Federal Aviation Administration

The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Probationary workers were targeted in late-night emails on Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement. The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told AP. The air traffic controller was not authorised to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. A Transportation Department official told AP late on Monday that no air traffic controllers were affected by the cuts, and that the agency has "retained employees who perform critical safety functions". In a follow-up query the agency said they would have to look into whether the radar, landing and ...

President Donald Trump wasted little time this week trying to assign blame for the nation's deadliest air disaster in more than two decades. Among his chief targets: An FAA diversity hiring initiative he suggested had undermined the agency's effectiveness. But certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. We want somebody that's psychologically superior, Trump said at a news conference Thursday. No evidence has emerged that rules seeking to diversify the FAA played any role in the collision Wednesday between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people. Nevertheless, Trump's comments drew attention to the agency's attempts to address its most pressing and long-standing problem a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers who are critical to keeping the nation's skies safe. How has Trump tied diversity hiring to the collision? Trump is using this week's disaster as another opportunity to

A year after a panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during flight, the nation's top aviation regulator says the company needs "a fundamental cultural shift to put safety and quality above profits. Mike Whitaker, chief of the Federal Aviation Administration, said in an online post Friday that his agency also has more work to do in its oversight of Boeing. Whitaker, who plans to step down in two weeks to let President-elect Donald Trump pick his own FAA administrator, looked back on his decision last January to ground all 737 Max jets with similar panels called door plugs. Later, the FAA put more inspectors in Boeing factories, limited production of new 737s, and required Boeing to come up with a plan to fix manufacturing problems. Boeing is working to make progress executing its comprehensive plan in the areas of safety, quality improvement and effective employee engagement and training, Whitaker said. But this is not a one-year project. What's needed is a fundamental cultural shift at

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, who has led a tougher enforcement policy against Boeing since a panel blew off a jetliner in January, said Thursday that he will step down next month, clearing the way for President-elect Donald Trump to name his choice to lead the agency. Mike Whitaker announced his pending resignation in a message to employees of the FAA, which regulates airlines and aircraft manufacturers and manages the nation's airspace. He became the agency's administrator in October 2023. Since then, the challenges confronting Whitaker have included a surge in close calls between planes, a need for stricter oversight of Boeing. antiquated equipment and a shortage of air traffic controllers at a time of high consumer demand for air travel. The United States is the safest and most complex airspace in the world, and that is because of your commitment to the safety of the flying public, Whitaker said in the message to employees. This has been the best and most ...

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker this week met with Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and toured Boeing's 737 plant in Renton, Washington, as it boosts oversight following the strike, which ended Nov 4

FAA Corrective Action Review Board reviewed the CFM LEAP-1B engine bird strikes which led to smoke entering two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft

FAA audits revealed a series of manufacturing and safety lapses at Boeing after a fuselage panel blew off a 737 Max jet shortly after takeoff in January

Boeing faces mounting scrutiny from Congress since a Jan. 5 mid-air emergency in a new Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9.

The FAA capped output of Boeing's 737 Max at a rate of 38 per month in the wake of a January near-catastrophe, in which a door cover blew off during flight

SpaceX launches are on hold after a booster rocket toppled over in flames while landing Wednesday. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded the company's Falcon 9 rockets and ordered an investigation following the predawn accident off the Florida coast. No injuries or public damage were reported. It's too early to know how much impact this will have on SpaceX's upcoming crew flights, one private and the other for NASA. A billionaire's chartered flight was delayed just a few hours earlier because of a poor weather forecast. The rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and got all 21 Starlink internet satellites to orbit. But the first-stage booster fell over in a fireball moments after landing on an ocean platform, the first such accident in years. It was the 23rd time this particular booster had launched, a recycling record for SpaceX. The FAA said it must approve SpaceX's accident findings and corrective action before the company can resume Falcon 9 launches.

The NTSB's Homendy added there was no guarantee the door panel issue would not occur again

The FAA has received more than 11 times as many Boeing whistleblower reports in the first five months of this year compared to all of 2023

The FAA will also keep closer tabs on other aerospace manufacturers with more active, in-person oversight to supplement the agency's audits, Whitaker said

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in February barred Boeing from boosting 737 MAX production after a door panel blew out during a Jan 5 flight on a 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines

The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it has opened an investigation into Boeing after the beleaguered company reported that workers at a South Carolina plant falsified inspection records on certain 787 planes. Boeing said its engineers have determined that misconduct did not create "an immediate safety of flight issue". In an email to Boeing's South Carolina employees on April 29, Scott Stocker, who leads the 787 program, said a worker observed an irregularity in a required test of the wing-to-body join and reported it to his manager. After receiving the report, we quickly reviewed the matter and learned that several people had been violating Company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed, Stocker wrote. Boeing notified the FAA and is taking swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates, Stocker said. No planes have been taken out of service, but having to perform the test out of order on planes will slow

The FAA already is suspending United's ability to approve and promote pilots to fly different aircraft models, two of the people said

In the wide-ranging investigation, Boeing failed a check which dealt with the component that blew off the jet, known as a door plug, the report said, citing an FAA presentation viewed by NYT

With Boeing facing multiple government investigations, the company needs to make a serious transformation around its safety and manufacturing quality, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday. The comments came one day after Buttigieg said the aircraft builder is under enormous scrutiny by his department since a panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max jetliner in midflight. Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into the Jan. 5 blowout on an Alaska Airlines jet. That followed the company's admission that it couldn't find records that the National Transportation Safety Board sought for work done on the panel at a Boeing factory. The Federal Aviation Administration, part of Buttigieg's department, is also investigating Boeing. Obviously we respect the independence of DOJ (the Department of Justice) and NTSB (the National Transportation Safety Board) doing their own work, Buttigieg told reporters Monday, "

The US Federal Aviation Administration said it informed Boeing that the agency wouldn't allow any further output increases, according to a statement late Wednesday

For now, the agency is focused on the mid-cabin door plugs on Max 9 aircraft like the one that blew off an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after takeoff on Jan. 5, according to FAA Administrator