Quote of the Week: "The pilots' error is not the grave point in my eyes, what is grave is the attempt to cover up the incident" Israeli Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit commenting on the July 6th, 2005 "near miss" incident at JFK Airport that the FAA hid from the media for weeks
Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #359...............................................................................Jaunuary 15, 2006 Past newsletters can be accessed at: http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm The PASSUR airport flight tracking system at many major U.S. airports http://www.passur.com/sites.htm (you must have Java installed to view it) Bill Mulcahy rockaway@prodigy.net
FAA Part Of Conspiracy To Hide JFK Near Miss!!!
As
Bill
Sees It: (Editorial)
FAA Hides July 6th Near Collision At JFK While Israel Is Investigating
It? I was amazed (but not really surprised) that the FAA apparently has totally
ignored a near collision incident that occurred on July 6th, 
2005 at
JFK
Airport. An Israeli (Israir) passenger jet pilot made an error by accidentally
crossing a runway where a DHL cargo plane was taking off narrowing missing it by
50-100 feet!!! It was only because the
air cargo plane had no cargo in it that allowed it to lift off and miss the
Israeli plane. No charges have been brought against the pilots, airline or
anybody else. The FAA says that's Israel's responsibility!!! Not only did the FAA apparently hide this incident, but much of
the media did also. I did find a N.Y. Newsday story
on it dated July 22nd, WEEKS after it occurred!!! No wonder 
most
of the media didn't cover it. There is more than the usual FAA odor
surrounding this incident. Israir Airlines has applied for the right to
have regular scheduled flights from New York to Israel. I
have the feeling we are going to hear more about it. Could this cover-up be part
of the FAA/Air Traffic Controller contract negotiations? 
Israeli
TV Report On JFK Near Collision Mysteriously "Pulled" From Being
Aired!!!
While the American media ignored this story, this week it became a major scandal
in Israel where a TV report on the incident was suddenly "pulled" from
being aired on Israeli TV in late December. It was "supposed" to be
aired in January but there have been no indications that it has. Perhaps the
Israir CEO and the Israeli censors have won. I will let you know if I find out
any more on it. FAA NY/NJ/Philadelphia "Airspace Redesign"
Plan Also Missing On The Media Radar: The FAA was not only
successful in hiding the July 6th near-miss of a Israeli plane at JFK, they are
also being very successful in keeping the lid on their change in routing for
airports in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. The only 
media
stories on this outrageously, incomprehensible draft environmental statement I
could find was a small local Ridgewood Times news article that was sent to me by
a JFK Airport activist. Contrary to what it says in the article the FAA plans
NO airspace routing changes for JFK Airport. JFK Airport is projected to have
the greatest increase in air traffic of all the airports in the airspace
redesign plan!!! Caving in
to wealthy, politically-powerful communities around JFK Airport that have had
their planes diverted away from them for decades, the FAA has apparently opted
to not to change the routing at JFK Airport (at least as far as I can tell from
the FAA's purposefully incomprehensible DEIS). Instead they will just send the
increased numbers of flights over the poor and minority areas that have borne
the day and night assault of JFK planes for decades. It is interesting to note
that the FAA actually included some of these JFK Airport protected communities lobbying
organizations, TAVASNAC and the "Governor's Group of Nine" in the "agencies
consulted" list in the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). Once again, this shows how its
political influence, not
science or fairness, that ultimately decides what communities get the noise.
All
the FAA's plans, draft EIS's and environmental assessments are just elaborate
window dressing to hide the FAA's blatant corruption.
"Coverup"
Of July 6th Near Collision Of Israeli Jet At JFK Airport? On July 6, 2005
an
Israir Boeing 767 crossed onto the wrong runway at Kennedy International Airport
in New York, and almost collided with an American cargo plane. The American
pilots managed to take off at the last moment, missing the Israeli plane by a
few meters. The near-collision was reported in the media, as were allegations of
a 
coverup. However,
Israeli investigators managed to gain access to internal
Israir documents as well as e-mail correspondence, in which the pilot in
question discloses the massive pressure campaign exerted on him by the airline's
vice president for operations, Gur Ben-David.
About a month ago, Israir
announced it was suspending Ben-David. http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/666178.html
Why Was Israeli Investigative Report On JFK
Near Collision "Pulled" From Being Broadcast? The argument that
this is not the time to broadcast an investigation of Israir since the company
is waiting to hear whether it will be granted a permit to operate a New York-Tel
Aviv line demonstrates how much Wertheim fails to understand the media or the
difference between journalism and public relations. The media's job is to
publicize all information when it is available, without taking into
consideration financial issues that could influence the publication's timing.
The information on Israir is especially relevant now, just prior to the granting
of the permit, because it is questionable whether it is appropriate to give such
a concession to a company that tries to conceal from the public information on a
safety failure. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/662715.html
and http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=1000049547&fid=1725
LAS
VEGAS: Public Comment Period For McCarran Airport Expansion Extended:
The Federal Aviation Administration is going to keep taking public comments
about a controversial change in Las Vegas area flight paths for two more months.
