Just the kind of thing needed for everyone to continue questioning in the current air traffic control situation at area airports. Two planes almost collided on Sunday at JFK Airport. Senator Charles Schumer said that an air traffic controller said, "That was the closest I have ever seen two airplanes get together." According to the NY Times (also, see image at right), a "37-seat commuter jet" almost collided with a "Boeing 747 cargo jet on......

A new plan adopted by the FAA yesterday hopes to decrease delays in airports around the nation by 20%. The focus of the plan is on airports in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelpha, where delays can cause a ripple effect on the rest of the nation's air traffic. The Airspace Redesign Project, as the FAA is calling it, is supposed to modernize the systems in the affected airports (Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, and Philadelphia......

NYC is #1 when it comes to air travel misery according to an FAA report of travel stats between January and April of this year. 38% of all flights at area airports––Newark, JFK, and Laguardia––were either delayed or cancelled during the period. If one's flight was lucky enough to simply be delayed, the average delay at Newark was 95 minutes, at Laguardia one was only put off schedule by an hour. These are the averages!......

This is good to know as well as spooky stuff from Senator Charles Schumer: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark air traffic control towers are understaffed by 30%. Newark has 29, when it should have 40 air traffic controllers; JFK and LaGuardia each require 36, but JFK has 30 and LaGuardia only has 27. That sounds really great, especially since NYC had the worst airport delays of any airports in the country. Schumer says that the FAA......

The FAA is going to be busy at Newark. Yesterday evening, a plane taxiing for take-off clipped wings with another plane that was being towed. The Port Authority said "the left wing of outbound Lufthansa Flight 403, a Boeing 747, and the right wing of a Continental Boeing 757 under tow bumped at about 6:30PM." No one was injured, and the 294 Lufthansa passengers were moved to another plane. Continental says its plane was empty......

This is not a good time for Newark Liberty Airport. First there was the TSA sting to see how well screeners would do with undercover agents traveling with 'bombs" and things (not well). And now there's a story about a pilot landing a plane on a taxiway instead of a runway. The Post reports that a Continental Airlines filght "touched down on a taxiway just to the north of the runway - only feet from......

On this relatively quiet Labor Day weekend, Senator Charles Schumer spoke out about problems at LaGuardia Airport. Basically, the tower is structurally damaged to the point where the Post ran this photo of tarps hanging to protect the equipment from leaks. And that's not all. From the Post:- Its ground-radar system - which prevents runway collisions - fails during downpours. - Structural cracks line the stairwell leading up to the tower cab. - The US......

The FAA has big (jet) plans for La Guardia Airport. Last year about 25.9 million people flew into La Guardia from all over. But the FAA thinks that it can handle at least 28.5 million a year. How exactly to get those extra millions into and out of the airport, without causing massive delays, is what is at issue. There are two basic ways being discussed. First, the FAA could lift its cap on......

Excellent timing for Thanksgiving week air travel. Senator Charles Schumer has taken various data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to confirm what we all suspected: LaGuardia, Kennedy, and Newark airports have the worst on-time arrival records amongst the 33 busiest airports. He says our three area airports are "not functioning as world-class airports." The facts: 30% of JFK's flights arrived late, while 33% of Laguardia's were late...and Newark placed last with 34% late flights;......

A sightseeing helicopter crashed into the East River near the the South Street Seaport helipad this afternoon, injuring all seven people aboard. The passengers were able to be rescued quickly because the police had harbor units conducting a drill, according to Newsday, and the passengers stood on the chopper's inflated pontoons for rescue. The FAA says the helicopter made a hard landing, but the cause of the helicopter failure is unclear. Gothamist is glad......