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Tag: aircraft accidents

  • US Politician Plane Fatalities Fast Facts | CNN

    US Politician Plane Fatalities Fast Facts | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    This is a list of prominent American politicians killed in plane crashes.

    May 1, 1928 – New York Rep. Thaddeus C. Sweet (R). Sweet is killed in an airplane accident in Broome County, New York.

    October 28, 1947 – Oregon Governor Earl Snell (R). Snell dies in a plane crash during stormy weather near Klamath Falls, Oregon.

    January 25, 1962 – Montana Governor Donald Nutter (R). Nutter dies in a plane crash during a snowstorm.

    October 16, 1972 – House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, Louisiana (D) and Rep. Nick Begich, Alaska (D). Both are aboard a plane that vanishes from the radar in bad weather over Alaska. The wreckage is never found.

    December 8, 1972 – Illinois Rep. George W. Collins (D). Collins is killed when a United Airlines jetliner plane crashes on approach to Chicago’s Midway Airport. Forty-four others are killed. Collins’ widow, Cardiss Collins, succeeds her husband in the House.

    February 14, 1975 – California Rep. Jerry Pettis (R). Pettis, a former military pilot, dies while flying his private plane. The aircraft crashes into a mountain near Banning, California. His wife, Shirley N. Pettis Roberson, replaces him in the House five days later.

    August 3, 1976 – Missouri Rep. Jerry Litton (D). Litton is killed in a plane crash in northwest Missouri. He was en route to a victory celebration after winning the state’s Democratic senate nomination.

    September 1, 1983 – Georgia Rep. Larry McDonald (D). McDonald is killed when Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Russian fighter.

    April 8, 1988 – Montana Secretary of State Jim Waltermire (R). Waltermire is aboard a twin-engine plane that crashes as it approaches Helena’s airport in light snow. At the time, Waltermire is a Republican gubernatorial candidate.

    August 7, 1989 – Texas Rep. Mickey Leland (D). Leland, a Texas Democrat who chairs the House Select Committee on Hunger, is killed when his plane crashes during a trip to inspect relief efforts in Ethiopia.

    August 13, 1989 – Mississippi Rep. Larkin Smith (R). Smith is a passenger on a Cessna 152 that crashes into woods in southeastern Mississippi. Pilot error in hazy conditions is ruled the probable cause of the crash.

    April 4, 1991 – Pennsylvania Sen. John Heinz (R). A collision between a plane and a helicopter kills Heinz, a three-term Republican senator and heir to the Heinz food fortune.

    April 5, 1991 – Texas Sen. John Tower (R). Tower, his daughter and 21 other people, including NASA astronaut Manley “Sonny” Carter Jr., are killed in a commuter plane crash near Brunswick, Georgia.

    April 19, 1993 – South Dakota Gov. George Mickelson (R). Mickelson and seven others are killed when a state-owned turboprop plane crashes into a grain silo while trying to make an emergency landing near Dubuque, Iowa.

    April 3, 1996 – US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. A US Air Force jetliner, carrying Brown and American business executives, crashes into a mountain in Croatia, killing all 35 people aboard.

    October 16, 2000 – Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan (D). Carnahan, his son and an aide are killed when their small plane crashes in bad weather. He is elected to the US Senate posthumously, and his widow is appointed to take his seat.

    October 25, 2002 – Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone (D). Wellstone, his wife, daughter, three staff members, and two pilots are killed when their small plane crashes in Eveleth, Minnesota.

    August 9, 2010 – Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R). Stevens is killed in a plane crash near Dillingham, Alaska. Five people are killed, and four survive, including former NASA chief Sean O’Keefe.

    October 2, 2023 – North Dakota State Sen. Doug Larsen (R). Larson, his wife and their two children are killed in a plane crash as they are traveling through Utah, according to an announcement from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office.

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  • What we know about the off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot accused of trying to shut off a plane’s engines mid-flight | CNN

    What we know about the off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot accused of trying to shut off a plane’s engines mid-flight | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    An off-duty pilot who was riding in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight en route to San Francisco on Sunday is facing dozens of attempted murder charges after he tried to shut down the plane’s engines mid-flight, authorities say.

    The suspect, identified as Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph D. Emerson, 44, attempted to cut off fuel to the engines but the quick action of the aircraft’s captain and first officer kept the engines from failing completely, the airline said, adding Emerson was subdued by the flight crew.

    The flight was forced to divert to Portland, Oregon, where the suspect was taken into custody by the Port of Portland police, the port said in a statement.

    Emerson has been charged in Oregon with 83 felony counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft, booking records show.

    Authorities do not believe the incident was an act of terrorism or ideologically motivated violence, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN’s Josh Campbell. The source noted the suspect may face additional federal charges.

    Here’s what we know.

    After taking off from Everett, Washington, on Sunday, Alaska Airlines Flight 2059 – operated by regional carrier Horizon Air – reported a “security threat related to an off-duty Alaskan Airlines pilot, identified as Captain Joseph Emerson, who was traveling in the flight deck jump seat,” the airline said in a statement.

    Pilots will sometimes ride in a cockpit “jump seat” when traveling in their official capacity or commuting between airports.

    While in the cockpit, Emerson had tried to shut down both of the Embraer 175’s engines by pulling its fire extinguisher handles, the airline said.

    “The fire suppression system consists of a T-handle for each engine; when pulled, a valve in the wing closes to shut off fuel to the engine,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement to CNN. “After they are pulled, some residual fuel remains in the line.”

    The airline said the quick reaction of the crew to reset both handles helped restore the flow of fuel and prevent the engines from cutting out.

    “Our crew responded without hesitation to a difficult and highly unusual situation, and we are incredibly proud and grateful for their skillful actions,” the airline said in a statement.

    The plane was at cruise altitude when the incident occurred, Capt. Mike Karn, senior manager of flight security for American Airlines, said in a memo circulated at his airline.

    The flight crew detained the suspect and the plane was diverted to Portland International Airport, the Port of Portland said in a statement.

    “I think he’s subdued,” one of the plane’s pilots can be heard saying in air traffic control audio recorded by LiveATC.net. “Other than that, we want law enforcement as soon as we get on the ground and are parked.”

    Once the flight landed in Portland around 6:30 p.m., the suspect was taken into custody by Port of Portland police officers, the port said.

    No injuries were reported on the flight, the FBI said.

    All passengers were later able to fly to San Francisco with a new crew and aircraft, the airline said, noting it is “reaching out to each of them individually to discuss their experience and check-in on their well-being.”

    Emerson has been detained at the Multnomah County Detention Center as both the FBI and the Port of Portland police investigate the incident, authorities said.

    The FBI’s Portland field office confirmed its investigation in a statement Monday and assured travelers there is “no continuing threat related to this incident.”

    The Federal Aviation Administration also said it is supporting local law enforcement in the investigation.

    The FAA said it has briefed other airlines on preliminary details of the incident and informed carriers the incident is not related to “current world events” – apparently referring to the war in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas.

    Passengers describe their emergency landing

    Two passengers on the flight told CNN that the airline crew maintained a calm environment on the plane as the incident played out.

    Aubrey Gavello, one of the passengers, said she didn’t realize something was wrong until a flight attendant announced over the loudspeaker that the plane needed to land immediately.

    “We didn’t know where we were landing and we didn’t know what was wrong. But (the flight attendant) assured us we were safe,” Gavello said on “Laura Coates Live” Monday night.

    Later, the pilot informed passengers through the loudspeaker that there had been a “disturbance in the cockpit,” said Alex Wood, who was seated at the front of the plane. Wood said he was wearing headphones and slept through the incident.

    “I was right by the cockpit, but nothing woke me up. Nothing was loud enough, nothing was rambunctious enough to wake me up,” Wood said.

    After the plane landed, about five police officers boarded the plane and escorted the suspect off the aircraft, Gavello recalled. She noted the suspect was calm and cooperative and had his hands secured by zip ties.

    “Props to the Alaska crew for keeping everyone calm,” Gavello said.

    “It was all handled super well,” said Wood.

    The pair said they didn’t realize the gravity of the situation Monday, when they woke to news headlines about the suspect trying to shut down the plane engines.

    “I’m honestly grateful that we didn’t know anything when they rebooked us and got us on a second plane,” Gavello said. “I don’t know if I would have felt comfortable doing that if we had all the information.”

    Emerson’s neighbor, Ed Yee, told CNN it was “very shocking” to hear of the suspect’s alleged actions.

    “He seems like a really nice guy. Nothing abnormal about him,” Yee said.

