The graphic (website) version of this newsletter can be accessed at:
http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/newsletter436.htm
Quote of the Week: A "symbiotic coverup relation****p between controllers
and their bosses" from a story this week quoting U.S. Special Counsel
Scott
Bloch, who investigates complaints made by government whistle-blowers
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Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter
#437................................................................................July
15, 2007 Past newsletters can be accessed at:
http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm
The PASSUR air****t
flight
tracking system at many major U.S. air****ts
http://www.passur.com/sites.htm
(you must have Java installed to view it). If you want to get the
newsletter
sent to you every week, sign up to AviationWatch. Bill Mulcahy
rockaway@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
FAA Whistleblower Says FAA/Controllers "Cover-Up" Mistakes!!
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As Bill Sees It (Editorial): TWO Federal Officials Demand Investigation Of
FAA/Air Traffic Controller "Cover-Up" Conspiracy!!! It's good to see that
not all FAA officials are busy reinterpreting and/or working to avoid
enforcing aviation safety regulations so they can jam more planes into the
sky and air****ts. This week two FAA employees, one a controller and one a
U.S. Special Council who investigated the "whistleblower" complaint, came
out publicly with their charges about controllers "covering up" incidents
where planes came too close together. No doubt the air traffic controller,
Anne Whiteman, who blew the whistle, will be a target for the controller
union. She already has had her car forced off the road by another air
traffic controller!!! Last week there were many stories about how the FAA
has recently changed the definition of what constitutes a near collision,
endangering the safety of the flying public. The purpose of this rule
"redefinition" was to unsafely reduce the distance between planes to
increase the capacity of air****ts, while reducing the number of near
collision incidents...on paper, not in reality.
Are Recent Near Collisions And Crashes Being Caused By FAA Safety
Reductions? While the FAA is busy thinking of ways to change safety rules
so
they can jam more planes into the sky and increase the "capacity" of
air****ts, the danger to the flying public increases. This week was just
another week of aviation chaos with two airliners almost colliding at
Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Air****t after one missed its turn onto
a
taxiway and entered the runway where the other was about to land. The FAA
can change all the safety rules they want but the one statistic they won't
be able to "skew" is the number of dead bodies from an airline disaster;
although I'm sure they are working on it.
Five Killed In Florida As Plane Crashes Into Homes!!! Once again people
on
the ground are reminded that at any time a plane can come cra****ng into
their homes and kill and maim their families. In the case of the Florida
crash this week one child in the home that the plane crashed into got
burned
over 90 percent of his body!!! London Mayor Pays For Study On Heathrow
Noise
Impacts: A story this week told about a study on aircraft noise impacts on
London. This re****t was commissioned by anti noise group HACAN Clear Skies
and paid for by the mayor of London. While most of America's politicians
only listen to the airline industry, it is good to see that there is
somewhere that politicians listen to the public. America has politicians
like N.Y. City's Mayor Bloomberg that instituted "Operation Silent Night"
to
deal with nighttime noise and New Yorker's number one complaint. While
cracking down on things like "boom boxes," the one source of noise that
was
not mentioned was nighttime aircraft noise from the New York metropolitan
areas three major air****ts!!! When questioned about this, Bloomberg said
"that is a federal matter" over which he had no control. Bull#@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
A
mayor
can do a lot and at least he could complain. America doesn't need another
president who works for the cor****ate polluters and cons the public with
public relations hype rather than real change.
American Airlines Pulls Out Of Stewart Air****t In Upstate New York:
Stories
this week told about how American Airlines has decided to leave Stewart
Air****t. Local residents should not celebrate yet. The ****t Authority of
New
York and New Jersey which runs major air****ts in the New York City
metropolitan area is due to take over the lease on the air****t in a few
months. As American Airlines has shown that Stewart can't make it as a
passenger air****t, the REAL purpose of the ****t Authority's secret scheme
is
becoming clear; and I believe that is to turn Stewart Air****t into a
giant,
heavily night-operating air cargo hub. This is the use that the
communities
near Teterboro Air****t successfully fought to stop being dumped on them.
