Should Illegal Aliens Attend Flight School Owned by Illegal Alien?
How is it that an illegal alien who owned a Boston flight school taught foreign nationals how to fly planes, and some of them got their licenses?
25 foreign nationals received approval by TSA to begin flight training. Eight students had entered the country illegally and seventeen had overstayed their allowed period. Six actually got their licenses. The flight school owner had not undergone TSA security threat assessment, had not been approved for flight training by TSA, but held two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pilot licenses (FAA certificates.)
You’ve heard about Act I, the American Airlines Boeing, which landed without the benefit of ATC guidance at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
You’ve heard about Act II, the United Airlines Airbus, which also landed without benefit of ATC guidance.
So why was the tower offline? Simple. The controller apparently fell asleep on duty. The supervisor was on duty alone that night
It is interesting and perhaps significant to note that the media is much more alarmed about this than most pilots seem to be. The midnight shift at many airports has minimal traffic and there is only one air traffic controller on duty. As was the case at Reagan National, Pilots have access to other air traffic towers. When failing to raise National, the two planes that landed on Wednesday contacted a nearby Warrenton Tower.
The controller is not a beginner. He’s been on the job at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport for 17 years. This was his 4th successive night on the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m shift. There’s no denying that he should not have fallen asleep, or that there should have been two controllers there. But there are some factors to consider.
The accident would have been a whole lot worse if there had not been established protocols for dealing with an airport deemed “uncontrolled.”
The first crew designated an advisory frequency. (Emergency procedures.)
The second flight crew was aware of the problem, having been informed via that frequency about the silent tower.
Washington noise abatement prevents all but a few midnight flights.
Yes it was a bad situation, but it could have been worse. It’s a good thing there were fall back procedures for the pilots to rely on. At least they never lost radar. And pilots are trained to land without ATC guidance, just in case something like this happens. And, after all, there are airports like Casa Grande, Arizona which are unmonitored and uncontrolled. Listen to the pilots in the audio below. They don’t sound at all stressed by the situation.
There are consequences that will be far reaching. A minimum of two controllers is going to be mandatory. The controller who fell asleep has been suspended and will be handled according to procedures in the Human Resource Policy Manual.
But there may be more to come after this. Policy changes, perhaps a lawsuit, perhaps even criminal charges.Or perhaps only retraining for the controller. Time will tell. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has ordered two controllers on the midnight shift at National.
Airport ATC Audio
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent was shot at a Terminal 3 checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport.
Swat responded. Los Angeles Police Department put LAX on tactical alert. An evacuation of the airport followed. All planes with flights heading to the airport were held at their points of origin.
The incident began at 9:30 a.m. at Terminal 3 at LAX. A twitter from John Fostrom said that “a lax colleague walks closer to see what is going on and TSA person runs at him with look of terror. Colleague turns to me and says run!”
A gunman with a rifle fired shots in Terminal 3. A twenty-nine year old man was shot in the leg at 9:30 a.m. and someone else was also wounded.
The gunman was taken into custody alive.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
What: Kenya Police Air Wing Eurocopter AS 350B3e Ecureuil Where: Ngong Hills, near Nairobi Kenya When: June 10, 2012 Who: 6 aboard Update: The Kenyan Commission of Inquiry established to look into the June 10 helicopter crash in the Kibiku Forest in Kenya is set to hold its first formal session on July 16. The container holding the wreckage will be stored at the Kenya Police Air-Wing facility at the Wilson Airport.
The Kenya Police Airwing Unit Commandant Rodgers Mbithi will be appearing as the first witness.
The pilots involved, Captain Nancy Gituanja and Luke Oyugi, underwent pilot training in the Ukraine in April 2009.
According to commission members, the intent of the commission is “…not to apportion blame, but to prevent occurrence.”
Fatalities included Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security George Saitoti and his permanent secretary Orwa Ojode, pilots Luke Oyugi and Nancy Gituanja and bodyguards Inspector Joshua Tonkei and Sergeant Thomas Murimi.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
On May 13/14, 2013 the cockpit door of one of Air India’s planes locked the captain out while he was using the toilet. The co-pilot and trainee pilot had to land the plane in Bhopal for ground maintenance engineers to fix the problem.
On May 13, the flight took off from Delhi for Bangalore.
Air India’s official statement was that the captain couldn’t return to the cockpit because the door was locked and that all efforts to open it, even from inside, failed during Tuesday’s flight from New Delhi to the southern Indian city of Bangalore.
The airline claims that no one was endangered during the “unscheduled landing.” No doubt the passengers watching the pilot attempting–and failing–to open the cockpit door would disagree. Apparently there was some degree of panic among the passengers. This is just one in a long series of air safety issues from Air India.
After the plane landed at 5.55pm, ground maintenance engineers did fix the door. The flight continued to Bangalore at 8.45 pm, and made a safe landing at at 8.45 pm.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