    Emerson has worked in aviation for at least two decades, according to information shared by Alaskan Airlines.

    He first joined the Alaska Air Group in 2001 as a first officer with Horizon. In 2012, Emerson left Horizon and joined Virgin America as a pilot.

    After Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin America in 2016, Emerson became a first officer with Alaska and worked about three more years to become a pilot for the airline, according to the airline statement.

    “Throughout his career, Emerson completed his mandated FAA medical certifications in accordance with regulatory requirements, and at no point were his certifications denied, suspended or revoked,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement.

    FAA records show Emerson held an Airline Transport Pilot certification with ratings to fly the Airbus A320, Boeing 737, Canadair Regional Jet, and De Havilland Dash 8. He did not hold a certification to fly the ERJ 175, those records indicate, the type of airplane in use during Sunday’s incident.

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  • Two pilots were killed in a collision at a Reno air show | CNN

    Two pilots were killed in a collision at a Reno air show | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Two pilots were killed when their planes collided Sunday during the National Championship Air Races and Air Show in Reno, Nevada, organizers of the event said.

    “Around 2:15 p.m. this afternoon, at the conclusion of the T-6 Gold race, upon landing, two planes collided and it has been confirmed that both pilots are deceased,” the Reno Air Racing Association said in a statement posted on Facebook.

    In a later statement, organizers identified the two pilots as Nick Macy and Chris Rushing.

    “Both expertly skilled pilots and Gold winners in the T-6 Class, Macy piloted Six-Cat and Rushing flew Baron’s Revenge,” the updated statement said. “Families of both pilots have been notified and support services are onsite as they deal with this tragedy.”

    No other injuries were reported, it added.

    The remainder of the races were canceled, organizers said.

    The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement sent to CNN it is investigating the cause of the crash. The agency, which is leading the probe, identified the two aircraft as a North American T-6G and North American AT-6B, and said they had just completed the race.

    “The wreckage of each plane came to rest one-half mile from each other,” NTSB said, adding the wreckage will be taken to an off-site facility for analysis.

    Event organizers said they are cooperating with the NTSB, the Federal Aviation Administration and “all local authorities to identify the cause of the accident and ensure that all of our pilots, spectators and volunteers have the necessary support during this time.”

    The event, which has been running for more than five decades, prides itself in being an “institution for northern Nevada and aviation enthusiasts from around the world,” according to its website. Over the past decade, the event has brought more than a million spectators and “generated more than $750 million” for the regional economy, according to the site.

    This is not the event’s first fatal crash. A pilot was killed last year in a plane crash during a race and In 2011, 11 people were killed and more than 60 others injured when a plane veered out of control and slammed into spectators.

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  • Husband of Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola dies in plane crash | CNN Politics

    Husband of Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola dies in plane crash | CNN Politics


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Eugene “Buzzy” Peltola Jr., the husband of Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, has died in a plane crash in Alaska, according to a statement from the congresswoman’s office.

    “He was one of those people that was obnoxiously good at everything. He had a delightful sense of humor that lightened the darkest moments. He was definitely the cook in the family. And family was most important to him. He was completely devoted to his parents, kids, siblings, extended family, and friends – and he simply adored Mary. We are heartbroken for the family’s loss,” the statement, which was shared to Peltola’s X account Wednesday morning, said.

    The statement asked for privacy for the Peltola family and said the congresswoman will be heading home to Alaska.

    This story is breaking and will be updated.

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  • 2 dead, 2 injured from fire rescue helicopter crash in Pompano Beach, Florida | CNN

    2 dead, 2 injured from fire rescue helicopter crash in Pompano Beach, Florida | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A Broward County, Florida, sheriff’s fire rescue helicopter crashed into an apartment complex Monday morning, leaving two people dead and two others injured.

    Authorities identified the dead as Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Captain Terryson Jackson, who was in the helicopter, and an unnamed adult woman who lived in the apartment complex.

    The crash occurred near an airfield just north of Fort Lauderdale as the helicopter was on its way to an emergency call, authorities said.

    “At approximately 8:46 a.m., emergency personnel responded to a call of an aircraft alert located southwest of the Pompano Beach Airpark. The helicopter involved in the crash is a BSO Fire Rescue helicopter. Pompano Beach Fire Rescue transported two people to an area hospital,” the Broward County Sheriff’s department said in a news release.

    A total of three Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue personnel were on board the helicopter “that crashed into a structure following an in-flight fire one-half mile from Pompano Beach Airpark,” according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

    Just before it crashed, the aircraft was smoking and on fire near the rear, video posted to CNN affiliate WPLG appeared to show.

    The two injured victims are being treated at the hospital and “do not have life-threatening injuries and are listed in fair condition,” officials said.

    Terryson Jackson, 50, had worked in fire rescue in Broward County for 19 years, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office.

    “As a flight paramedic, he impacted the community daily, providing critical patients with the highest pre-hospital care,” reads the post. “He consistently showed an unmatched passion for the job. He always provided expert care, compassion and reassurance to those during their most significant time of need.”

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  • Putin sends condolences to Wagner chief Prigozhin’s family after crash | CNN

    Putin sends condolences to Wagner chief Prigozhin’s family after crash | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first public comments Thursday on the plane crash believed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, saying the Wagner leader had made “serious mistakes in life.”

    Putin said he was sending condolences to “Wagner Group employees” on board the plane that crashed on Wednesday.

    The crash took place northwest of Moscow and killed all on board, said Russia’s aviation agency, including Prigozhin, chief of the mercenary group that gained prominence for its brutal methods worldwide and its battleground victories in the Ukraine war.

    “First of all, I want to express my sincere condolences to the families of all the victims, this is always a tragedy. Indeed, if they were there, it seems … preliminary information suggests that Wagner Group employees were also on board,” Putin said during a meeting with the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin in the Kremlin. 

    Speaking about Prigozhin in the past tense, Putin said he’d known the Wagner chief “for a very long time,” and that he was “a talented man, a talented businessman.”

    “He was a man of difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life, and he achieved the results needed both for himself and when I asked him about it – for a common cause, as in these last months,” the Russian president said.

    The crash of Prigozhin’s plane happened two months after Prigozhin and Wagner staged their insurrection, the biggest challenge to Putin’s rule in over two decades.

    Just days after the mutiny, a furious Putin made it clear that he viewed the actions of Wagner as a form of treason. While he did not mention Prigozhin by name, he accused “the organizers of the rebellion” of betraying Russia itself.

    A witness to the crash told Reuters he saw a wing fly off the plane before it headed toward the ground on Wednesday. “It glided down on one wing. It didn’t nose-dive, it was gliding,” he said.

    Prigozhin’s apparent death follows a series of incidents in which Kremlin critics have died or had attempts made on their life.

    No evidence has been presented that points to the involvement of the Kremlin or Russian security services in the crash. The cause of the crash is unknown and Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation.

    Putin pledged this investigation would be thorough. “But what is absolutely certain, the head of the Investigative Committee reported to me this morning. They have already launched a preliminary investigation into this incident. And it will be carried out in full and brought to completion,” Putin said. 

    US President Joe Biden, prominent Russia critic Bill Browder and Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak have all suggested they believe Putin was behind the crash.

    CNN spoke to several individuals in Russia about the crash on Thursday. All agreed to be identified only by their first name so they could speak freely without fear of retribution.

    No one CNN spoke to believed Ukraine was responsible for the crash. Many openly speculated about its cause, including whether Russian President Vladimir Putin brought down the jet as retribution for Prigozhin’s failed mutiny in June.

    “He was killed by Putin, who does not forgive betrayal,” said Alexey from Moscow. “Putin was behind it or it could have been his Politburo but Putin knew and approved.”

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  • Remains of employees and pilot recovered after helicopter crash in Alaska, officials say | CNN

    Remains of employees and pilot recovered after helicopter crash in Alaska, officials say | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    The remains of four people aboard an Alaska Department of Natural Resources helicopter that crashed last week were recovered Sunday morning from the wreckage sight in a tundra lake, officials said.

    The remains of employees Ronald Daanen, 51, Justin Germann, 27 and Tori Moore, 26, along with pilot Bernard “Tony” Higdon, 48, were recovered by a search and rescue dive team about 50 miles outside of Utqiaġvik, Alaska, the state’s department of public safety said in a news release.

    The employees, who worked for the Division of Geological and Geophysical Survey, were using a state-chartered helicopter on Thursday while conducting fieldwork in the vicinity of Utqiaġvik, but had not checked in that night, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources said in a Facebook post Friday.