Dallas, Texas: FAA Whistleblower And Special Counsel Blow Lid Off FAA
Corruption!!! WA****NGTON - Two Federal Aviation Administration employees
have accused the agency of "covering up" serious incidents in which planes
got too close to each other in the Dallas area, according to a government
investigator who suggested that such practices may extend to other parts
of
the country. U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch, who investigates complaints
made by government whistle-blowers, alleged that the FAA and its air
traffic
controllers have been reclassifying mistakes for at least a year in an
effort to reduce criticism from bosses and to help boost performance
bonuses, which are based partly on error data. Bloch called for an
investigation by the department's inspector general. He said the FAA was
seeking to reduce the number of controller errors by blaming the mistakes
on
pilots. The reclassification of errors could result in "potential
crashes."
because repeated mistakes would not be corrected, he said in an interview.
"This cuts to the core of air traffic safety and why you have air
regulations that controllers are supposed to observe," Bloch said, adding
that the decision to reclassify re****ts also was the result of a
"symbiotic
coverup relation****p between controllers and their bosses."
SANFORD, Florida: Five Killed And 10 Year-Old Boy When Plane Crashed Into
House Near Air****t Runway!!! Ryan Cooper was standing in his driveway
when
he saw the small plane crash into his neighborhood, setting two homes
ablaze. Minutes later, the off-duty firefighter dashed into the houses in
search of survivors. The fast-moving blaze was being fed by hundreds of
gallons of aviation fuel pouring from one floor to the next as Cooper
groped
through the smoke and flames without an air pack. He rescued a 10-year-old
boy, then went back for the father. He also tried to save neighbors in the
burning house next door but couldn't find anyone before a police officer
pulled him out for his own safety. In one of the homes, "the conditions on
the outside had deteriorated greatly to the point where I almost got
disoriented to where I was," the 30-year-old Cooper said Wednesday from
the
hospital. Eventually, smoke inhalation stopped him. Five people died in
the
crash _ a NASCAR pilot and the husband of a racing executive aboard the
plane, as well as a woman and two children in the destroyed homes.
http://www.wa****ngtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/11/AR2007071100129.html
Video:
http://video.on.nytimes.com/index.jsp?fr_story=7236212308183c8a8044e007f126440dd59680b4
2 Planes Nearly Collide On Fort Lauderdale Runway: The passengers aboard
Delta Flight 1489 thought they were just seconds from touching down at
Broward's main air****t Wednesday, when suddenly, the plane began to climb
again. Passenger Paul Zappia thought it was a rookie pilot who overshot
the
runway. Then the pilot came onto the intercom. ' `I guess you're wondering
why we had to go back up. That's because a plane that was unauthorized
came
out in the middle of the runway in front of us, and we had to avoid it,'
''
Zappia, 46, of Miami, recounted. In fact, the two planes had come within a
few hundred feet of colliding. Disaster was avoided thanks to the Delta
pilot and air traffic controllers, who all noticed the other plane, said
Kathleen Bergen, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The
Delta pilot pulled up the plane, and circled the air****t instead of
landing.
The Delta flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
Air****t was trying to land on the north runway shortly after 2:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, United Flight 1544 was rolling along one of the taxiways that
intersects with the north runway, Bergen said. Just before it reached the
north runway, the United plane was supposed to turn left onto another
taxiway, Bergen said. It didn't. Instead, it went straight, entering the
runway on which the Delta plane was about to land. Once the Delta pilot
broke the news to everyone aboard, everyone started clapping, Zappia said.
''Thank God, I'm alive,'' Zappia said. ``He saved hundreds of lives.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/466/story/167825.html
NEW WINDSOR, New York: American Airlines Pulls Out Of Stewart Air****t!!! -
American Airlines was the first commercial carrier to operate at Stewart
International Air****t when passenger service began there in 1990. Now the
airline is pulling up stakes and leaving the local market. "It is a very
expensive market to operate in, and we could not sustain profitability,"
said Andrea Huguely, a spokesman for American Eagle, the American-owned
commuter carrier that currently serves Stewart. Huguely said in a
telephone
interview on Wednesday that leaving Stewart was a "difficult decision to
make" for American, but she cited mounting operating costs, fees and other
expenses as the reasons for the withdrawal. American Eagle will stop
flying
in and out of Stewart as of Sept. 5. Tanya Vanasse, Stewart's marketing
manager, said on Wednesday that the air****t had not been formally notified
about American's pullout. "American Airlines seems to be a little bit ...
