News tagged with 'FAA'

For more than six years, the FAA has been told to order major airlines to fix the faulty window heaters aboard Boeing aircraft that spark fires and force emergency landings. The order may finally come next month.

The final report on the crash of Flight 3407, a Continental regional carrier, concludes that pilot fatigue and lack of attention and training contributed to the accident, which killed 50. The report comes as regional carriers dominate air travel in some regions.

The crash last February of a Colgan Air commuter flight over Buffalo that killed 50, highlighted the huge gaps in safety by many commuter services. The Federal Aviation Administration initiated a "Call To Action" which has resulted in a report issued Tuesday.

Distracted drivers can include airline pilots and now those at the helm of NWA Flight 188 have lost their pilots' license after missing the airport by 150 miles.

What happened to Northwest Flight 188? It overshot its destimation by 150 miles this week and air-traffic controllers lost contact with the pilots for 78-minutes. The pilots say they were in a heated discussion. They've both been suspended from flying.

There is no agreement on what constitutes pilot fatigue on ultra long-range flights that can last up to 20 hours. Some airlines are addressing the issue on their own, while the FAA may impose new rules on the industry.

The NTSB wants more pilot training and sophisticated equipment for medical helicopters to avoid the fatal helicopter crashes that have killed 35 people in the last two years.

Two air traffic controllers, on duty at the time of a collision of two aircraft over the Hudson River last weekend, have been suspended. One of them was reportedly talking to his girlfriend at the time of the collision, the other was not in the building. Nine people died.

Without a cockpit recorder we may never know what caused a small plane to crash just short of a Butte, Montana runway Sunday afternoon. The plane may have been overloaded and the FAA says it was not certified to carry commercial passengers.  

Friday was a somber day as family and friends remembered the victims of the crash of Continental Flight 3407.

A Continental Airlines commuter plane crashed into a house in Buffalo, New York late last night. The crash killed 44 passengers, 4 crew members and one person on the ground, in the home.

Two passengers on the Continental Airlines jet that veered off a Denver runway last month have become the first to sue the airline over the crash. The civil suit alleges the pilot of Flight 1404 negligently aborted the flight shortly after takeoff, crashing into a nearby ravine, where it caught fire.

Runway accidents, particularly landing, make up the bulk of airline accidents, such as the Continental near-disaster in Denver.  During the last 20 years, 96 percent of airline accidents involved runway excursions, the industry reports. Safety features are being put into place to make passengers safer.

While its been a dozen years since TWA Flight 800 had an "in-flight breakup" off the coast of Long Island, the FAA is now ordering modifications to aircraft design. Many, including award-winning reporter, Kristina Borjesson, feel the FAA has it all wrong.