    The department initiated a search and rescue effort Friday and crews later found debris in a lake that matched the missing helicopter, officials said.

    “The Department is beginning the process of grieving for our colleagues, supporting our team through this challenging time, and working with partner agencies to learn everything we can about this incident,” the Alaska Department of Natural Resources said in a Facebook post.

    The bodies of those killed are being sent to the state’s medical examiner for an autopsy, according to a release from authorities. The National Transportation Safety Board told CNN Monday that its investigators will examine and document the wreckage once it has been recovered.

    Utqiaġvik is the northernmost city in the United States, according to the city’s website.

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  • Six killed in Nepal helicopter crash near Mount Everest | CNN

    Six killed in Nepal helicopter crash near Mount Everest | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Six people have died in a helicopter crash in Nepal, a spokesperson for Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport said Tuesday.

    The Manang Air helicopter was carrying five Mexican passengers and a Nepali pilot, Teknath Sitoula told CNN.

    Reuters reported that Manang Air caters to tourists wanting a view of Nepal’s peaks, including Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain.

    It set off from Solukhumbu district, where Everest is situated, at 10:05 a.m. local time (12:20 a.m. ET) on Tuesday, heading for the capital, Kathmandu, according to a statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

    The helicopter lost contact less than 10 minutes later, at 10:13 a.m., and was later found crashed in Solukhumbu’s rural municipality of Likhupike, according to the authority.

    It added that locals and police who reached the crash site found the bodies of all on board.

    “All six bodies have been located. We are now starting the process to take them to Kathmandu. It will take some time because it means traveling by road from the crash site and then flying to Kathmandu,” Sitoula told CNN.

    He added that the cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

    Nepal’s inclement weather, low visibility and mountainous topography all contribute to its reputation as notoriously dangerous for aviation.

    In January, at least 68 people were killed when an aircraft went down near the city of Pokhara in central Nepal. This was the Himalayan nation’s deadliest plane crash in more than 30 years.

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  • ‘Fruits, seeds and water’ were pivotal in keeping four children alive in the Amazon rainforest | CNN

    ‘Fruits, seeds and water’ were pivotal in keeping four children alive in the Amazon rainforest | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    When four young indigenous children were found last week after 40 days in the Colombian Amazon jungle, their rescuers noticed that the oldest, 13-year-old Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, had something hidden between her teeth.

    “We found she had a couple of seeds slowly chewed between her cheeks and her jawbone,” said Eliecer Muñoz, one of the four indigenous guards who made the very first contact with the children.

    Muñoz told CNN the seeds were from a native Amazon palm tree called Oenocarpus Bataua, colloquially known as “milpesos” in Colombia.

    Its fruits are rich in fat and Amazon tribes use them to make a vegetable oil, but Leslie’s seeds were still unripe when she was found, Muñoz said.

    “She was keeping them so that the warmth of her mouth would open up the seeds and she could feed the pulp to her younger siblings,” Muñoz says. “That’s how they stayed alive.”

    Ever since the children were brought home, reporters and survival experts have been trying to answer this question: How did four children – the youngest just an infant – survive in the heart of the Amazon rainforest for so long?

    It took a team of over 130 special force commandos and some of the most skilled indigenous guides in the country to find them.

    The stretch of the jungle they were found in is one of the most remote and inhospitable in Colombia, where wild animals like jaguars, anacondas or poisonous bugs abound, rains can pour for over 15 hours a day and visibility is sometimes limited to 10 meters due to the thick vegetation.

    Lesly and her siblings were dangerously emaciated when they were finally found. In more than a month without adults, they appear to have survived on wild fruits and three pounds of cassava flour, a high-protein traditional staple of the Amazon diet, that they retrieved from the wreckage of the plane crash that stranded them in the forest.

    Part of the children's survival was down to knowledge of the native palm tree, the Oenocarpus Bataua.

    They had also found one of the hundreds of survival kits left in the jungle by the search and rescue operation, which included small rations of food, electrolytes, and lighters.

    “We understand they only used one of the kits of the Army, for the rest just fruits, seeds and water,” says Henry Guerrero, an indigenous elder who was also part of the team that found them.

    Only someone with deep knowledge of the forest and remarkable personal resilience could survive there for over a month – much less keep three other people alive too.

    Weeks ago, most of the Colombian public following their story could not have known the extent to which Lesly and her siblings possessed those skills. But their great-uncle, Fidencio Valencia, did not despair: “They already know the jungle… they are children, but we hope they are alive and that they have access to water,” he told reporters on May 19.

    His words have been vindicated.

    The children have not yet spoken publicly and are recovering in Colombia’s central military hospital in Bogota. On Thursday, a statement from the hospital said the children are out of immediate danger but still considered at high risk due to infectious diseases they contracted and serious malnourishment.

    The traces of their survival show impressive botanical knowledge and foresight.

    During the search, rescuers found discarded fruits like avichure, a wild plant similar to the passion fruit that the children ate while alone in the forest. Seeds of milpesos were also found along their footprints, and Colombian authorities believe Lesly took some baby’s formula from the discarded plane to feed Cristin, 11 months old, for a few days.

    The Cessna 206 plane wreckage that killed the four children's mother after it crashed in the jungles of Caqueta in Colombia.

    When found, the children had bottles they used to collect water, either from streams or from the rain, which was plentiful during the month of the search.

    The accomplishment feels like a moment of pride for the indigenous community of the Colombian Amazon. “Thanks to these kids we won over technology,” Guerrero gleamed at a recent press conference in Bogota. “Thanks to the kids we realized that we, the indigenous, we are important.”

    While their survival remains a marvel, it was no doubt facilitated by traditional knowledge of the forest they embraced from a remarkably young age, and while Colombia deployed its army, it was four local indigenous guides who first spotted the little ones.

    Lesly, in particular, is hailed for not only staying alive herself, but also making sure her younger siblings would survive following the loss of their mother in the plane crash.

    When found, one of the first sentences four-year-old Tien Ranoque Mucutuy whispered to the rescuers was “my mother is dead,” Muñoz told CNN.

    One of the traditional tasks of indigenous women is to look after one’s siblings as if they were your own children. An older sister is basically a second mother, and I think that is exactly how Lesly was brought up with,” says Nelly Kuiru, an indigenous activist from the murui settlement of La Chorrera.

    But Kuiru believes that that prowess goes far beyond botanical expertise: “Ancestral, traditional knowledge is not just that Lesly learnt to pick up fruits or so, but there’s something much deeper there, a spiritual connection with the forest surrounding us.”

    When the father of two of the children, Manuel Ranoque, learned the plane carrying his wife and their four children crashed on the way to San Jose del Guaviare, he requested the help of traditional elders and sages in his community, like Guerrero and Muñoz, who joined forces with the Colombian military to locate the children.

    The military brought GPS technology, advanced radio communications, and operated over four hundred flight-hours over the jungle.

    The indigenous murui searchers taught soldiers how to read tracks and move around the jungle. Traditional elders like Guerrero attempted to bridge a spiritual link with the children using traditional plants like tobacco, coca, and yagé, the sacred, hallucinogen plant also known as ayahuasca.

    In the end, it was a mix of the two worlds that saved the children: Muñoz and his team finally found them, all but starved to death, in an area clear of trees they had inspected in previous days. Within a few hours, they were taken out of the jungle on a Blackhawk military helicopter.

    Magdalena Mucutuy was a woman of the chagra – a sacred space that acts both as a harvesting garden and community school for traditional knowledge – who often brought her children to the forest, according to her husband.

    There, they likely learned the skills that allowed them to survive until rescuers came.

    “Traditionally, (indigenous) children’s upbringing takes place in the natural environment, in the forest, especially when they are very young,” says Kuiru. But she warns that intimate familiarity with the wild that allowed Leslie and her siblings to survive is under threat, she says.

    “Our traditions are being contaminated by deforestation, by the presence of external actors [like criminal syndicates] and in a way, assimilation. There’s not just a physical colonization, like for example the clothes we now wear, but a colonization of knowledge and ours is being lost,” Kuiru told CNN.

    In recent years, indigenous populations have abandoned the forest, pushed towards urban areas by the presence of criminal groups in the countryside and by lack of work and education opportunities, according to a 2010 study by the Colombian Amazon Institute of Scientific Research.

    Ranoque himself says he was forced to abandon their native settlement in Araracuara, Amazonas, due to threats from guerrilla groups. He said that his wife and her children had also been fleeing encroachment from armed groups when their plane crashed on May 1, killing Magdalena, the pilot, and an indigenous leader – and stranding the children.

