Tag: air travel

UFO alert in Türkiye’s Gaziantep: Flights halted

Flights were suspended at Gaziantep Airport on Monday night after pilots reported a luminous, unidentified flying object (UFO).

At around 10:00 p.m. local time (GMT+3), pilots of an aircraft reported spotting a bright, unidentified object at an altitude of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 feet.

UFO alert in Türkiye’s 6th biggest city led to a brief chaos at the airport. Gaziantep is located in southeastern Türkiye, near the Syrian border.

The object, which did not appear on radar, was reported to air traffic control, prompting authorities to halt flights as a precaution.

One Turkish expert claimed that the light might be coming from a Starlink satellite.

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Sources Claim Delta Crash Pilot Was a Woman Who Only Got Certified a Month Ago

Speculation is raging as to the identity of the pilot involved in Delta Airlines Pearson Airport crash, with some sources claiming she was a woman who only got certified a month ago.

The plane flipped over while landing, leaving terrified passengers hanging upside down in their seats, and it’s a minor miracle that no one died, although 21 people were taken to hospital.

Many have blamed pilot error for the crash, noting that the pilot did not seem to attempt to pull the nose of the plane as it descended.

Numerous prominent accounts on X claim to have discovered that the pilot was in fact an inexperienced woman.

“Won’t post her name and info but the Delta plane crash was piloted by a woman who just got certified, by an operator airline that makes a big deal of having female pilots,” wrote Indian Bronson.

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Company Involved in Pearson Airport Plane Crash Was Obsessed With DEI

The Delta Airlines flight that flipped over and crashed at Pearson Airport was operated by Endeavor Air, a company that has relentlessly pushed DEI initiatives and bragged about having “unmanned” all-female flights that contained no male staff.

Passengers were left dangling upside down when the plane flipped over while landing, with fuel running down the windows as flames began to consume the jet before being extinguished.

It’s a minor miracle that no one died, with 19 of the 21 passengers taken to hospital now discharged.

Respondents to the shocking incident noted how Endeavor Air, the Delta subsidiary that operated the flight, was obsessed with DEI initiatives, and produced a feminist girlboss video promoting its all-female flights with a rap song featuring the lyrics “bad girls do it well.”

Other videos linked to the company show other female Endeavor Air flight crew and stewardesses performing choreographed dance routines celebrating the total absence of men.

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Air Traffic Control Whistleblowers: DEI Hiring Practices Led to DC Crash

In the weeks since the tragic midair collision at Reagan National Airport, mounting concerns about the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) hiring practices have come under scrutiny. The tragic accident on January 29, involving an American Airlines plane and a U.S. Army helicopter, claimed the lives of all 67 individuals aboard. 

Democrats had a hissy fit after President Donald Trump weighed in on the issue in a press conference after the crash, during which he vehemently criticized the policies of the Obama and Biden administrations, which, he noted, prioritized DEI measures over safety. Naturally, the  left wanted Trump to be the target of blame—not the DEI policies they’ve become strong advocates for.

According to current and former air traffic control whistleblowers, the FAA’s focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives resulted in a decrease in the hiring of qualified personnel—likely contributing to the crash. These diversity initiatives were introduced during the Obama administration, reversed under Trump, but were inevitably reinstated under the Biden administration, bringing back the same policies that critics argue undermined the agency’s ability to prioritize competence over diversity.

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US Expands Biometric Technology in Airports Despite Privacy Concerns

Biometric technology is being rolled out at US airports at an unprecedented pace, with plans to extend these systems to hundreds more locations in the coming years. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is driving a significant push toward facial recognition and other biometric tools, claiming improved efficiency and security. However, the expansion has sparked growing concerns, with privacy advocates and lawmakers voicing concerns about data security, transparency, and the potential for misuse of such technology.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has already implemented its Biometric Facial Comparison system at 238 airports, including 14 international locations. This includes all CBP Preclearance sites and several major departure hubs. CBP says its Biometric Exit program is rapidly gaining traction, with new airport partners joining monthly and positive feedback reported from passengers.

Meanwhile, the TSA has equipped nearly 84 airports with its next-generation Credential Authentication Technology (CAT-2) scanners, which incorporate facial recognition. This rollout is part of a broader effort to bring biometrics to over 400 airports nationwide. These advancements are detailed in a TSA fact sheet aimed at building public awareness of the initiative.

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Police Data: N.J. Drone Sightings Concentrated Along Airport Flight Paths

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a UFO! It’s an Iranian mothership! It’s a radiation probe! Or maybe it’s really just a plane. The wave of alleged noctural drone sightings in New Jersey has led to some wild theories about what the mysterious lights in the sky could be.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R–N.J.) claimed that the drones were coming from an Iranian “mothership” in the Atlantic Ocean, then retracted his claim after the Pentagon denied it. (The Iranian navy does have a sort of aircraft carrier for drones—and publicly-available satellite imagery shows that it’s still sitting in the Persian Gulf.) The mayor of Belleville, New Jersey, claimed the drones were part of a secret search operation for missing radioactive material, although the materials have already been recovered. Rep. Nancy Mace (R–S.C.) even asked whether it could be aliens from outer space.

But there might be a simpler explanation. Gov. Phil Murphy has suggested that at least some of the sightings were just normal air traffic misidentified by over-eager drone spotters. Police documents obtained by Reason under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act back up that theory. A map of drone reports produced by the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office shows a dense concentration of sightings along the flight path of airliners leaving New York City.

