STEPHEN DICKSON

Delta Air Lines has settled a case involving a pilot who says she was grounded in retaliation for raising safety concerns at the airline.

The Federal Aviation Administration is acknowledging that it failed to warn Capitol Police about a parachute jump at a nearby baseball stadium this week.

Vacant high-ranking positions across the executive branch could be taking a toll on the Biden administration.

The leader of the Federal Aviation Administration, Stephen Dickson, says he will resign at the end of March.

A congressional committee is looking into the controversy over the launch of new high-speed wireless service and whether it poses any threat to airline safety.

The airline industry is raising the stakes in a showdown with AT&T and Verizon over plans to launch new 5G wireless service this week, warning that thousands of flights could be grounded or delayed if the rollout takes place near major airports.

The Federal Aviation Administration is telling pilots to take extra precautions when landing on slick runways near impending 5G wireless service.

Telecom giants AT&T and Verizon have agreed to postpone the launch of a new slice of 5G wireless service after airlines and aviation groups complained that the networks can interfere with systems on board planes.

AT&T and Verizon say they will delay new 5G wireless service for two weeks, putting off a planned start this Wednesday.

The nation’s top aviation regulator is suggesting that local police around the country should file charges more often against unruly airline passengers and that airports should clamp down on alcohol sales.

The nation’s top aviation regulator is asking local officials to consider filing criminal charges more often against people who act up during airline flights.

About one-fifth of flight attendants say they've witnessed a physical incident with a passenger this year.

Relatives of people who died in one of the Boeing 737 Max crashes are renewing their push to replace top regulators who approved the plane.

WASHINGTON – Airlines have reported more than 500 cases involving unruly passengers since late December, and most started with passengers who refused to wear a face mask, federal officials said Wednesday. The FAA reported the figures shortly after it extended a “zero-tolerance” policy against unruly people on airline flights. The agency said that under the policy, passengers who disrupt or threaten the safety of a flight could face fines and jail time. The FAA, which resisted a federal requirement during the Trump administration, added its own mask mandate in January. “It’s an administrative procedure where the FAA makes the rules, determines who violated them then enforces the sanctions,” Booth explained.

FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson has personally vouched for the plane's safety. A military and airline pilot before heading FAA, Dickson flew a Max in September. Boeing says Max jets have made 9,000 flights for 14 airlines without incident since returning to service late last year. Joe Jacobsen told the family that FAA delegated the review of most aspects of the flight system to a small number of Boeing engineers. The company admitted that two former test pilots hid information about changes to MCAS from the FAA.

In this image taken from video, the engine of United Airlines Flight 328 is on fire after after experiencing "a right-engine failure" shortly after takeoff from Denver International Airport, Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, in Denver, Colo. He said fan blade pieces — including one found on a soccer field in a Denver suburb — will be examined Tuesday in a Pratt & Whitney laboratory. As a result, 69 planes and another 59 in storage were grounded in the U.S., Japan and South Korea, the only countries with planes using this particular engine. The last accident-related death on a U.S. airline flight occurred in 2018, when a broken fan blade triggered an engine breakup on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737. Hours before the Denver flight, a Boeing 747 cargo plane in the Netherlands suffered an engine failure that resulted in engine parts falling to the ground.

Delta, United and Alaska airlines said Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021 they will bar passengers flying to Washington from putting guns in checked bags. The moves follow the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump and politically tinged confrontations on some flights. American Airlines is bringing back a ban on serving alcohol on flights to and from the Washington area — flights go dry starting Saturday through next Thursday. Price also said that it is “a good idea” to prohibit passengers from putting guns in checked bags if they are flying to Washington. Federal law allows passengers to put guns in checked baggage if they are unloaded and in a locked, hard-sided case, although airlines have the discretion to ban guns.