    Kuiru would like the Colombian state to support and protect indigenous lifestyles and knowledges, while also offering opportunities to enter the mainstream economy. In education, that could mean allowing children to spend only half of the day in state schools and then go to the chagras to receive traditional education, she says. Or it could mean supporting local entrepreneurship to create jobs in the region and encourage young people to stay in the Amazon.

    In a way, just like the four children were saved by a mix of tradition and modernity, only the two sides together can bring real development to the region.

    “We should not fear modernization, but we must go back to our roots, what defines us and makes us different as indigenous people of the Amazon. If not, we will end up empty, like eggshells without filling,” she said.

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  • Missing children found after 40 days in Amazon survived like ‘children of the jungle,’ Colombian president says | CNN

    Missing children found after 40 days in Amazon survived like ‘children of the jungle,’ Colombian president says | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Four young children have been found alive after more than a month wandering the Amazon where they survived like “children of the jungle,” according to Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro.

    “Their learning from indigenous families and their learning of living in the jungle has saved them,” Petro told reporters on Friday, after announcing on Twitter that they had been found 40 days after they went missing following a plane crash that killed their mother.

    Petro said the children were all together when they were found, adding they had demonstrated an example of “total survival that will be remembered in history.”

    “They are children of the jungle and now they are children of Colombia,” he added.

    Revealing their discovery earlier in the day, the Colombian president had tweeted an image that seems to show search crews treating the children in a forest clearing, along with the words: “A joy for the whole country!”

    Their grandmother, María Fátima Valencia, said she was “going to hug all of them” and “thank everyone” as soon as they were reunited in their home city of Villavicencio, where they live.

    “I’m going to encourage them, I’m going to push them forward, I need them here,” she said.

    The children, who appear gaunt in the photos, are being evaluated by doctors and will be taken to the town of San Jose del Guaviare. They are expected to receive further treatment in Bogota, the capital, according to Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez.

    “We hope that tomorrow they will be treated at the military hospital,” he said, while praising the Colombian military and indigenous communities for helping find them.

    Petro said the children were weak, needed food and would have their mental status assessed. “Let the doctors make their assessment and we will know,” he added.

    Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, age 13, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and infant Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy were stranded in the jungle on May 1, the only survivors of a deadly plane crash.

    Their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, was killed in the crash along with two other adult passengers: pilot Hernando Murcia Morales and Yarupari indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernández.

    The children’s subsequent disappearance into the deep forest galvanized a massive military-led search operation involving over a hundred Colombian special forces troops and over 70 indigenous scouts combing the area.

    For weeks, the search turned up only tantalizing clues, including footprints, a dirty diaper and a bottle. Family members said the oldest child had some experience in the forest, but hopes waned as the weeks went on.

    At some point during their ordeal, they’d had to defend themselves from a dog, Petro said.

    He called the children’s survival a “gift to life” and an indication that they were “cared for by the jungle.”

    The Colombian president said he had spoken with the grandfather of the children who said that their survival was in the hands of the jungle which ultimately chose to return them.

    The grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, said he and his wife had endured many sleepless nights worrying about the children.

    “For us this situation was like being in the dark, we walked for the sake of walking. Living for the sake of living because the hope of finding them kept us alive. When we found the children we felt joy, we don’t know what to do, but we are grateful to God,” he said.

    The children’s other grandfather, Narcizo Mucutuy, said he wants his grandchildren to be brought back home soon.

    “I beg the president of Colombia to bring our grandchildren to Villavicencio, here where the grandparents are, where their uncles and aunts are, and then take them to Bogota,” he said.

    Indigenous leader Lucho Acosta, the coordinator of indigenous scouts, credited the “extra effort” of search and rescue teams and local authorities to find the children in a statement on Friday.

    “They all added a little effort so that this Operation Hope could be successful, and we can hope the kids will emerge alive and stronger than before. We have been hoping together with the strength of our ancestors, and our strength prevailed,” he said.

    “We never stopped looking for them until the miracle came,” the Colombian Defense Ministry tweeted.

    During a press conference Friday evening, Petro said he hoped to speak with the children on Saturday.

    “The most important thing now is what the doctors say, they have been lost for 40 days, their health condition must have been stressed. We need to check their mental state too,” he said.

    Petro, who was previously forced to backtrack after mistakenly tweeting that they had been found last month, described the children’s 40-day saga as “a remarkable testament of survival.”

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  • US fighter jets responded to an aircraft with an unresponsive pilot near DC. The aircraft ultimately crashed in Virginia | CNN

    US fighter jets responded to an aircraft with an unresponsive pilot near DC. The aircraft ultimately crashed in Virginia | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    US F-16 fighter jets caused a sonic boom across the Washington, DC, region Sunday as they scrambled to reach an unresponsive aircraft that ultimately crashed in Virginia, officials said.

    A US official said the F-16s did not shoot down the aircraft and that it is typical for the Federal Aviation Administration to call in jets if someone is flying unsafely.

    The pilot of the civilian aircraft was unresponsive as the F-16 fighter jets attempted to make contact, according to a news release from the Continental US North American Aerospace Defense Command Region.

    The F-16 jets were “authorized to travel at supersonic speeds,” which resulted in the sonic boom heard in the Washington, DC, area.

    The F-16s used flares “in an attempt to draw attention from the pilot,” the release added.

    The civilian aircraft, a Cessna 560 Citation V, was intercepted by the NORAD jets around 3:20 p.m. and ultimately crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia.

    “The pilot was unresponsive and the Cessna subsequently crashed near the George Washington National Forest, Virginia,” the release said. “NORAD attempted to establish contact with the pilot until the aircraft crashed.”

    Four people were on board the aircraft, which overshot its planned destination by 315 miles before crashing, sources familiar with the investigation said.

    Search efforts were still underway by state and local authorities Sunday evening, Virginia State Police told CNN.

    State police were notified around 3:50 p.m. of a possible aircraft crash in the Staunton/Blue Ridge Parkway region, the agency said.

    Nothing has been located at this time, it added.

    The National Transportation Safety Board said on Twitter it was investigating the crash.

    The military aircraft caused a sonic boom heard across the Washington, DC, metropolitan region.

    “We are aware of reports from communities throughout the National Capital Region of a loud ‘boom’ this afternoon,” DC Homeland Security & Emergency Management said on Twitter.

    There is no threat at this time, the agency added.

    Earlier, the FAA said in a statement that a Cessna Citation crashed in southwest Virginia Sunday.

    The aircraft took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York.

    The aircraft crashed into a mountainous terrain in a “sparsely populated area”, according to FAA.

    The US Capitol Complex was placed on “an elevated alert” when the small aircraft flew near the area on Sunday afternoon, according to a statement from US Capitol Police.

    “This afternoon, our officials were working closely with our federal partners to monitor an unresponsive pilot who was flying an airplane near the National Capital Region. The U.S. Capitol Complex was briefly placed on an elevated alert until the airplane left the area,” the statement said.

    The US Secret Service said they did not alter their posture for keeping President Joe Biden secure after the incident. Biden was golfing at the Andrews Air Force Base golf course near Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

    The incident “had no impact on Secret Service,” spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a Sunday statement.

    The President has been briefed on the incident, according to a White House official.

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  • How could four children survive a plane crash in the Amazon? A new report offers clues | CNN

    How could four children survive a plane crash in the Amazon? A new report offers clues | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    One month after four children vanished into the Colombian Amazon, a preliminary report by the country’s Civil Aviation Authority offers clues to how they could have survived the devastating airplane crash that killed every adult onboard.

    The extraordinary story of the missing children has drawn intense interest across Colombia and internationally, as a massive military-led search operation continues in the forest.

    The ill-fated flight on May 1 carried pilot Hernando Murcia Morales, Yarupari indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernández, an indigenous woman named Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, and her four children, the eldest 13 years old and youngest just 11 months.

    Soon after the early morning take-off from the remote community of Araracuara, the pilot radioed to air traffic control that he would look for an emergency landing spot, according to the report.

    “…Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, 2803, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, I have the engine at minimum, I’m going to look for a field,” he said.

    The pilot later updated that the engine had regained power, and continued on his way – only to hit trouble again less than an hour later: “…Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, 2803, 2803, The engine failed me again… I am going to look for a river… I have a river on the right…”

    This time the problem did not improve.

    Air traffic control later tracked the plane veering right, the report said. Then it went off the radar.

