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October 4, 2011, 12:00 pm
By
Keith Laing
More than 100 lawmakers have signed a letter asking President Obama to intervene in a fight over schedule requirements for pilots on behalf of stricter limits that have languished in the regulatory process.
Congress gave the FAA, which has been at the center of recent budget fights in Washington, the authority to make changes to the training and scheduling requirements for regional pilots when it passed the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act in 2010.
But the changes are currently in the administrative rule-making process, and a recent deadline for implementation was missed.
A group formed to lobby for the families of victims of a 2009 plane crash near Buffalo, N.Y, is blaming airline companies for the holdup. They are calling for President Obama to step in on their behalf.
“This sends a strong message to the President that the entire nation is counting on him to put safety ahead of corporate greed,” South Carolina resident Scott Maurer, who's thirty year old daughter Lorin was killed in the Continental Airlines flight 3407 crash said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Flight 3407 is a tragic reminder of what happens when that is not done.
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October 4, 2011, 11:23 am
By
Keith Laing
A key Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said Tuesday that he won’t run for reelection next year.
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October 4, 2011, 11:01 am
By
Keith Laing
Detroit-based Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers union announced Tuesday they had agreed to a four-year labor agreement both sides say will add jobs by 2015.
The sides say the deal, which will still have to be approved by UAW members, will create 5,750 new jobs at Ford facilities across the country.
It calls for Ford to spend $16 billion on its U.S. operations, including $6.2 billion for plants, and retain 12,000 positions in total.
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October 4, 2011, 9:00 am
By
Keith Laing
Your morning transportation speed-read:
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) has a plan to fix the bad bridges in her state.
A commuter rail fare hike in Connecticut is being referred to as the "Malloy Tax."
A proposed extension of the Washington, D.C., MetroRail to Dulles International Airport is in danger of being delayed.
Paris is testing electric cars for its short-term rental programs.
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October 3, 2011, 5:56 pm
By
Keith Laing
The Transportation Security Administration said Monday that it would purchase new equipment to check airline passenger's boarding passes for alterations. The agency said the new equipment, called Credential Authentication Technology - Boarding Pass Scanning Systems (CAT_BPSS), would improve its ability to move passengers through checkpoints and improve over all airport security. "This technology will automatically verify passenger identification documents and boarding passes to further enhance security," TSA Administrator John Pistole said in a statement. "This technology will help facilitate risk-based security, while making the process more effective and efficient."
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October 3, 2011, 5:42 pm
By
Keith Laing
The Transportation Security Administration said Monday that it while it strives "to treat every passenger with dignity and respect," it did not in the case of a passenger with breast cancer who was patted down.
New York resident Lori Dorn has said her chest implants were patted down recently at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Dorn wrote a blog post about the incident in which she said that even after she told the TSA agents about her condition, her chest was examined.
"We regret that this passenger did not have a positive experience," the agency said in a statement that was provided to The Hill Monday afternoon. "The Federal Security Director for JFK personally reached out to the passenger to apologize and learn about her experience to help ensure a smoother checkpoint experience for passengers in similar circumstances going forward."
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October 3, 2011, 2:37 pm
By
Keith Laing
It took more than a month for an agreement to be reached to provide back pay to Federal Aviation Administration workers who were furloughed this summer, but Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Monday it will not take long to get them the money they are owed. LaHood said on his blog on the Department of Transportation website that the the workers will be repaid in their next paychecks — on Oct. 18. "During the partial shutdown from July 23, 2011 through August 5, 2011, nearly 4,000 FAA professionals were left unable to work and without a paycheck," he wrote. "And restoring these lost wages to our hardworking employees has been one of my top priorities. Under provisions of the FAA extension passed by Congress in August, we'll be able to do just that."
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October 3, 2011, 2:21 pm
By
Keith Laing
A woman who has breast implants as a result of cancer is criticizing the Transportation Security Administration for patting her down at a New York airport.
New York resident Lori Dorn recently claimed that she was patted down at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Dorn wrote on her blog that even after she told the TSA agents about her condition, her chest was examined by security.
"Yesterday I went through the imaging scanner at JFK Terminal 4 for my Virgin America flight to San Francisco," she wrote. "Evidently they found something, because after the scan, I was asked to step aside to have my breast area examined. I explained to the agent that I was a breast cancer patient and had a bilateral mastectomy in April and had tissue expanders put in to make way for reconstruction at a later date."
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October 3, 2011, 10:33 am
By
Keith Laing
Your morning transportation speed-read:
Flights at Phoenix's Sky Harbor international Airport were grounded by a power outage.
The National Transportation Safety Board has ruled that a plane that crashed in an air show did not break.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating five planes taking off from a closed runway at Pittsburgh International Airport. An Amtrak train hit and killed a passenger in Oregon this weekend.
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October 3, 2011, 9:00 am
By
Keith Laing
Having given the Federal Aviation Administration funding through January, lawmakers will take a look this week at the agency's plans to implement a satellite-based national aviation system.
The House Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation, chaired by Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.), will hold a hearing Wednesday about the FAA NextGen system, which the agency envisions installing by 2020 at a cost of about $22 billion.
Plans called for the NextGen system to be installed to replace World War II-era radar technology in control towers by 2014 at the busiest airports, and nationwide by 2020.
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