Aviation

A man flying from Phoenix to El Paso, Texas, was arrested when his flight landed because he refused to turn off his cellphone, according to reports.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight was meet by police at the gate after he did not turn off his cellphone after being asked to by flight attendants.

The passenger's name was not released and, the Federal Aviation Administration, which requires cellphones not be used on flights, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that airport security screeners may be able to clear passengers for flights without having them remove their shoes.

Since the so-called shoe bomber Richard Reid attempted to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in 2002, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has required passengers to take off their shoes and place them on conveyor belts before they walk through the metal detectors at airport security checkpoints.

The requirement, which remains in place now, has been cited by passengers as a major annoyance as they try to catch flights.

Aviation employee unions will head to Reagan Airport Wednesday, hoping to pressure returning lawmakers to pass an FAA appropriations bill.

With the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaching, the Federal Aviation Administration released a video Tuesday of air traffic controllers looking back on their actions that morning when jets were hijacked and flown into buildings.

In the FAA video, New York-area Air Traffic Manager Mike McCormick said he was alert to the possibility that planes had been hijacked at 8:35 a.m. on Sept. 11, about 10 minutes before the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.

"I first got a page at 8:35 in the morning on Sept. 11, saying we had a possible hijack," McCormick recalled. "An aircraft from Boston, currently over Albany, N.Y., at 30,000 feet and heading south."

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Labor talks are under way between U.S. automakers and the union for auto workers.

Police explosives are missing at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport.

Honda is recalling 962,000 cars.

Italian automaker Fiat is opening showrooms in 20 cities.

One of the nation’s most prestigious universities faces a possible $175,000 penalty from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA has proposed the civil penalty for alleged violations of the Department of Transportation’s Hazardous Materials Regulations by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The FAA alleges MIT sent a fiberboard box containing 33 electronic devices to FedEx for transport from Cambridge to Seattle a little more than two years ago.

The package ended up in smoke and flames, according to a release from FAA, while it was being moved on a conveyor belt at a FedEx sorting facility. The news release said two of the electronic devices, which consisted of lithium batteries attached to “a circuit board and tube-like container,” heated and melted, causing the surrounding cushioning and packaging to catch fire.

The FAA alleges the package was not properly labeled and marked, so FedEx employees did not know it contained hazardous material. The FAA also alleges MIT employees were not properly trained and tested to handle hazardous material.

MIT has 30 days from receipt of the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond to the agency.

After being accused of being too rigid in the debate that partially shutdown the Federal Aviation Administration earlier this month, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) told one of his hometown newspapers Tuesday that he was willing to compromise on the issue when Congress goes back into session next week.

Democrats blamed Mica for causing the partial shutdown of the FAA, which resulted in about 4,000 employees before furloughed for nearly two weeks, because Mica targeted airports in the districts of Senate Democratic leaders for flight service subsidy cuts.

But Mica told The Daytona Beach News-Journal he was “not trying to put people out of work.”

“At some point, in the national interest, somebody has to say, ‘Whoa, we’ve got to pass a long-term bill,’” he said in an interview with the paper’s editorial board. “I’ll find any means I can to move the process forward. I’ll compromise in a reasonable fashion.”

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The Transportation Security Administration said a man tried to board an airplane in Brazil with snakes and tortoises in his pants.

The National Transportation Safety Board blamed a utility company and lax regulators for a California pipeline explosion.

The terminal at Miami International Airport was evacuated because of a suspicious package.

Commuter rail service in New York has resumed post-Irene.

JetBlue Airways has been fined $50,000 for violating rules for advertising airfares, the Department of Transportation said Tuesday.

The airline is accused of not properly informing customers that advertised prices did not include additional fees, a violation of rules implemented by the DOT to protect airline customers.

“When passengers shop for an airline ticket, they have a right to know the full price they will have to pay,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement announcing the fine.  “We expect airlines to treat their passengers fairly and will take enforcement action when our rules are violated.”

Starting in January 2012, the DOT will require airlines to include all taxes and fees in all advertised fares.

Two major U.S. airlines should not be allowed to swap landing rights at airports in Washington, D.C., and New York, the trade group that represents airports said Wednesday.

The Department of Transportation has said it intends to approve the swap between Delta Airlines and US Airways at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport and New York's LaGuardia Airport. The swap would see Delta give up space at Reagan exchange for a bigger presence at LaGuardia.

But Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) President Greg Principato said Tuesday that the rights to land airplanes at airports should not be treated as a commodity for airline companies.