    Despite air and water searches that immediately followed the incident, per the report, the plane would not be found until more than two weeks later – time that may yet prove significant in the fates of the plane’s passengers, as investigators continue to probe the crash and its aftermath.

    Five days after the plane’s disappearance, the Colombian military deployed special forces units to search the ground on May 6. Ten days later, on the night of May 16, they finally spotted the wreckage.

    The three adults were found dead at the scene. But all four children were missing entirely – leading rescuers to presume that they had survived, evacuated the plane and were trekking the jungle on their own, and spurring a renewed search effort.

    Investigators’ photos of the crash scene show the raised tail of a small plane painted in still-crisp blue and white, its nose and front smashed into the jungle terrain. The report says the plane likely first hit the trees of the dense forest, tearing the engine and propeller off, followed by a vertical drop to the forest floor.

    “Detailed inspection of the wreckage indicated that, during tree landing, there was a first impact against the trees; this blow caused the separation of the engine with its cover and propeller from the aircraft structure,” the report says. “Due to the strong deceleration and loss of control in the first impact, the aircraft fell vertically and collided with the ground.”

    The impact against the trees caused the separation of the engine and propeller from the aircraft structure, according to the report.

    Though it notes that forensic examinations are ongoing, the report suggests that the adults seated in the front of the plane cabin suffered fatal injuries from the crash. “The diagram of injuries caused by the accident registered fatal injuries in the occupants located in positions 1 (Pilot), 2 (male adult occupant) and 3 (female adult occupant).

    But the rear seats, where the older children were located, were less affected by the impact, according to the report, offering a potential explanation for their survival and signs of life – including a baby bottle, a used diaper, and footprints – later found in the jungle by search and rescue teams.

    Two of three seats occupied by the children remained in place and upright despite the crash, according to the report, while one child’s seat came loose from the plane structure.

    The infant may have been held in the mother’s arms, according to the report.

    The children “were not located in the area of the accident, and there were no signs that they had been injured, at least not seriously. For this reason, an intense search began in order to find them,” it says.

    A total of 119 Colombian special forces troops and 73 indigenous scouts have so far been deployed to comb the area, according to the report.

    Relatives have previously said that the children knew the jungle well – but worried whether they would understand that the outside world had not given up on them.

    “Maybe they are hiding,” said Fidencio Valencia, the children’s grandfather, speaking to Colombia’s Caracol TV earlier this month.

    “Maybe they don’t realize that they are looking for them; they are children.”

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  • US Army orders aviation safety stand down following deadly helicopter crashes | CNN Politics

    US Army orders aviation safety stand down following deadly helicopter crashes | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    The chief of staff of the US Army has grounded all Army aviators not involved in critical missions following two recent helicopter crashes that left 12 soldiers dead.

    The order from Army Chief of Staff James McConville grounds the aviators “until they complete the required training,” according to the Army.

    “The safety of our aviators is our top priority, and this stand down is an important step to make certain we are doing everything possible to prevent accidents and protect our personnel,” McConville said in a statement.

    Army pilots, at McConville’s direction, “will focus on safety and training protocols to ensure our pilots and crews have the knowledge, training and awareness to safely complete their assigned mission.”

    The safety stand down comes after Thursday’s mid-air collision of two AH-64 Apache helicopters near Fort Wainwright, Alaska, that killed three soldiers and wounded another. Two of the soldiers died at the scene and the third died while being transported to a hospital, according to a release from the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division.

    The crash occurred about 100 miles south of Fort Wainwright, where the helicopters are based as part of the 1st Attack Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment.

    “This is an incredible loss for these soldiers’ families, their fellow soldiers, and for the division,” Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commanding general of the 11th Airborne Division, said in the release. “Our hearts and prayers go out to their families, friends and loved ones, and we are making the full resources of the Army available to support them.”

    That deadly collision came just weeks after nine soldiers were killed when two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a nighttime training mission near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the Army said.

    The medical evacuation helicopters were conducting a routine training mission when they crashed at approximately 10:00 pm local time in an open field across from a residential area. All nine of the service members aboard the two aircraft were killed.

    The incidents are under investigation, according to the Army, but “there is no indication of any pattern” between the two.

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  • 3 soldiers dead, 1 injured after Army Apache helicopters collide midair while returning from a training flight in Alaska | CNN

    3 soldiers dead, 1 injured after Army Apache helicopters collide midair while returning from a training flight in Alaska | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Three soldiers were killed and another was injured when two AH-64 Apache helicopters collided Thursday as they were flying back from a military training flight near Healy, Alaska, US Army officials said.

    Two of the soldiers died at the scene and the third died while being transported to a hospital, according to a release from the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division.

    The names of the deceased are being withheld until 24 hours after their families have been notified, the release said.

    The crash occurred about 100 miles south of Fort Wainwright, where the helicopters are based as part of the 1st Attack Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment.

    “This is an incredible loss for these soldiers’ families, their fellow soldiers, and for the division,” Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commanding general of the 11th Airborne Division, said in the release. “Our hearts and prayers go out to their families, friends and loved ones, and we are making the full resources of the Army available to support them.”

    US Army officials said Friday that the surviving soldier is in stable condition at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.

    The deadly collision comes less than a month after nine soldiers were killed when two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a nighttime training mission near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the Army said. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

    “The Fort Wainwright community is one of the tightest military communities I’ve seen in my 32 years of service. I have no doubt they will pull together during this exceptional time of need and provide comfort to our families of our fallen,” Eifler added.

    Fort Wainwright’s Emergency Assistance Center is available to “provide support for families, friends and fellow soldiers of those involved in the crash,” the release said.

    The crash will be investigated by an Army Combat Readiness Center team, the release said.

    Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy took to Twitter on Friday to send “thoughts and prayers” to the soldiers involved in the incident.

    “My heart breaks for the family of the 3 soldiers who were killed. We pray for the injured soldier to be treated and return home safely,” he wrote.

    Correction: A previous version of this story misstated where the crash happened. It was near Healy, Alaska.

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  • Japanese military helicopter crashes in sea with 10 on board | CNN

    Japanese military helicopter crashes in sea with 10 on board | CNN


    Tokyo
    CNN
     — 

    Rescuers are scanning waters off southern Japan for 10 people on board a Japanese military helicopter that apparently crashed into the sea on Thursday, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said.

    “I will continue to do my best to collect information on the damage and search for human lives,” said Hamada, who looked visibly overcome with emotion when he spoke to reporters Friday.

    Gen. Yasunori Morishita, chief of staff of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF), said searchers had found what appeared to be parts of the the UH-60JA helicopter in the sea and are continuing to scan the ocean for survivors.

    If no survivors are found, the crash would be Japan’s deadliest military aviation accident since 1995, according to a database maintained by the Aviation Safety Network.

    The missing troops include two pilots, two mechanics and six passengers, among them Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto, a senior GSDF commander, Morishita said.

    Sakamoto, commander of the 8th Division, had been newly appointed to his role on March 30, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported Friday.

    The helicopter – which was surveying the local area – went missing Thursday at 3:56 p.m. local time after disappearing from radar screens off the coast of Miyako Island in the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa, according to the Defense Ministry.

    Miyako Island – adjacent to the East China Sea – is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Taiwan and is home to a JGSDF missile unit.

    A spokesperson from the Japan Coast Guard told CNN that around 6:50 p.m. local time on Thursday, a patrol boat retrieved a lifeboat with the words “Ground Self-Defense Force” written on it from the sea.

    The spokesperson added that early Friday morning, a window frame, a door with “Ground Self-Defense Force” written on it and a rotor blade were recovered in waters north of Irabu Island, which is connected to Miyako Island by a bridge. 

    According to manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the UH-60JA is a multipurpose helicopter based on the US military’s Black Hawk helicopters.

    The last time at least 10 people were lost in a Japanese military aviation accident was on February 21, 1995, when a Maritime Self-Defense Force flying boat crashed on Okinawa, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

    On April 26, 1983, 11 people were killed when a flying boat crashed during practice for an air show in Iwakuni, and 14 died a week earlier when two Air Self-Defense Force transports flying in formation crashed into an island in Ise Bay, according to the database.

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  • Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg cites ‘uptick’ in aviation incidents at FAA safety summit reviewing ‘serious close calls’ | CNN

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg cites ‘uptick’ in aviation incidents at FAA safety summit reviewing ‘serious close calls’ | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday there has been an “uptick” in recent aviation incidents and called on participants at a Federal Aviation Administration safety summit to help find the “root causes” of the issues.

    “We are particularly concerned because we have seen an uptick in serious close calls,” Buttigieg said in his opening remarks, referring to a series of near collisions on runways across the US.