muddle(d) internally in terms of communication," she said. Stewart has had
success recently in attracting new carriers, specifically JetBlue and
AirTran, but Stewart Air****t Commission Chairman James Wright said the
American pullout is "the nature of the airline business." Orange County
Chamber of Commerce President John D'Ambrosio was caught off guard by
American's announcement. "You can knock me over with a feather at this
point
in time," he said. "I am surprised that American is leaving. They were the
first ones in, and I hope they are the last ones out, frankly. I have high
hopes for the future. ... Maybe after the ****t Authority takes over, they
will be back." The ****t Authority of New York and New Jersey is to take
over
the operation of Stewart in October after it buys the remaining 93 years
of
National Express Group's 99-year lease with the state to run the New
Windsor
facility.
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18575774&BRD=1769&PAG=461&dept_id=74969&rfi=6
England: Re****t Says Aircraft "Dominates The Environment." Noise from
Heathrow is a 'significant' problem across the whole of London, with even
people on the opposite side of the capital from the air****t suffering
distress, according to new research. A re****t, 'No Place to Hide', blames
a
boom in flying and increases the pressure on government ministers, who are
expected to announce in the autumn a decision on whether to build a third
runway and sixth terminal at the world's busiest international air****t.
Researchers from independent consultancy Bureau Veritas measured noise
levels that 'dominated the environment' in south London and found
'significant noise' as far from the air****t as Poplar in east London. The
volume of complaints and member****p of campaign groups are also rising in
north London and as far west as Henley-on-Thames in Oxford****re. The most
likely explanation for recent increases in noise is that air traffic
controllers are using more approach routes because of growing traffic. The
biggest rises were during early mornings and evenings, when people are
more
likely to be at home. Hacan ClearSkies, the anti-air****t expansion
campaign
group which commissioned the re****t, said it did so after member****p rose
rapidly in areas well beyond the boroughs nearest the air****t - albeit
from
a 'very low base' - despite claims by the air****t's owner, BAA, and by the
government that noise levels were falling. The re****t was funded by the
Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. Read a summary of the re****t here.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2126746,00.html
Audubon
Society: National Park Service Wants To Preserve Natural "Soundscapes!!!"
Preservation of such natural landscapes is part of the National Park
Service's
mission. But so is preservation of what the agency calls natural
"soundscapes." "Noise increases exponentially, not linearly," says Karen
Trevino, director of the Park Service's Natural Sounds Program Center. "In
any given area an increase of three decibels reduces our ability to hear
by
50 percent. That means that if I can hear a bird singing 100 feet away and
a
noise intrusion raises the ambient baseline by 3 decibels, I would have to
move to within 70 feet of the bird to still hear it. People often assume
that a 5- or 10-decibel increase is insignificant or barely noticeable.
That's
not the case." If the only source of noise pollution were the tour
flights,
the park would meet the pathetically modest goal of being a little less
than
half noisy at least three-quarters of the time. But the steady parade of
jetliners overhead renders it 99 percent out of compliance. When the FAA
proclaimed that it shouldn't figure in jet noise because it was "de
minimus"
(trifling), the Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, Wilderness Society,
National Parks Conservation Association, and others successfully sued. "It
wouldn't be much of a problem to move the jet route 5 or 10 miles south,"
says Hingson. "That would be a huge help, but the FAA won't hear of it."
http://www.audubonmagazine.com/incite/incite0707.html
Editor's Note If it
doesn't bother the FAA to concentrate routing over densely populated urban
areas, it certainly wouldn't bother them to destroy the natural
"soundscape"
over parkland. http://www.audubonmagazine.com/incite/incite0707.html
@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Im****tant Aviation News Stories This
Week
Experts Talk About FAA Accountability
Planes Nearly Collide At Ft. Lauderdale Air****t
http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_194222536.html
(CBS4) DANIA BEACH A close call at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International
Air****t has made national headlines after two planes came within a split
second of colliding. The incident has been called pilot error, but it's
raised new concerns about air traffic control systems.
