Word: faa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...there's no denying that they're already pretty bad. On Friday, an FAA computer glitch caused massive delays and cancellations for hundreds of planes up and down the East Coast. This came just four days after the Department of Transportation announced that airline delays are at their highest level since 1996, when the government started tracking the numbers. During the first four months of 2007, 27.6% of flights on U.S. carriers were delayed by more than 15 minutes or canceled. That news only confirmed what people already knew after the industry suffered terrible publicity on Valentine's Day, when...
...Modernizing the U.S.' air traffic control system, which would include replacing outdated radar systems with sophisticated satellite technology, would cost at least $20 billion, and Congress may approve those funds as early as this September. They may not have a choice, because Congress must reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by Sept. 30, and the FAA is pushing for the funding as part of its reauthorization...
...well defined, air traffic controllers can easily track planes on radar (while on the ground at smaller airports sometimes controllers can actually see the plane) and pilots know and understand the routes. They rarely, if ever, change. And if routes are amended, the air safety system - coordinated by the FAA - does an excellent job of informing pilots, airlines, private plane operators, air traffic controllers and ground personnel that the change is coming...
...main problem on the ground - so-called runway incursions (where planes come too close together) have remained troublesome. According to the FAA, in 2005, there were a total of 327 runway incursions. Twenty-nine of those were very significant or serious, which is less than 10% of the total. In terms of error types, there were 169 pilot deviations, 105 operational errors/deviations by controllers, and 53 vehicle/pedestrian deviations. While pilot deviations are the most common type of runway incursion, they accounted for only 31% of serious incursions in the past fiscal year...
...Last fall, the NTSB said that runway incursions were among the NTSB's "most wanted" improvements. It also said that existing runway safety procedures are insufficient and criticized the FAA for being slow to make improvements. Sometimes large safety issues can be solved with small changes like lighting and paint. Although it has not been ruled that poor signage or lighting is involved in the Comair crash, it has been an ongoing issue that safety experts have been trying to fix. An FAA test project to make runway markings more visible that was begun at T. F. Green Airport...