http://www.planesafe.org Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:14:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Late yesterday, by a vote of 93-0, the Senate (finally) passed the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act.  The FAA has been authorized by short-term extensions since 2007, it took a lot to get to this point. Just this year: FAA is now under its twelfth short-term authorization, valid until the ... http://www.planesafe.org/?p=1555 Ethiopian Air Flight 409 Sadly, last evening, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 caught fire (from early reports) and crashed shortly after takeoff from Beirut, Lebanon.  Airsafe.com has a good summary, as of Monday afternoon.  It appears as though none of the passengers or crew survived.  The investigation will be ongoing. On the Hill This Week As ... http://www.planesafe.org/?p=1500 I wanted to acknowledge four recent accidents that have communities around the country mourning.  Smaller plane crashes seldom get wider news coverage, but our thoughts go out to those families, friends of the victims.  Please reach out if you need assistance.  Investigations are ongoing with the NTSB and FAA. Illinois: Two weeks ... http://www.planesafe.org/?p=1445 Today and tomorrow on the Hill, there will be a few committee hearings so that legislators can better understand what went wrong leading up to the attempted bombing of NW253 on Christmas.  They are (from GovExec): Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee - Hearing [ 09:30 am, 01/20/2010 ] Full committee ... http://www.planesafe.org/?p=1435 President Obama has given his remarks on the preliminary evaluation by security and intelligence officials of what allowed a suspected threatening person onto a flight on Christmas Day (from The New York Times).  A six-count indictment was issued against suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, yesterday (from CNN).  Today, a de-classified report ... http://www.planesafe.org/?p=1282 In the week following the attempted bombing of Flight 253, we've already seen several stages in the government response to the incident.  And, yes, I use the word "government" broadly, since we are talking about agencies, the executive and legislative branches.  And, other goverments have responded too, but here I'll ... http://www.planesafe.org/?p=1261 As we all now know, a young Nigerian man (also of Yemeni descent), on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas, brought explosives on board with intent to do greater damage than was actually done.   And oh, has it revealed holes in the U.S. and global security systems.  DHS ... http://www.planesafe.org/?p=1250 Northwest Airlines Flight 188 What a strange story this has become, since all of the early speculation proved incorrect.  The pilots were not discussing or napping, rather distracted by personal laptop use (which violated company policy).  The NTSB has published their initial findings.  The Wall Street Journal has step-by-step recap.  Everybody is putting ... http://www.planesafe.org/?p=871 This week, I had the opportunity to attend a screening in the GE Aviation Lecture series at the National Air and Space Museum.  Miles O'Brien and Patty Wagstaff were presenting a film they made about ongoing pilot training at the Kenyan Wildlife Service.  It was fascinating on many levels - the pilots, the wildlife, ... http://www.planesafe.org/?p=861 The Business of Airline Repairs NPR News is running a wonderfully informative special series this week on the outsourcing of airplane maintenance.  With the U.S. airline industry struggling financially in the post-9/11/01 world, this has been a trend for some time.  NADA/F has been an outspoken opponent of outsourcing this crucial work.  But ... http://www.planesafe.org/?p=857