Scott Bloch, from the U.S. Office of Special Council has spent the last
few
years trying to figure out why we've had so many close calls at our
nation's
air****ts. This week, two planes came within 100 feet of colliding at Ft.
Lauderdale-Hollywood International Air****t-one was waiting to take off,
the
other was landing.
"They were supposed to correct up the problem but they didn't," said Scott
Bloch.
Jay Rawlins, a retired pilot, says it's a major problem.
"There are about 300 runway incursions a year," he said.
"The management needs to be responsible, and those who cover this up need
to
be disciplined and heads need to roll," said Bloch.
Bloch's investigation claims the FAA is reducing the number of errors air
traffic controllers are blamed for by resetting the definition of those
errors.
"We have seen radar replays that show a loss of separation when the air
traffic controller is controlling aircraft; someone in management and the
controller assign that to pilot error," said Rawlins.
Members of Miami's Air Traffic Controller's Union agree. They showed us
some
memos setting a new category for incidents where planes fly too close
together. Instead of an operational error, a category the FAA has been
charged with decreasing, it is now often called a "proximity event", which
doesn't count against the FAA.
"The easiest way to put this to the layman: they've been cooking the
books,"
said Jim Marinitti, of the NATCA MIA.
We got on the phone with Congressman John Mica, a member of the House
Committee On Trans****tation and Infrastructure that is in charge of
holding
the FAA accountable. He wouldn't react to the allegations, but says he is
working on a bill that could change air traffic as we know it.
The goal is new alert systems on air****t tarmacs, which would tell a pilot
when something is in the way. Some air****ts already have them but Ft.
Lauderdale-Hollywood International doesn't.
Problems at JFK Air****t ripple through U.S. aviation
By Alan Levin, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-07-09-jfk-cover_N.htm
NEW YORK
-
John F. Kennedy International Air****t has long been known as the nation's
gateway to the world, but by 6 p.m. on a recent Monday it looked more like
a
dysfunctional parking lot. A conga line of arrivals sat on an unused
runway
more than a mile from the gates. The main taxiway was clogged by a dozen
jets waiting to depart. Another dozen, mostly hulking wide-body arrivals
from Europe, were clustered at the northwest corner of the air****t - an
area
chosen to keep them clear of the growing chaos.
As some jets waited for hours to move, the frustration increased. An
unidentified pilot on Comair Flight 5233, which had arrived from
Burlington,
Vt., about 90 minutes earlier, asked the tower for help getting to his
gate
because his jet's air conditioner was broken. "Our cabin temperature is
getting up into the 90s right now," the pilot said.
"Call your company and tell them to find gates for all those guys in front
of you," a controller replied, according to a recording of the
conversation
provided by LiveATC.net, a website for aviation professionals that
monitors
air-traffic communications. "I can't move anyone out."
JFK, one of the nation's most storied air****ts - and the most popular for
flights into and out of this country - is choking on delays, creating a
ripple effect throughout the U.S. aviation system. More than four decades
after Eero Saarinen's wing-roofed TWA terminal here helped introduce
modern
architecture, jetways and other innovations to air****ts, JFK's terminals
often are a crowded mess - symbolic of how a range of vexing problems in
the
aviation system come together in New York.
At JFK, increasing competition has fueled a dramatic rise in domestic
flights in recent years, putting more stress on the most tangled piece of
airspace in the world.
It's an area roughly 20-by-20 miles that sees well over 1 million flights
a
year, including those passing through nearby LaGuardia and Newark Liberty
International air****ts. JFK handles nearly 400 international flights a
day,
but domestic flights now outnumber international ones by 2 to 1.
Air traffic analysts and federal officials say JFK and its neighboring
air****ts are examples of what busy hubs could look like in the future.
Air****ts in several metro areas, notably San Francisco, are seeing
increased
flight delays stemming from congestion.
