Search Resumes For Third Plane Crash Victim In West Georgia

Divers will be back in the water of a small lake near Carrollton this morning looking for a third plane crash victim from Sunday. Authorities say three people were aboard a Cessna 182 and believed headed toward the NASCAR race in Hampton when it crashed around 9am Sunday. The bodies of a man and woman were recovered soon after officials arrived on the scene. The search for the third body was suspended about 10 o’clock last night. Divers had recovered a section of one wing and a majority of the fuselage. An FAA spokesperson said the plane left McCollum Field in Kennesaw early Sunday morning but filed no flight plan.

Atlanta Has Busiest Airport

For the fourth year in a row, Georgia's main airport has been named the nation's busiest. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport let the country in the number of takeoffs and landings in 2008. That's according to the Federal Aviation Administration. An FAA report shows Hartsfield-Jackson had just under 980,000 operations last year. Chicago's O'Hare International ranked second-busiest in 2008.

(Associated Press)

Plane crash has popular drummer hospitalized in Augusta

The crash killed four people and left drummer Travis Barker, formerly with Blink-182, and a popular disc jockey hospitalized with critical injuries at a burn center in Augusta.

Federal Aviation officials say air traffic controllers reported seeing sparks shortly after the Learjet took off in Columbia, South Carolina. Officials say the plane went off the runway and crashed on a nearby road.

Six people were aboard. Barker and DJ AM whose real name is Adam Goldstein were among them. Two crew members and two other passengers were killed. Officials have not released their names.

FAA: corrupted software shut down Atlanta system

Tuesday's mass flight delays caused by an electronic communication failure at a Federal Aviation Administration facility near Atlanta drew new criticism for an agency that has been scrutinized over air traffic controller staffing levels and inspection standards for its ground-based equipment.

The software glitch that delayed flights at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and nationwide, came as the FAA celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Kathleen Bergen is spokesperson at the FAA’s Naden facility at Hampton, south of Atlanta:

“The system went down during a normal, daily software load. Apparently a file was corrupted and that brought the system down… the Naden outage resulted in about 650 flight delays nationwide -- 140 of those in Atlanta.”

Hartsfield-Jackson is the busiest airport in the world, but Bergen says no flights were endangered from the software failure:

“The fact that we are in Atlanta, it is a busy airport, all our flight plans are processed through our facility in Hampton did create a bit of difficulty yesterday. But the important thing is that all the fights departed and arrived safely.”

Bergen says the FAA plans to update the Atlanta, and Salt Lake City facilities – which handles all flight plans west of the Mississippi -- early next year.

The Northeast was hardest hit by the delays prompted Tuesday by a glitch at a Hampton, Ga., facility that processes flight plans for the eastern half of the U.S.

As of Wednesday morning, the FAA said that the situation around the country had returned to normal, with most delays from the malfunction being cleared up Tuesday night. But spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said the investigation into what caused the problem is still ongoing, and she did not know when it would be completed.

"It usually takes a while to be quite honest," she said.

A spokesman for Hartsfield-Jackson, did not return a call seeking comment on the impact there from Tuesday's episode. Bergen said officials at the Atlanta airport were entering flight data manually to try to speed things up.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, said the episode "once again highlights the need to reform and repair a broken system." His Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, said "airline passengers are sick and tired of delays and cancellations." And the nonprofit Travel Industry Association called it "one more example of America's deteriorating air travel system."

Discount carrier AirTran Airways, which has its hub at the Atlanta airport, said in a statement that because of the suburban FAA center snafu it was at one point taking up to an hour for the FAA to get clearances to the towers for departures Tuesday. Delta Air Lines Inc., which has its main hub in Atlanta, said flights were processing for takeoff, but slowly.

Click here for more on this story.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

Ga. FAA glitch stalls flights nationwide (updated)

The Federal Aviation Administration said a communication failure Tuesday at a Georgia facility that processes flight plans for the eastern half of the U.S. was causing flight delays around the country.

An FAA Web site that posts airport status information showed delays at some three dozen major airports coast-to-coast, advising passengers to "check your departure airport to see if your flight may be affected."

An updated FAA map of flight-delayed airports is available here.

An FAA list of links to air carriers affected by the delays is here.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen in Atlanta said there are no safety issues and officials are still able to speak to pilots on planes on the ground and in the air.

She said she doesn't know how many flights are being affected.

Bergen said the problem that occurred Tuesday afternoon involves an FAA facility in Hampton, Ga., south of Atlanta, that processes flight plans. She said there was a failure in a communication link that transmits the data to a similar facility in Salt Lake City.

As a result, the Salt Lake City facility was having to process those flight plans, causing delays in planes taking off. She said there were no problems with planes landing:

"There will be flight delays," Bergen said. "It could be any location, because one facility is now processing flight data for everybody."

A spokesman for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the impact there. Bergen said officials at the Atlanta airport were entering flight data manually to try to speed things up.

The communication failure was causing delays for departures and arrivals at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, according to airport spokeswoman Cheryl Stewart. However, she did not have a number on delays.

The FAA has asked that no new flight plans be filed, Stewart said. If an airline has not filed a flight plan yet, that flight can't leave. However, some flights had already filed their plans and those planes were being allowed to depart, Stewart said.

The National Airspace Data Interchange Network is a data communications system for air traffic controllers. It's used to distribute flight plans and allows controllers to know when planes are leaving, where they're going and other details.

Allen Kenitzer, a western regional spokesman for the FAA, said the Utah system could handle the extra load while workers tried to get the Atlanta system back online, but it was expected to slow down air traffic.