    The summit comes after the FAA said it was investigating another close call between commercial airliners. The most recent close call was at Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC – the seventh since the start of this year.

    On March 7, Republic Airways Flight 4736 crossed a runway, without clearance, that United Airlines Flight 2003 was using for takeoff, according to a preliminary review, the FAA said. The United pilot had just been cleared for takeoff, the agency said.

    “An air traffic controller noticed the situation and immediately canceled the takeoff clearance for the United flight,” the FAA said.

    The FAA safety summit in McLean, Virginia, is the first of its kind since 2009 and kicks off a sweeping safety review the agency is conducting in the wake of the incursions.

    “Today is about the entire system, which means it’s about all of us,” Buttigieg said at the summit’s opening on Wednesday. The summit includes safety investigators, industry representatives, union leaders, and others.

    Buttigieg said Wednesday’s summit is the first in a series of coordinated events the FAA will conduct to find out what’s working well and what “new steps” need to be taken to ensure safety.

    Air travel has had a strong safety record and is the safest form of travel, Buttigieg said, but “we dare not” take that record for granted.

    The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board told participants in the summit that the safety agency has made seven recommendations on runway collisions that have not been enacted.

    “One is 23 years old and still appropriate today on technology warning pilots of an impending collision,” chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said.

    “How many times are we going to have to issue the same recommendations over and over and over again?” she asked.

    Homendy said she’s already found one common issue with the six runway incursions they are investigating. In each case, the cockpit voice recorder, known as one of the black boxes, was overwritten, preventing investigators from hearing what took place on the flight deck.

    “All federal agencies here today need to ask: Are we doing everything possible to make our skies safer? We’ve been asking ourselves that very question at the NTSB,” she said.

    Nick Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America, the trade association representing the major airlines, told the summit, “There’s constant self-evaluation always going on.”

    Calio said the airlines are looking at their data to try to find ways to make aviation safer so that close calls on runways, like those under investigation by the NTSB, don’t happen.

    “I don’t want to speculate a lot on what’s happened there, because they’re all under investigation. And we’re all trying to determine what is going on. Is this a trend? Is this a pattern?” he said.

    Rich Santa, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union, cited a lack of staffing in air traffic control towers as a potential culprit.

    “Unfortunately, we have a staffing issue right now, as air traffic controllers. We are 1,200 certified professional controllers less now than we were 10 years ago,” he said at the summit. “It’s time for us to accurately and adequately staff the facilities.”

    Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen told the summit the agency is “continuing to hire” and is on pace to hire 1,500 controllers this year and another 1,800 next year.

    The NTSB is investigating the string of runway incursions involving commercial airliners. The near-collisions on US runways also have prompted federal safety investigators to open a sweeping review.

    Last month, a Southwest passenger jet and a FedEx cargo plane came as close as 100 feet from colliding at an Austin, Texas, airport, and it was a pilot – not air traffic controllers – who averted disaster, according to Homendy.

    In January, there was an alarming close call similar to this latest one. A Delta Air Lines flight was taking off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport when air traffic controllers “noticed another aircraft crossing the runway in front of the departing jetliner,” the FAA said in a statement.

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  • What’s going on with all the runway close calls | CNN Politics

    What’s going on with all the runway close calls | CNN Politics

    A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.



    CNN
     — 

    There have been six close calls on US runways this year, which has led to a fair amount of news coverage, some alarm among the flying public and a lot of calls for answers – including from the acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration Billy Nolen, who testified on Capitol Hill this week.

    Unable to explain the spike, Nolen told lawmakers the agency wants to get to the bottom of things at a safety summit planned for next week. There are also specific investigations into each incident in Boston; Burbank, California; Austin, Texas; Honolulu; New York; and Sarasota, Florida.

    I talked to CNN’s Pete Muntean, who not only covers aviation but is also a pilot and flight instructor, for his perspective on what the heck is going on.

    Our conversation, conducted by phone, is below. Stick with it for an interesting bonus story on how low-flying planes are used to find poachers in Africa.

    WOLF: Six close calls in recent weeks. Are these all distinct events? Or should we view them as one larger issue?

    MUNTEAN: There’s definitely a constant theme because they’re the same type of event, which is officially known as a runway incursion. It is where two airplanes essentially get in the way of one another on or near the runway.

    These types of events can range from really minor to more egregious. What we saw at JFK in New York in January, that had to be one of the more egregious ones. The air traffic controller had to swoop in and stop a flight that was barreling down the runway toward a crossing, taxiing (Boeing) triple seven from taking off.

    That is a more extreme, severe example. There have been some examples where the airplanes get within a few hundred feet of one another, maybe as close as 100 feet. One of the cases like in Austin.

    But they’re not really caused, necessarily, by the same thing. That’s, of course, something that investigators will look at.

    (On Wednesday) the acting head of the FAA on Capitol Hill said that if there are dots to connect, they’ll connect them in this safety summit next week, although it doesn’t seem like there was any real common trigger. No common cause.

    RELATED: FAA to conduct sweeping safety review after multiple incidents

    WOLF: Who is supposed to keep these from happening? Is it the air traffic controllers? Is it the pilots? How is it supposed to work?

    MUNTEAN: There are multiple different layers of safeguards in place in the air traffic system, especially at these busy airports where there are a lot of airliners coming in and out in a lot of varying conditions, a lot of different times of day.

    Some of the responsibility falls on air traffic control. Of course, it’s their job to keep airplanes from running into one another. Some of the responsibility falls on the flight crew to keep it so that they follow the instructions of air traffic control, that they remain vigilant all the time, if they’re taxiing across runways or taking off from a runway that’s crisscrossing with another one as they’re about to land.

    The good news is that in commercial aviation in the US – which has a stellar track record, by the way – there are two trained pilots at all times. And there are a lot of eyeballs essentially making it so that these things don’t happen.

    The pilots can intercede at any point, and in some cases they have. They’ve just essentially called their own go-arounds to make it so that they don’t come in contact with an airplane. In some cases, the air traffic controllers will call it. The onus is on a few different layers here.

    I’m a pilot, but I just did a demonstration with a former NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigator at a busy airport, Dulles (in Virginia), and it begs pointing out that some of the safeguards are as simple as paint on the runway and taxiways to remind pilots not to taxi too close to the runway. Some of it is in the phraseology that’s used on the radio. Some of it is in the procedures and training the pilots get.

    I think every pilot that’s out there now – and if you talk to professional pilots this is something that weighs on them – this has been a chronic problem for aviation for a while. But now, because of these headlines, it’s especially top of mind for pilots and air traffic controllers and regulators and safety advocates.

    WOLF: You said it’s a chronic problem. Is there any indication or any data to suggest this is happening more often? Or are we in the media just paying attention to it?

    MUNTEAN: I think these events are getting more attention. No doubt that these six that we have seen so far this year are extreme. Usually they don’t happen with such severity, with such frequency.

    But the FAA, at every layer of aviation from commercial aviation on down to small airplanes and private airports, they’re always trying to remind pilots to remain vigilant. Something that pilots really train for in their first flying lesson is how to behave in and respect the environment around an airport.

    In some ways, it’s like flying with a loaded gun. You have to be really, really careful.

    The reason why these are happening, one pilot told me – who’s the representative for a large union of airline pilots and a major airline – he said the system is just under so much pressure right now. There’s a lot of corporate pressure for airlines to get back on their feet after the pandemic.

    There’s a lot of new pilots flying right now, who may have matriculated from regional airlines to larger airlines. A lot of the old guard have retired. Pilots have left just because they were given voluntary leave packages as a result of the downturn of the pandemic.

    There are a ton of different factors at play.

    The fact that we’re sort of paying attention to these more just sort of highlights that nobody can ever let their guard down.

    WOLF: Is the current air traffic system that we’re using technologically up to snuff?

    MUNTEAN: I think it is. And I think the FAA would say that it is, because they have added in so many layers of technology to make it so that these incidents are avoided.

    They have technology that can sense, at some larger airports, whether or not a pilot is lined up with the wrong thing, if they were aiming for a runway but instead aimed for a taxiway to land on – which has happened before.

    They have more lighting on the pavement that warns pilots, essentially like a stoplight, to make it so they don’t go rolling across a runway as they are taxiing across one.

    There are even systems that make it so that they can sense, using radar and other technologies, where airplanes are on the ground and not just in the air. Some of these runway incursions are caused simply by airplanes being in the wrong place as they are taxiing and not necessarily in the air.