Through May this year, about four in 10 flights at JFK, LaGuardia and
Newark
were at least 15 minutes late, the nation's worst delays for the period in
the past decade, according to the federal Bureau of Trans****tation
Statistics.
On Feb. 14, an ice storm crippled JFK, which led JetBlue Airways to strand
aircraft on the ground for up to 10 hours in an incident that drew
national
attention to airlines' struggles with delays.
A USA TODAY examination of the reasons behind the delays at JFK finds
several factors, some of them entrenched and difficult to change:
..The patchwork of air routes available to jets over New York, last
updated
20 years ago, requires controllers to put aircrafts in holding patterns
nearly every day because they simply run out of room. The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) is trying to revamp the flight lanes, but the effort
faces intense opposition from local communities concerned about increasing
noise in several areas. Opposition could delay the FAA's effort for years.
..Tension between the FAA and its controllers heightens the delays. The
****t
Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the region's air****ts,
has found that fewer aircraft have reached runways each hour in recent
years
because controllers have added more space between planes than required.
The increased spacing comes in the wake of a dispute between the
controllers
union and the FAA over how to discipline controllers who allow planes to
get
too close to one another.
FAA Deputy Administrator Bobby Sturgell says the FAA has imposed measures
to
encourage controllers to run planes closer together. But the plan has
become
emblematic of the ongoing debate of how to maintain safety while allowing
more air traffic.
..Airline competition has helped to clog JFK. During the past two years,
Delta Air Lines has sharply increased flights as the number of
international
flights also has risen.
Officials at JetBlue, the 7-year-old carrier that has become JFK's leading
airline, carrying 11.6 million passengers into and out of the air****t,
have
taken the unusual step of endorsing limits on flights because they say
that
at peak times, airlines are scheduling more flights than JFK can handle.
..Construction to prepare JFK for the mammoth Airbus A380 - set to begin
airline service this year in Asia and Europe - has blocked key taxiways.
That's added to flight delays because controllers can't efficiently move
jets from one side of the air****t to the other. During the construction,
one
taxiway was moved and others were reinforced.
The problems illustrate how fragile the aviation system has become at its
busiest air****ts, says John Hansman, a professor at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology who studies air traffic.
"A few things start to go wrong, and then it cascades," he says.
In recent months, the problem has prompted a flurry of activity by
airlines,
the ****t Authority and the FAA.
Delta has successfully lobbied the FAA to make more use of JFK's four
runways so additional jets can land each hour. The airline industry's
Wa****ngton trade group, the Air Trans****t Association, last month demanded
that the FAA add flight routes in the New York area. The ****t Authority
formed a task force to address delays. In response, the FAA has sent a
team
to New York to study JFK's problems.
"We are putting a lot of focus on it," Sturgell says. "We know it's
im****tant to our national system as well as the citizens flying into and
out
of the New York area."
Sturgell says JFK's problems won't be solved without new technologies the
agency plans to introduce in coming decades, such as satellite-based
navigation that will allow aircraft to safely fly closer together.
"It speaks to the limitations of the current air traffic system," Sturgell
says.
A boost from JetBlue
Built on marshland in Jamaica Bay about 12 miles from Manhattan, JFK
originally was known as Idlewild, the name of the golf course that once
was
on the site.
By the late 1990s, its distinctive terminals had become worn, top carriers
such as Pan Am had gone out of business and the bulk of traffic into New
York City had moved elsewhere. LaGuardia and Newark both had far more
flights.
But in 2000 an upstart airline, JetBlue, saw potential in the
underutilized
air****t and began offering low-cost flights there.
Within three years, it was the air****t's top airline, and it has continued
to grow. It now has about 344 flights a day.
Other carriers followed JetBlue's growth, particularly Delta. During the
past two years, it and its partners nearly doubled the number of daily
flights at JFK to 382.
Now JFK handles more flights a day than its New York rivals and has grown
at
a faster rate since 2000 than any other large U.S. air****t, according to
FAA
data.
JFK is on a pace to handle 460,000 flights this year, 33% more than 2000,
the ****t Authority says.
'Stacked full of airplanes'
The impact of that growth shows on days such as Monday, June 11.