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Drone Fears Cause New Problem: People Shining Lasers At Manned Aircraft

Federal law enforcement officials warned the public on Monday to not shine high-powered lasers at flying objects at night as the public increasingly looks for drone activity following recent media reporting.

FBI Newark and New Jersey State Police said that there has been “an increase in pilots of manned aircraft being hit in the eyes with lasers because people on the ground think they see an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).”

Authorities also said that there has been increased concerns about people firing weapons at what they believe are UAS but, in reality, are manned aircraft.

“There could be dangerous and possibly deadly consequences if manned aircraft are targeted mistakenly as UAS,” the statement said.

“To improve accuracy and prevent false sightings, a variety of tools and techniques can be used to assist with the visual identification of suspected UAS,” the statement said. “Accurate identification is critical for maintaining safety and ensuring appropriate responses to UAS activity.”

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Justice Department Orders DEA to Halt Airport Searches Because of ‘Significant Issues’ With Cash Seizures

The Justice Department has ordered the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to suspend most searches of passengers at airports and other mass transit hubs after an independent investigation found DEA task forces weren’t documenting searches and weren’t properly trained, creating a significant risk of constitutional violations and lawsuits. 

The deputy attorney general directed the DEA on November 12 to halt what are known as “consensual encounter” searches at airports—unless they’re part of an existing investigation into a criminal network—after seeing the draft of a Justice Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) memorandum that outlined a decade’s worth of “significant concerns” about how the DEA uses paid airline informants and loose criteria to flag passengers to search for drugs and cash.

OIG Investigators found that the DEA paid one airline employee tens of thousands of dollars over the past several years in proceeds from cash seized as a result of their tips. However, the vast majority of those airport seizures aren’t accompanied by criminal prosecutions. This has led to years of complaints from civil liberties groups that the DEA is abusing civil asset forfeiture—a practice that allows police to seize cash and other property suspected of being connected to criminal activity such as drug trafficking, even if the owner is never arrested or charged with a crime. 

The memo, released publicly today by the OIG, found that failures to properly train agents and document searches “​​creates substantial risks that DEA Special Agents (SA) and Task Force Officers (TFO) will conduct these activities improperly; impose unwarranted burdens on, and violate the legal rights of, innocent travelers; imperil the Department’s asset forfeiture and seizure activities; and waste law enforcement resources on ineffective interdiction actions.”

The OIG memo and directive is a victory for advocacy groups that oppose civil asset forfeiture, such as the Institute for Justice, a public-interest law firm that is currently litigating a class action lawsuit challenging the DEA’s airport forfeiture practices.

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Frequent Flyer Tax

The core reason that the establishment is suddenly interested in climate change comes down to one main factor – money. More specifically, the establishment is hunting down YOUR money through taxation. A second motivator is limiting our freedom of movement by demonizing fossil fuels and limiting our ability to travel. The European Union is now seeking to punish those who fly more than once per year with a frequent flyer tax.

The EU has already implemented an aviation tax, but the new proposal is designed to punish the pesky “rich,” but per usual, everyone will suffer. “A frequent flying levy would be a fair aviation measure, reducing excessive flights for wealthy passengers, while raising revenues – including to expand and provide affordable railways and public transport,” the Stay Grounded network told Euro News.

The new levy would target everyone flying from the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK. The standard aviation tax would apply for the first two flights taken per year, but an additional 50 euro surcharge would be applied to medium-haul flights while long-haul, first-class, and business flights would cost an additional 100 euros. Then they are adding an additional 100 euro fee after the fifth flight on top of the initial surcharge. People will be expected to pay an additional 200 euros for their seventh flight and 400 euros for the ninth.

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Federal Court Upholds Order Requiring Alaska Airlines To Rehire Worker Who Was Fired Over Positive Marijuana Test

A federal judge in Seattle has rejected an effort by Alaska Airlines to overturn an arbitration order reinstating the employment of an aircraft maintenance technician whom the company fired over a positive test for THC.

The worker insisted that he did not knowingly use cannabis and was unaware of how the drug entered his system, speculating he may have accidentally eaten an infused edible at a neighborhood block party.

The employee, Gregory Chappell, was given a random drug test in July 2022. The level of THC metabolites came back above a minimum threshold, and he was immediately fired given the safety-sensitive nature of his lead aircraft maintenance technician (AMT) role.

Chappell denied using marijuana and said it was possible he’d unwittingly consumed an edible at the neighborhood party, where none of the potluck foods were labeled. The airline did not investigate that claim, instead relying on the company’s policy against drug use by safety sensitive employees.

Chappell’s union challenged the firing, and in October of last year, an arbitration panel reversed his termination.

Alaska Airlines promptly filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to undo the arbitration board’s decision, arguing that it was undisputed Chappell failed the marijuana test. The company said the employee’s claim “that he may have unknowingly and accidentally ingested a marijuana edible at a block party simply” amounted to “a fantastical story” and “bizarre speculation,” according to the arbitration panel’s account of the case.

But in a federal court order on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John H. Chun rejected the company’s challenge, ruling that the arbitration board “did not exceed its jurisdiction” in ordering Chappell be rehired.

“To vacate an adjustment board’s award, a court must conclude that the board’s reasoning was ‘wholly without foundation in…fact,’” the court wrote.

“And insofar as Alaska Airlines contests the Board’s reinstatement of Chappell,” the decision continues, “Alaska Airlines cites no authority suggesting that the board’s remedy was unfair, much less warranting judicial intrusion in an area over which the Board has special expertise.”

The judge further awarded the union attorneys fees and costs for the case, though it remanded the matter to the arbitration board to determine how to handle backpay and benefits for the past year.

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