The federal agency says it hasn't made a final decision whether to change flight
paths and send more McCarran International Airport take-offs over northwest Las
Vegas. The Las Vegas City Council weighed in against the FAA plan -- and
Congresswoman Shelley Berkley was among local and federal officials asking the
F-A-A to extend the comment period beyond today's deadline. The FAA says the
change would save airlines fuel and cut delays at the nation's sixth-busiest
airport. But a couple of public meetings drew angry reactions from residents in
affluent neighborhoods including Summerlin and The Lakes. They complain that
increased aircraft noise would ruin their quality of life and undercut property
values. http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=4360611&nav=9qrx
Editor's Note: Comments are the way the FAA lets communities
"think" they have some input in the expansion process. They don't.
Air
Traffic Controller's U
nion
leader's blog draws scrutiny:The posting initially failed to mention that information used in the entry came not from the author, but a variety of other sources.
WASHINGTON - John Carr, (pictured on the left with former FAA Administrator Langhorne Bond) the head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, started a Web log last month to comment on the issues facing his union, especially its contract negotiations with the Federal Aviation Administration. He said he would post commentaries when "I have something to say, which could be often." But from time to time, his blog (http://themainbang.typepad.com/) has addressed other topics ranging from board games to Pearl Harbor, and in dealing with those subjects the words on his blog have sometimes not been his own. On Jan. 5, Carr posted an item about the history of the board game Monopoly. "On this date in 1904 Lizzie J. Magie, a young Quaker woman living in Virginia, received a patent on a board game she had invented as an easy, fun-filled method of teaching the evils of land monopolism," Carr wrote in a five-paragraph account of the game's history. That paragraph and two others were nearly verbatim from a 1976 article in the San Francisco Bay Guardian that was posted on a Web site. The rest of Carr's posting was copied from the Wikipedia, an Internet encyclopedia, but he did not attribute it. http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/12/Worldandnation/Union_leader_s_blog_d.shtml
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Important Aviation News Stories This Week
The US Federal Aviation Administration is considering redesigning a large portion of airspace in the US north-east to address growing congestion. The options are to create a so-called integrated airspace alternative for the north-east, to modify existing airspace or use more ocean routeing.
The agency’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement proposes options for airspace redesign over New Jersey and parts of Connecticut, Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania. Although the FAA says it will not name “a preferred option”, it does tout one of the two integrated airspace alternatives as providing “the most substantial operational benefit”.
The approach, referred to as the integrated airspace alternative with integrated control complex (ICC), would merge the current New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) and New York Center into a single facility. This involves full airspace consolidation “and is a new approach to the redesign of airspace from New York to Philadelphia”, says the FAA. It would use 3nm (5.5km) terminal airspace traffic separation – instead of 5nm – over a larger area and up to flight level 230 (23,000ft/7,000m) instead of FL190. The airspace would comprise the majority of current New York TRACON and New York Center airspace, plus several sectors from Washington Center and Boston Center. This would reduce complexity and delays, provide a more balanced controller workload, and increase capacity, says the FAA. It adds that the second variation, without the ICC, would have fewer advantages.
Modifying existing airspace involves routeing departures to the west along multiple tracks and by splitting the major westbound airway into two. The FAA says these gains are small.
The ocean-routeing alternative is designed to reduce aircraft noise impact on New Jersey residents. It would route departures from Newark airport over the Atlantic before turning them west to their destinations.
(New York-WABC, , 2005 ) - The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a harrowing near hit at JFK Airport. It happened when a passenger plane took a wrong turn on the runway, missing a cargo plane that was taking off by just a matter of 75 feet. Eyewitness News' Jim Hoffer is here with his exclusive story.
The InvestigatorsClick here to send them an Email! Eyewitness News' Award-Winning Investigative Team Click to Read More of their Reports |
The air traffic control tape reveals just how close to disaster two jets came on a JFK runway last month.
Tape Audio: "Left bravo hold short echo"
The Boeing 767 with 262 passengers aboard was supposed to make a left turn to taxi to the end of the runway to takeoff. Instead the passenger jet failed to make the turn and went straight onto an active runway into the path of an airborne express cargo plane. The cargo plane was going 115 miles per hour, too fast to stop in time.
Fortunately, the pilot managed to pull the nose up and take-off early, flying over the passenger plane by about 75 feet.
Cargo Pilot: "There's an aircraft on the runway... Two fifty-seven, did you see the aircraft on runway 22r?"
Controller: "I can't see a thing but he's calling me now."
The air traffic control audio tape clearly shows the panic in the voice of the Israeli pilot when he realizes he had crossed into the path of the departing cargo plane.
Israir pilot: "Isair 102...he's taking off."
Controller: "Isair 102 are you clear?"
Isair Pilot: "We are clear now of runway. We are on delta 10. We
crossed the runway."
Controller: "You crossed the runway?"
Isair Pilot: "We crossed the runway by mistake. We're on the opposite
side of the runway."
Barrett Brynes/JFK air traffic controller: "The captain thinks they flew over the top of israir aircraft by 70 feet but the tail only cleared the plane by 30."
Air traffic controller Barrett Brynes says the two planes missed colliding simply by the shear grace of God and a lot of luck.
Byrnes: "The aircraft had not an ounce of cargo on it. So, had he had the cargo in it or if the pilot didn't use full power he would have ripped right through the fuselage of the Israir aircraft."
A radar alert system that's suppose to prevent ground collisions never sounded that night. It had been deactivated because it gives false warnings during bad weather. The FAA says the system has prevented collisions in the past and that newer alert technology is currently being tested.