Late that afternoon, a line of intermittent storms moved up the East
Coast,
slowing air travel. FAA air traffic managers at the agency's Command
Center
near Wa****ngton, D.C., ordered controllers at JFK to halt most domestic
departures but allowed arrivals to continue.
As more and more jets arrived, controllers ran out of places to put them.
Barking orders in staccato bursts, they tried to keep taxiways clear by
moving arrivals to an unused runway. But the effort couldn't keep the
taxiway in front of Delta's terminal clear.
The pilots of Delta Flight 133 from Athens, one of the jets that had been
sent to the far side of JFK, radioed shortly after 5:30 p.m. to say the
airline was holding taxiway "lima-alpha" open for them so they could reach
the terminal. The controller replied that the taxiway was full of planes.
Controller Barrett Byrnes, president of the local controllers union and
one
of those on duty in the tower that day, says the scene has become typical.
"It's not every night, but it's most nights," Byrnes says. "When you
overburden an air****t, as delays begin to happen, you are never able to
recover from them. Once the delays start, it's over."
Inefficient routes
Former controller Steve Kelley recalls being struck 20 years ago by the
inefficient routes that planes in the New York area followed. Little has
changed since then.
Nowhere else in the world do so many aircraft converge into such tight
confines as New York.
If the weather is bad at JFK, for example, one of the air****t's runways is
unusable because the route required for a low-visibility approach
interferes
with flights at other air****ts. JFK's four long runways could handle more
flights, but the area's controllers can't accept more aircraft.
Kelley, who now manages the FAA's effort to redesign flight corridors on
the
East Coast, says using modern technology such as highly accurate aircraft
routes guided by satellite would help reduce delays at JFK and other area
air****ts.
For example, the delays on June 11 were triggered by a few small
thunderstorms. One of the features of the FAA's plan would allow planes to
use additional routes outside the region, so they would have more paths to
fly around storms, Kelley says.
However, the FAA's experience in New York shows it won't be easy to make
such changes.
The prospect of rerouting aircraft across the region has created bitter
opposition. Public meetings on the plan have been contentious. Virtually
no
elected official in the region has endorsed the idea.
The FAA has concluded that the number of people affected by noise from
aircraft would drop because of plans to keep more planes over the ocean,
rivers and highways, but some communities that rarely hear aircraft noise
would get more of it.
Area congressmen have asked the Government Accountability Office to study
the FAA's plan.
"I'm extremely concerned that this airspace redesign is a colossal
mistake,"
says Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J.
More space between planes
Looming in the background of JFK's delays are disputes between controllers
and FAA managers.
Two years ago, the FAA found that controllers at the New York Terminal
Radar
Approach Control center, which handles aircraft below 18,000 feet in a
roughly 50-mile radius around the city, routinely were bringing planes
slightly closer together than the rules allowed (typically 3 nautical
miles).
The facility's union president, Dean Iacopelli, says that since then,
several controllers have been disciplined for minor traffic-directing
infractions that previously would not have drawn punishment.
The FAA's move has led controllers to put more space between planes,
prompting a decline in capacity at New York's air****ts, says Tom Bock, the
manager of airspace and operational enhancements for the ****t Authority.
Iacopelli says controllers are simply trying to follow the directions they
are receiving from management. The FAA is investigating ways to allow
controllers to squeeze more aircraft together while staying within their
guidelines, Sturgell says. The agency recently eased its rules regarding
minor infractions.
Byrnes and Iacopelli say declines in staffing at New York facilities also
have added to delays. Controllers have had increasingly tense relations
with
the FAA since it imposed pay cuts last year. The FAA says staffing levels
are adequate and that it's hiring more controllers.
Endless wait times
As darkness fell on JFK on June 11, delays continued to stack up.
Some of the storms that blocked domestic routes drifted over the Atlantic
Ocean, forcing a halt to departures to Europe.
By evening, every flight leaving JFK was late and some jets sat for hours
waiting to leave. One pilot waiting for departure clearance asked the
tower
how long he should expect to wait.
"If I had that answer, I'm in the wrong job," a controller responded,
according to a recording of the conversation provided by LiveATC.net. ". I
couldn't even begin to tell you."
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