Federal safety officials said Wednesday they stepping up enforcement against unruly airline passengers after confrontations on flights to and from Washington, D.C., around the time of the riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump. The Federal Aviation Administration said there has been “a disturbing increase in incidents where airline passengers have disrupted flights with threatening or violent behavior. These incidents have stemmed both from passengers’ refusals to wear masks and from recent violence at the U.S. Capitol.”The FAA said under an order signed by Administrator Stephen Dickson, unruly passengers will no longer get warnings. Penalties can includes fines up to $35,000 and jail terms for passengers who assault or threaten airline crews or other passengers. “This will help serve as a deterrent to unruly passengers who had been bucking the rules of aviation safety.”The FAA said it has pursued more than 1,300 enforcement actions against passengers in the past 10 years.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference on the day after violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. “It has been an epiphany for the world to see that there are people in our country led by this president, for the moment, who have chosen their whiteness over democracy,” Pelosi said. Pelosi says, “The complicity, not only the complicity, the instigation of the president of United States, must and will be addressed.”___1:25 p.m. Flight attendants have expressed concern that their flights could be carrying supporters of President Donald Trump who took part in Wednesday’s violent protest and siege of the U.S. Capitol. ___2:25 a.m.Democrats in Congress are laying the groundwork to impeach President Donald Trump.

MIAMI – American Airlines flew a Boeing 737 Max with paying passengers from Miami to New York on Tuesday, the plane’s first commercial flight in U.S. skies since it was grounded after two deadly crashes. American flight 718 carried 87 passengers on the 172-seat plane, and the return flight from LaGuardia Airport to Miami International Airport held 151 passengers, according to an airline spokeswoman. Brazil's Gol airlines operated the first passenger flight with a revamped Max on Dec. 9. United Airlines plans to resume Max flights in February, and Southwest Airlines expects to follow in March. Some relatives of people who died in the second crash, a Max operated by Ethiopian Airlines, contend that the plane is still unsafe.

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)WASHINGTON – Federal officials say they will allow operators to fly small drones over people and at night, potentially giving a boost to commercial use of the machines. Currently, operators who want to fly a drone over people or at night need a waiver from the FAA. Small drones flying over people cannot have rotating parts capable of cutting skin. So-called remote ID was a requirement impose by Congress at the urging of national security and law enforcement agencies. Drone manufacturers will have 18 months to begin making drones with remote ID, and operators will have one year after that to start using drones with remote ID.

The FAA declined to comment on the ruling, instead pointing to Dickson’s past comments on the case, including that he wasn’t deeply involved in it. The pilot, Karlene Petitt sued Atlanta-based Delta in a Labor Department administrative proceeding in 2016. The judge said Delta failed to produce evidence of any shortcomings in Petitt’s performance as a pilot. Dickson, a former pilot, was Delta’s senior vice president of flight operations when Petitt raised her concerns. Dickson said in his deposition that Petitt “raised some important issues,” but he disputed her claim that Delta pressured pilots to fly when tired.

In a report released Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 the Senate Commerce Committee also said the FAA continues to retaliate against whistleblowers. In a report released Friday, the Senate Commerce Committee also said the FAA continues to retaliate against whistleblowers. Both grew out of concern about the agency's approval of the Boeing Max. The Senate report, however, criticized a key part of the FAA review. It said that Boeing “inappropriately influenced" FAA testing of pilot-reaction time to a nose-down pitch of the plane.

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)After nearly two years and a pair of deadly crashes, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has cleared Boeing’s 737 Max for flight. The nation’s air safety agency announced the move early Wednesday, saying it was done after a “comprehensive and methodical” 20-month review process. U.S. airlines will fly the Max once Boeing updates critical software and computers and pilots receive training in flight simulators. The FAA says the order was made in cooperation with air safety regulators worldwide. Anton Sahadi, who lives in Jakarta, Indonesia, and lost two brothers in the Lion Air crash, said it's too early for the Max to fly again.

A Boeing 737 MAX jet, piloted by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Steve Dickson, takes off on a test flight from Boeing Field, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020, in Seattle. The MAX was grounded worldwide in early March 2019 after the second of two fatal accidents that together killed 346 people aboard almost-new aircraft. Dickson said he landed the plane twice and also did “some air work maneuvers.”The Max has been grounded since March 2019, after the second crash. Zipporah Kuria, a British citizen whose father died in the second Max crash, called Dickson's flight “a gimmick” to reassure the public. Dickson said the FAA is working closely with other global regulators and being transparent in its review of the plane.

The committee's top Democrat, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington where Boeing builds the long-grounded 737 Max joined Wicker in criticizing FAA's failure to turn over documents. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pressed Dickson on whether Boeing lied to the FAA about safety concerns around the Boeing plane. This week, Wicker and Cantwell introduced legislation to revamp the FAA's process for certifying new passenger planes. Boeing hopes to win FAA approval this year for changes it is making to the plane so airlines can resume using it. Dickson said, as he has many times, that FAA will approve Boeing's work when it is convinced the plane is safe.