but added there was no evidence of a cyberattack and the investigation was continuing. FAA officials said they were working to "further pinpoint the causes" so the problem can be avoided in the future. One issue airlines are facing is trying to get planes in and out of crowded gates, which is causing further delays. He described confusion as airline employees and many passengers were initially unaware of the FAA's moves and flight delays. The U.S. Travel Association, which represents the travel industry including airlines, called the FAA system failure "catastrophic."

☆ FAA system outage disrupts thousands of flights across U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The FAA's outage was the second major air travel disruption in less than a month and drew bipartisan criticism. Later Wednesday, Canada's air navigation agency said its similar notification system experienced a brief outage, but said no flights were delayed as a result. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards FAA system failure created mass cancellations across the U.S. on Jan. 11th, 2023. FlightawareWednesday's FAA issue added to concern from Washington from both Republicans and Democrats, particularly about technology that the complex U.S. air system, the world's busiest, relies on. More than a third of Delta's and United's mainline flights were delayed, while about 50% of American's were running late.

☆ What is NOTAM, the FAA computer system that halted all US flights?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

It is separate from the air traffic control system that keeps planes a safe distance from each other, but it’s another critical tool for air safety. The FAA also operates the nation’s air traffic control system, with air traffic controllers using radar to track all planes in their air space and radio communications with their cockpits to guide them safely. If no new problems crop up, flights should return to normal soon, though it may take time to get all the delayed flights in the air. Just before noon ET Wednesday, tracking service FlightAware shows about 7,000 delayed flights to, from and within the United States, with nearly 1,100 canceled flights altogether. But if the problem stretches too long, flight crews who are standing by to fly delayed flights will run out of time in their service day.

☆ U.S. FAA proposes requiring 5G safeguards on planes by early 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Octavio JonesWASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Monday it is proposing a requirement that passenger and cargo aircraft in the United States have 5G C-Band-tolerant radio altimeters or install approved filters by early 2024. The proposed airworthiness directive, which would take effect in February 2024, is similar to one that took effect in December 2021, prohibiting passenger and cargo flight operations in the vicinity of 5G C-Band wireless transmitters unless the FAA specifically approved them. Some international airlines have privately expressed reluctance to install filters absent a legal requirement from the FAA, officials told Reuters. FAA acting Administrator Billy Nolen in October sought a delay in some 5G C-Band transmissions from smaller operators over aviation safety concerns. A deal struck shortly before a 2022 deadline did not prevent dozens of foreign carriers from canceling international flights to the United States.

☆ An intoxicated passenger was detained after urinating on a vacant seat and another passenger's blanket mid-air
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

An intoxicated passenger on an Air India flight was detained after he urinated on a vacant seat. A similar incident occurred 10 days earlier on another Air India flight. The passenger urinated on a empty seat and the blanket of another passenger, Air India told Insider. A representative for Air India told Insider: "Air India confirms that a passenger on Air India Flight 142 from Paris to Delhi on 6 December 2022 relieved himself on the vacant seat and blanket of a fellow passenger. In deference to the victim's wishes, Air India did not lodge a police report."

☆ U.S. FCC proposes additional spectrum for drone communications
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday proposed new rules to make licensed radio spectrum in the 5 GHz band for the rising number of unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, in use. Currently, drones typically operate under unlicensed and low-power wireless communications rules or experimental licenses. The FCC also said it is seeking comment on whether current rules for various spectrum bands are sufficient to ensure co-existence of drones and terrestrial mobile operations. "The FCC must ensure that our spectrum rules meet the current – and future – spectrum needs of evolving technologies such as unmanned aircraft systems, which can be critical to disaster recovery, first responder rescue efforts, and wildfire management," FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said. Because drones are usually operated remotely, they depend "critically on wireless communications between a ground-based control station and the (drone) to control the flight," the FCC said.

The union, which remains locked in heated contract negotiations with Southwest Airlines, published the letter Dec. 31. Kelly served as Southwest CEO from 2004 until last February, and replaced Southwest co-founder Herb Kelleher as chairman in 2008. This is not an employees of Southwest Airlines problem. The union, Nekouei wrote, "has been beating this drum to management for nearly a decade pleading with them to spend the necessary capital to prevent the ultimate consequence someday." In an emailed statement responding to the union's letter, Southwest said that "it has a more than 51-year history of allowing — and encouraging — its Employees to express their opinions in a respectful manner."

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