"We're not going to let an unsafe condition exist. It's just going to be slower," Kenitzer said.

(The Associated Press)

Feds want to improve runway safety

The Federal Aviation Administration has announced measures to improve runway safety, including the installation at major airports of lights that signal pilots when a runway is safe to enter.

Monday's announcement comes amid criticism of FAA officials by federal lawmakers and others over an alarming rate of runway incursions.

Acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell planned to discuss the lighting systems at a morning news conference. He was expected to face questions about two near-collisions in less than a week at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

Friday's near-collision - involving a Delta Air Lines and a Comair flight - prompted the FAA to change the sequence of takeoffs and landings on perpendicular runways.

Two hurt in plane crash

Two people have been hospitalized after a small plane crashed after takeoff from the Gilmer County Airport.

The Piper Cherokee took off from the airport after 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.

Bergen says witnesses reported the plane's engine stopped and the plane crashed short of the runway after the pilot tried to return back to the airport.

Bergen did not have identification of the people in the plane.

(The Associated Press)

Delta grounds some flights for re-inspections

Delta Air Lines started voluntary inspections of some of its planes Wednesday night, which has had the ripple effect of canceled flights and frustrated passengers. The Atlanta-based airline is re-inspecting the wiring on its MD-88 planes, so it can "proactively and voluntarily revalidate" compliance with an Airworthiness Directive from the Federal Aviation Administration. The review follows American Airlines, which canceled over 300 flights Wednesday to inspect wiring in some of its planes.

Concerning the backup of passengers with canceled flights, a Delta spokesperson says extra staff is being brought-in to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport to handle the crowds. The airline does not have an estimate on how many passengers are affected by cancellations--it urges fliers to check its web site.

Paulding Co. official among plane crash victims

Post Commissioner Hal Echols (Courtesy Paulding Co.)

(Updated: 8pm, 01/01/08)

A twin-engine plane crashed Friday as it tried to land amid low fog at a small airport in northwest North Carolina, killing all six people on board, officials said.

The FAA says all six aboard died, including John Wesley Rakestraw, the owner of the plane and a pilot.

Others aboard the aircraft were identified as Frank Ruggiero, Steve Simpson, Hal Echols, Robert Simpson and Tony Gunter.

The Georgia governor's office says RaKestraw, Simpson and Echols were prominent Georgia Republicans. Rakestraw was the CEO of Blue Sky Airways in Dallas, Georgia, which owned the plane. Steve Simpson was a developer and Echols a county commissioner in Paulding County.

"Gunter worked for Raker Construction, Butler was with the Georgian Bank and Rogerrio worked for the Facility Group," according to Paulding County.com.

The craft was en route from Cedartown, Ga. to Meadows of Dan, Va., officials said.

Stephanie Conner, a Surry County emergency services shift supervisor, said investigators had confirmed there were no survivors. No one on the ground was hurt, said Warren Woodberry, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

(Andy Matthews/AP)

The King Air C90A split in half after falling into a grassy area between two homes near the Mount Airy airport around 11:30 a.m., the Surry County Sheriff's Office said.

The passengers were on their way to Primland, a hunting and golf resort about 25 miles north of the Mount Airy airport.

"The hunting resort van was actually waiting for them, and he was the only person who saw the plane come out of the clouds," according to airport manager Kelvin Boyette.

A woman who identified herself as a Primland resort manager but declined to give her name said the company had no comment.

The plane — the only one scheduled to land at Mount Airy on Friday — missed its approach and may have been trying to circle back for another attempt before it crashed, Boyette said.

"There was a really low fog, it was raining a little bit and an occasional sleet pellet. But visibility was more than a 2 1/2 miles," he said.

The plane is registered to Blue Sky Airways in Dallas, Ga., according to FAA records. One of the men on board was identified by his cousin, Ronald Rakestraw, as John Rakestraw, a pilot who owned a construction company that had the same address listed on the plane's registration.

(with The Associated Press)

Atlanta has busiest airport

For the third year in a row, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has retained its title as the nation's busiest airport. The Federal Aviation Administration says the Atlanta airport logged 994,466 flights in 2007. That's more than 18,000 more than last year. Chicago O'Hare International Airport was the second busiest in 2007.

Hartsfield-Jackson: Few Travel Weather Woes

Hartsfield-Jackson. (Google Earth)

Bad weather in other parts of the country caused mild traveling headaches over the weekend at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration says flights to New York, Newark and Philadelphia at one point were experiencing delays of between two and four hours.

The delays at the nation's busiest airport were blamed on storms and wind in the Midwest and Northeast. But officials told reporters that security lines were still moving well.

Click here for more GPB coverage of Hartsfield-Jackson.

(The Associated Press)

Top ranking for new Middle Georgia College aviation program

The air traffic control program at Middle Georgia College has received a top national ranking from the Federal Aviation Administration. The honor stands number-one among nine newly-approved schools in the FAA’s Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative. The effort is to fill a need for more controllers.

Dr. Julie Massie Clark is the college’s chair of aviation management and business. She says new equipment, and recently-retired controllers as instructors were factors in the top ranking.

"We’ve got equipment that the FAA has admitted is better than theirs…it’s very easy to say that’s what the textbook says, but to take it a step further and say I can give you a real life scenario. We’ve got wonderful equipment and a phenomenal faculty".

Clark says the school is also the only among 23 in the nation to own and operate its own air traffic control tower, which is in Eastman.

Middle Georgia College started its two-year aviation program last year, and just began its four-year program in August.