    I think the system is up to snuff. I think the FAA would say the system is up to snuff. But they’re also using this as a moment to sort of reinspect and have some introspection on the matter and whether or not they could be doing more to make it so that these problems can be avoided.

    WOLF: You already pointed out that commercial aviation in the US is incredibly safe.

    MUNTEAN: The last time there was a fatality was 2018, which was kind of a freak accident, where a person got hit on a Southwest flight by a fan blade that broke up in a jet engine.

    We’re reporting on crashes that don’t happen. These are close calls, sure, but nobody’s been hurt. Nobody’s been killed. So it kind of shows, in a way, how safe the system is.

    WOLF: Is there a spot in the system that is particularly weak? Is it takeoff or landing? What is the thing that makes pilots most nervous?

    MUNTEAN: The common theme is having so many airplanes close together. That’s sort of the inherent flaw of an airport, right? You bring in airplanes and take off and land. You may be using multiple different runways at the same time. There’s a lot of demand in the air traffic right now.

    Every airport is different, right?

    Some airports may have a lot of runways that are parallel and a lot of taxiways that are parallel to one another, like at Dulles the other day, where we went. There are three runways lined up: one left, one center and one right. They’re all headed the same direction to the north. You have to be really careful that you’re lined up with the right one.

    There are a few different things that you can do in the airplane to mitigate that and make sure that you have a safeguard of your own. But I think it really varies by the airport. In some places, there are intersecting runways. There are taxiways that have confusing turns.

    The FAA does granular looks at things like this, where they say something like this taxiway design isn’t all that great, there may be a blind spot here, as you’re taxiing you may approach this at a 45-degree angle or it could be a 90-degree angle where somebody in the cockpit can see more.

    Also when conditions are changing – we saw in the Austin incident the weather was abysmal at that time. It was very low cloud ceilings and very low visibility where the pilots were able to get an indication that there was somebody on the runway, an approaching FedEx flight and a Southwest flight that was still on the runway that hadn’t taken off yet.

    They weren’t necessarily able to see that (Southwest flight), so far as we know, by their eyeball.

    There are a lot of things at play. You can’t just say it’s any one different thing. And remember, these pilots are often going in and out of different places multiple times a day. The responsibility is on everybody.

    WOLF: Do pilots face the same sort of difficult lifestyle we’ve been hearing about for train operators?

    MUNTEAN: There’s a ton of regulation that protects pilots. We see that occasionally getting better. Even flight attendants have gotten longer rest rules recently, where they’re able to rest between trips for a longer period of time.

    There’s always friction between organized labor, work groups and the companies that they work for. A lot of times it comes down to regulators and what they are able to do for workers. Pretty much every major airline right now – their pilot groups, as well as a lot of major flight attendant groups – are going through contract negotiations with their companies.

    Some of the safety and protection, unions would say, comes from a good deal that protects not only their ability to work but also keeps pilots and passengers safe. Organized labor and unions have a lot to say about this, and they want to make sure that they are treated fairly to make it so that these incidents don’t happen.

    I just talked to Dennis Tajer, who’s the representative of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents all the American Airlines pilots, and he said this is something that we’ve kind of been pounding our fists on the podium about, we’ve said for about a year that the air traffic system and the aviation system and the airline system are just under too much pressure, and now you’re seeing the result of that.

    It’s on not only regulators like the FAA, the Department of Transportation but also companies to make sure that these major airlines – which are huge corporations – to make sure that their pilots are safe and doing the job properly with the proper amount of rest, with the proper amount of resources.

    WOLF: Right. It’s in nobody’s interest for there to be an incident.

    MUNTEAN: Everyone says safety is a top priority, of course.

    But depending on your viewpoint, safety can have a lot of different meanings.

    WOLF: It’s always been my sense that air traffic is one of the most, if not the most, government-regulated systems in the country. Unlike other areas where there might be a move toward deregulation, this is something the government controls and is going to continue to control.

    MUNTEAN: It’s super regulated because a lot of the rules are, frankly, written in blood.

    When you talk about this runway incursion issue, the landmark case is the Tenerife accident (in 1977), where KLM and Pan Am 747s that both diverted to Tenerife, an island near Spain, ran into one another and killed a bunch of people. There were some survivors, but it was a classic runway incursion incident.

    One of the airplanes was back taxiing down the runway, as the KLM crew essentially blasted off without regard for where the other airplane was. They couldn’t see it because the weather was poor.

    These regulations are often born out of horrible disasters. And I think the thing to point out here is that we have avoided disaster in these six cases, but in some cases came pretty close. It underscores why things were so regulated and also why the regulators are taking this so seriously.

    WOLF: What are you looking out for?

    MUNTEAN: I would point out these things are still under investigation. And the National Transportation Safety Board has tried to shed a lot of light on this issue. I asked Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB, why do you think these things are happening more?

    She said, well, it’s possible that these things are happening more. It’s also possible that these things are getting more attention. It doesn’t matter; it’s good that these things are being brought to the spotlight.

    That could ultimately have a huge impact on safety. Aviation is not waiting for another Tenerife. They’re taking these one-off scares and really trying to learn from them.

    WOLF: You sound very passionate about all of this.

    MUNTEAN: I love flying more than anything. The cool part of my job is I get to talk about aviation for a living, and it’s something I’m so passionate about.

    I also instruct and teach people. I just came back from this incredible trip in Kenya where I got to instruct for the Kenya Wildlife Service Airwing, flying with essentially rangers, who are also pilots, with an anti-poaching air force.

    And that was just incredibly cool, but the focus is safety. Maybe I’m a little biased, but aviation is just like something I always geek out on. It’s fun to talk about. …

    I was invited with a group of instructors to go there, and we were in a national park south of Nairobi, called Tsavo West. We flew with 19 different pilots. Three instructors from the States essentially go down and audit their flying ability and safety.

    They’re very, very good pilots. Because they fly at a few hundred feet, guarding against poachers and spotting wildlife, they don’t have a ton of margin for error. We did a lot of brush-up things with them, and they were all very appreciative, and it was a very cool and rewarding experience flying smaller airplanes.

    Those are the type of airplanes that are best suited for that mission, because they can fly low and slow and have a lot of visibility. You can’t do that in a jet.

    It’s sort of like flying into Jurassic Park, because you see elephants all the time, and we saw rhinos and more zebras than I can ever count, and giraffes. But these pilots do a really important job, and (it) was really cool to be a part of it.

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  • When China shot down five U-2 spy planes at the height of the Cold War | CNN

    When China shot down five U-2 spy planes at the height of the Cold War | CNN


    Seoul, South Korea
    CNN
     — 

    When a Chinese high-altitude balloon suspected of spying was spotted over the United States recently, the US Air Force responded by sending up a high-flying espionage asset of its own: the U-2 reconnaissance jet.

    It was the Cold-War era spy plane that took the high-resolution photographs – not to mention its pilot’s selfie – that reportedly convinced Washington the Chinese balloon was gathering intelligence and not, as Beijing continues to insist, studying the weather.

    In doing so, the plane played a key role in an event that sent tensions between the world’s two largest economies soaring, and shone an international spotlight on the methods the two governments use to keep tabs on each other.

    Until now, most of the media’s focus has been on the balloon – specifically, how a vessel popularly seen as a relic of a bygone era of espionage could possibly remain relevant in the modern spy’s playbook. Yet to many military historians, it is the involvement of that other symbol of a bygone time, the U-2, that is far more telling.

    The U-2 has a long and storied history when it comes to espionage battles between the US and China. In the 1960s and 1970s, at least five of them were shot down while on surveillance missions over China.

    Those losses haven’t been as widely reported as might be expected – and for good reason. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was responsible for all of America’s U-2s at the time the planes were shot down, has never officially explained what they were doing there.

    Adding to the mystery was that the planes were being flown not by US pilots nor under a US flag, but by pilots from Taiwan who, in a striking parallel to today’s balloon saga, claimed to be involved in a weather research initiative.

    That the CIA would be tight-lipped over what these American-built spy planes were doing is hardly surprising.

    But the agency’s continued silence more than 50 years later – it did not respond to a CNN request for comment on this article – speaks volumes about just how sensitive the issue was both at the time and remains today.

    The US government has a general rule of 25 years for automatic declassification of sensitive material. However, one of its often-cited reasons for ignoring this rule is in those cases where revealing the information would “cause serious harm to relations between the US and a foreign government, or to ongoing diplomatic activities of the US.”

    Contemporary accounts of what the planes were doing – by the Taiwan pilots who were shot down, retired US Air Force officers and military historians among them – leave little doubt as to why it would have caused a stir.

