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Home Airlines Airports Destinations Fidelity Programs Travel Travel Tech Travel Tips Aircraft Air Safety Air Security Features Reviews NEWS News Center RSS News Center Business News World News Events FLIGHTS Flight Schedules Flight Status Travel Deals Travel Links Reservations Contact Us Site Map PUBLICATIONS Online Magazines Newsletters Business & Prof Books & eBooks ORDERS Subscriptions Order Center SERVICES Advertising Marketing Content Info Services Research Surveys CORPORATE About Us Press Center Contact Us	Major US airports were operating normally on Tuesday Aug. 26 evening after a glitch in the computer system for filing flight plans delayed hundreds of flights, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The Department of Homeland Security said there was no link to terrorism and the FAA said the computer glitch did not affect its ability to safely track planes in the air. FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the problem was resolved around 6 pm EDT (2200 GMT), about 4 1/2 hours after a communications link failed in the system that processes flight plans at a facility south of Atlanta. The agency's best guess is that "hundreds" of flights across a wide swath of the United States from Dallas and Chicago to the East Coast had been delayed by the computer breakdown, Brown said, adding that the FAA would not have an exact count until Wednesday. Aug 26, 2008 The cause of Tuesday's FAA air traffic control computer failure on Tuesday Aug. 26 was not known but it was not due to a computer hacking attack, said Hank Krakowski, chief operations officer for the FAA's air traffic division. Flight plans include information such as the type of aircraft, destination and number of passengers. The other flight-plan facility in Salt Lake City had to handle the entire country when the Atlanta system failed but the backup system quickly overloaded, Brown said. FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitalire said the agency had never experienced a computer problem this severe. "We've had some equipment failures but not like this," she said. An FAA communications outage in Memphis last year caused huge air-traffic snarls. The technicians' union blamed FAA cost-cutting for reducing backup standards. Aug 26, 2008 US FAA said it received a score of 91 out of 100 in a new ICAO audit conducted under the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program. It said average score is 56. Aug 26, 2008 Air France, Boeing An Air France KLM Boeing 747 aircraft on a flight from Paris skidded off the runway after landing at Montreal's Trudeau Airport on Tuesday but there were no injuries or serious damage, police said. Passengers were taken off the plane by emergency crews after it overshot the runway and became stuck in the grass. Operations at the airport were not seriously affected and planes continued to land and take off. Aug 27, 2008 American Eagle Airlines, Embraer The US Transportation Security Administration may levy civil penalties against American Eagle Airlines after one of its inspectors was able to gain access to the interior of seven out of nine Embraer ERJ-145s at Chicago O'Hare International airport on August 19. American Eagle says it is concerned about the "unorthodox inspection techniques" used at roughly 05:30 on ÃÖugust 19. An airline employee noticed a man hoisting himself up to the jet bridge close to an ERJ-145 using the pitot tube on the side of the aircraft near the closed and locked cockpit door for leverage. The TSA agent admitted to using the same procedure on a total of nine aircraft, all of which the airline pulled out of service. Subsequent inspections revealed no damage. Aug 26, 2008 Atlanta US FAA said it fixed a glitch in its National Airspace Data Interchange Network based near Atlanta that caused more than 600 flight delays Tuesday, including numerous delays as long as 90 min. at several major airports in the eastern US. The system failed for about 6 hr., forcing all flight plans to be filed with FAA's only other NADIN in Salt Lake City. That system overloaded as a result of the extra work and some flight plans had to be entered manually. Operations were back to normal yesterday. The agency said it is attempting to determine the "root cause" of the failure to prevent a recurrence. Aug 28, 2008 Atlanta Hartsfield International A US FAA computer system near Atlanta that processes flight plans failed yesterday, causing delays at major airports throughout the US, with the heaviest disruptions occurring in the eastern part of the country. The agency said that safety was not compromised but that flight plans were being submitted manually rather than electronically, causing traffic to back up. The system is one of only two in the US that processes flight plans; the other is in Salt Lake City. Delays of 30 min.-1 hr. or longer were reported at several major airports. Disruptions were less severe at western US airports. Aug 27, 2008 Bombardier A series of incidents involving de-icing fluid ingress into the cockpit of Bombardier CRJ700 and CRJ900 aircraft has prompted the US FAA to propose a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the types. The agency's notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), which will affect about 254 units, follows Transport Canada's 8 May AD, which was issued following several incidents of shorting and sparks. The FAA explains that de-icing fluid can enter between the windshields and side windows, leading to possible damage to the electrical components and wires as it comes into contact with cockpit floodlight electrical connections. Additionally, de-icing fluid in contact with cockpit floodlight electrical connections can result in possible arcing and fire. Aug 26, 2008 Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines informed US FAA this week that it does not intend to pay a $10.2 million safety penalty by tomorrow's deadline, potentially setting the stage for a US Dept. of Justice lawsuit against the carrier. The LCC is being fined for operating 46 737 Classics for nine days in March 2007 after it had disclosed to FAA that the aircraft were in noncompliance with an airworthiness directive. Southwest acknowledged the mistake but FAA has admitted that an official in its Dallas area office improperly told the airline it could operate the aircraft. "Our hope continues to be that we will resolve the matter amicably with the FAA, however long that takes," Southwest said. If FAA refers the matter to DOJ as it has threatened, the department could file a lawsuit to collect the penalty. Aug 28, 2008 Southwest Airlines met in April with FAA officials as part of an informal review of the fine proposed in March for the alleged maintenance shortcomings. Southwest has said it did not compromise flight safety, and the FAA said there were no safety incidents related to the missed inspections. The case was triggered by whistle-blower complaints to Congress, which put pressure on the FAA to step up safety oversight of the industry. Aug 27, 2008 Southwest Airlines said on Wednesday it will not comply with a US Federal Aviation Administration deadline of August 29 to pay a record USD$10.2 million fine for alleged safety violations. The FAA said earlier this year that Southwest continued to fly uninspected aircraft even after the carrier notified the agency that it had missed a mandatory deadline to complete the work. The agency has said it would turn the matter over to the Justice Department if the fine were not paid by August 29. It is common for airlines to appeal fines, and in many cases the penalty is reduced. Asked if the FAA still plans to turn the matter over to the Justice Department, an FAA spokesman said: "I really can't speculate on whether that's the course of action we would take." Aug 27, 2008	What's New? 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