Ethiopian Air Flight 409

Sadly, last evening, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 caught fire (from early reports) and crashed shortly after takeoff from Beirut, Lebanon.  Airsafe.com has a good summary, as of Monday afternoon.  It appears as though none of the passengers or crew survived.  The investigation will be ongoing.

On the Hill This Week

As was the case last week, congressional committees continue to follow up on their understanding of the NW253 incident on Christmas Day.  But also, the confirmation process of a nominee to the FAA and the reauthorization process of the NTSB will be moving forward.  This week (via GovExec), they are:

• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee – Hearing [ 09:30 am, 01/26/2010 ]
  Full committee hearing on “Intelligence Reform: The Lessons and Implications of the Christmas Day Attack,” focusing on the attempted bombing incident on Flight 253 to Detroit on December 25. (Part Two)
• House Homeland Security Committee – Hearing [ 10:00 am, 01/27/2010 ]
  Full committee hearing on “Flight 253: Learning Lessons from an Averted Tragedy.”
• Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee – Hearing [ 02:30 pm, 01/26/2010 ]
  Full committee hearing on the nominations of Michael Huerta, to be deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration; David Matsuda, to be administrator of the Maritime Administration; and Timothy McGee, to be an assistant secretary in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with responsibility for environmental observation and prediction.
• House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – Hearing [ 10:00 am, 01/27/2010 ]
  Aviation Subcommittee hearing on “Reauthorization of the National Transportation Safety Board.”

Tags: Blog by Jillian Gustafson
Comments Off on Briefly, Jan 25

I wanted to acknowledge four recent accidents that have communities around the country mourning.  Smaller plane crashes seldom get wider news coverage, but our thoughts go out to those families, friends of the victims.  Please reach out if you need assistance.  Investigations are ongoing with the NTSB and FAA.

Illinois: Two weeks ago, two died when a Lear jet crashed near Chicago Executive Airport (via WLS-TV).

Hawaii: Last week, on Oahu, two died in a small plane crash. In a preliminary report from the NTSB, the pilot was off course and the single engine Piper had no evident mechanical issues (via the Honolulu Advertiser).

Alabama: On Monday, two people died in a private twin engine plane crash near Madison, Alabama (via WANDTV).

Ohio: Also Monday, a twin engine plane with four passengers crashed in Lorain County, Ohio.  Three died.  The crash has sparked discussion about the possible impact of funding cuts to the Lorain Regional Airport (via WKYC-TV).

Tags: Blog by Jillian Gustafson
Comments Off on Briefly, Jan 20

Today and tomorrow on the Hill, there will be a few committee hearings so that legislators can better understand what went wrong leading up to the attempted bombing of NW253 on Christmas.  They are (from GovExec):

• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee – Hearing [ 09:30 am, 01/20/2010 ]
  Full committee hearing on “Intelligence Reform: The Lessons and Implications of the Christmas Day Attack,” focusing on the attempted bombing incident on Flight 253 to Detroit on December 25.
  Witness(es): Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair; and Michael Leiter, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, testify.  The chairman, Senator Joe Lieberman, spoke about this committee hearing on NPR this morning.
• Senate Judiciary Committee – Hearing [ 10:00 am, 01/20/2010 ]
  Full committee hearing on “Securing America’s Safety: Improving the Effectiveness of Anti-Terrorism Tools and Inter-Agency Communication.”
  Witness(es): Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy; Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Policy David Heyman, testify
• Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee – Hearing [ 02:30 pm, 01/20/2010 ]
  Full committee hearing on “The State of Aviation Security – Is Our Current System Capable of Meeting the Threat?” focusing on the attempted bombing incident on Flight 253 to Detroit on December 25.
  Witness(es): TBA
• Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee – Briefing [ 02:30 pm, 01/21/2010 ]
  Full committee closed hearing on the attempted bombing incident on Flight 253 to Detroit on December 25.

We are proud that Rosemary Dillard was on the Hill today representing NADA/F!

TSA Administrator

Also, much attention was paid to the fact that there was no TSA Administrator in place when the attempted bombing of NW253 occurred.  While Senator DeMint has opposed the nomination of Erroll Southers based on perceived differences of labor policy.  It was actually Southers’ past abuse of power, in his position as chief of security with the LAX police, that caused wider doubt as to his suitability for the job.  He has withdrawn himself from consideration (via CongressDaily and GovExec).  I have to say this is a good move, since these recent questions only prevented an efficient confirmation process.  And, this position needs to be filled!

Tags: Blog by Jillian Gustafson
Comments Off on Further Examination of NW253

President Obama has given his remarks on the preliminary evaluation by security and intelligence officials of what allowed a suspected threatening person onto a flight on Christmas Day (from The New York Times).  A six-count indictment was issued against suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, yesterday (from CNN).  Today, a de-classified report on the incident will be released (from USA Today)  “National Security Adviser James Jones told USA TODAY’s Susan Page that Americans will feel ‘a certain shock’ at how many red flags were missed.” 

There is so much to write about from this week and it is hard to try and keep up.  I’ll try to post my thoughts later!

Tags: Blog by Jillian Gustafson
Comments Off on The Preliminary Report on NW253