    The planes – according to accounts by the pilots in a Taiwan-made documentary film and histories published on US government websites – had been transferred to Taiwan as part of a top-secret mission to snoop on Communist China’s growing military capabilities, including its nascent nuclear program, which was receiving help from the Soviet Union.

    The newly developed U-2, nicknamed the Dragon Lady, appeared to offer the perfect vessel. The US had already used it to spy on the Soviet’s domestic nuclear program as its high-altitude capabilities – it was designed in the 1950s to reach “a staggering and unprecedented altitude of 70,000 feet,” in the words of its developer Lockheed – put it out of the range of antiaircraft missiles.

    Or so the US had thought. In 1960, the Soviets shot down a CIA-operated U-2 and put its pilot Gary Powers on trial. Washington was forced to abandon its cover story (that Powers had been on a weather reconnaissance mission and had drifted into Soviet airspace after blacking out from oxygen depletion), admit the spy plane program, and barter for Powers to be returned in a prisoner swap.

    “Since America didn’t want to have its own pilots shot down in a U-2 the way Gary Powers had been over the Soviet Union in 1960, which caused a major diplomatic incident, they turned to Taiwan, and Taiwan was all too willing to allow its pilots to be trained and to do a long series of overflights over mainland China,” Chris Pocock, author of “50 Years of the U-2,” explained in the 2018 documentary film “Lost Black Cats 35th Squadron.”

    A mobile chase car pursues a U-2 Dragon Lady as it prepares to land at Beale Air Force Base in California in June 2015.

    Like the U-2, Taiwan – also known as the Republic of China (ROC) – seemed a perfect choice for the mission. The self-governing island to the east of the Chinese mainland was at odds with the Communist leadership in Beijing – as it remains today – and at that time in history had a mutual defense treaty with Washington.

    That treaty has long since lapsed, but Taiwan remains a point of major tensions between China and the United States, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowing to bring it under the Communist Party’s control and Washington still obligated to provide it with the means to defend itself.

    Today, the US sells F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan as part of that obligation. In the 1960s, Taiwan got the US-made U-2s.

    The island’s military set up a squadron that would officially be known as the “Weather Reconnaissance and Research Section.”

    But its members – pilots from Taiwan who had been trained in the US to fly U-2s – knew it by a different name: the “Black Cats.”

    The author Pocock and Gary Powers Jr., the son of the pilot shot down by the Soviets and the co-founder of the Cold War Museum in Washington, DC, explained the thinking behind the squadron and its mission in the 2018 documentary film.

    The other CIA unit in Taiwan

  • Coinciding with the Black Cat Squadron, the Black Bat Squadron was formed under the cooperation of the Central Intelligence Agency and Taiwan’s air force, according to a Taiwan Defense Ministry website.
  • While the Black Cats were in charge of high-altitude reconnaissance missions, the Black Bats conducted low-altitude reconnaissance and electronic intelligence gathering missions over mainland China from May 1956. It also operated in Vietnam in tandem with the US during the Vietnam War.
  • Between 1952 to 1972, the Black Bats lost 15 aircraft and 148 lives, according to the website.

“The Black Cats program was implemented because the American government needed to find out information over mainland China – what were their strengths and weaknesses, where were their military installations located, where were their submarine bases, what type of aircraft were they developing,” said Powers Jr.

Lloyd Leavitt, a retired US Air Force lieutenant general, described the mission as “a joint intelligence operation by the United States and the Republic of China.”

“American U-2s were painted with ROC insignia, ROC pilots were under the command of a ROC (Air Force) colonel, overflight missions were planned by Washington, and both countries were recipients of the intelligence gathered over the mainland,” Leavitt wrote in a 2010 personal history of the Cold War published by the Air Force Research Institute in Alabama.

One of the first men to fly the U-2 for Taiwan was Mike Hua, who was there when the first of the planes arrived at Taoyuan Air Base in Taiwan in early 1961.

“The cover story was that the ROC (air force) had purchased the aircraft, that bore the (Taiwanese) national insignia. … To avoid being confused with other air force organizations stationed in Taoyuan, the section became the 35th Squadron with the Black Cat as its insignia,” Hua wrote in a 2002 history of the unit for the magazine Air Force Historical Foundation.

At the Taiwan airbase, Americans worked with the Taiwan pilots, helping to maintain the aircraft and process the information. They were know as Detachment H, according to Hua.

“All US personnel were ostensibly employees of the Lockheed Aircraft Company,” Hua wrote.

The ROC air force and US representatives inked an agreement on the operation, giving it the code name “Razor,” Hua wrote.

He described the intelligence gained by the flights as “tremendous” and said it was shared between Taipei and Washington.

“The missions covered the vast interior of the Chinese mainland, where almost no aerial photographs had ever been taken,” he wrote. “Each mission brought back an aerial photographic map of roughly 100 miles wide by 2,000 miles long, which revealed not only the precise location of a target, but also the activities on the ground.”

Other sensors on the spy planes gathered information on Chinese radar capabilities and more, he said.

Between January 1962 and May 1974, according to a history on Taiwan’s Defense Ministry’s website, the Black Cats flew 220 reconnaissance missions covering “more than 10 million square kilometers over 30 provinces in the Chinese mainland.”

When asked for further comment on the Black Cats, the ministry referred CNN to the published materials.

“The idea was that black cats go out at night, and the U-2 would usually launch in the darkness. Their cameras were the eyes, and it was very stealthy, quiet, and hard to get. And so combining the two stories, they became known as the Black Cats,” the author Pocock said in the documentary.

The squadron even had its own patch, reputedly drawn by one of its members, Lt. Col. Chen Huai-sheng, and inspired by a local establishment frequented by the pilots.

But the Black Cats, like Powers Sr. two years before, were about to find out their U-2s were not impervious to antiaircraft fire.

On September 9, 1962, Chen became the first U-2 pilot to be shot down by a People’s Liberation Army antiaircraft missile. His plane went down while on a mission over Nanchang, China.

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tyler Thompson)

See photos showing US Navy recovering spy balloon from water

In the following years, three more Black Cat U-2 pilots were killed on missions over China as the PLA figured out how to counter the U-2 missions.

“The mainland Chinese learned from their radars where these flights were going, what their targets were, and they began to build sites for the missiles but move them around,” Pocock said.

“So they would build a site here, occupy that site for a while but if they thought the next flight would be going over here, they would move the missiles. It was a cat-and-mouse game, literally a black cat and mouse game between the routines from the flights from Taiwan and those air defense troops of the (Chinese) mainland, working out where the next flight would go.”

In July 1964, Lt. Col. Lee Nan-ping’s U-2 was shot down by a PLA SA-2 missile over Chenghai, China. According to the Taiwan Defense Ministry he was flying out of a US naval air station in the Philippines and trying to gain information on China’s supply routes to North Vietnam.

In September 1967, a PLA missile hit the U-2 being flown by Capt. Hwang Rung-pei over Jiaxin, China, and in May 1969, Maj. Chang Hsieh suffered a “flight control failure” over the Yellow Sea while reconnoitering the coast of Hebei province, China. No trace of his U-2 was ever found, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.

A U-2 Dragon Lady, from Beale Air Force Base, lands at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, in 2017.

Two other Taiwanese U-2 pilots were shot down but survived, only to spend years in Communist captivity.

Maj. Robin Yeh was shot down in November 1963 over Jiujiang, Jiangxi province.

“The plane lost control when the explosion of the missile took out part of the left wing. The plane spiraled down. Lots of shrapnel flew into the plane and hit both of my legs,” Yeh, who died in 2016, recalled in “The Brave in the Upper Air: An Oral History of The Black Cat Squadron” published by Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.

He said that following his capture Chinese doctors removed 59 pieces of shrapnel from his legs, but couldn’t take it all out.

“It didn’t really affect my daily life, but during winter my legs would hurt, which affected my mobility. I guess this would be my lifelong memory,” Yeh said.

Maj. Jack Chang’s U-2 was hit by a missile over Inner Mongolia in 1965. He, too, suffered dozens of shrapnel injuries and bailed out, landing on a snowy landscape.

“It was dark at the time, preventing me from seeking help anyway, so I had to wrap myself up tightly with the parachute to keep myself warm … After ten hours when dawn broke, I saw a village of yurts afar, so I dragged myself and sought help there. I collapsed as soon as I reached a bed,” he recalled in the oral history.

Neither Yeh nor Chang, who were assumed killed in action, would see Taiwan again for decades. The pilots were eventually released in 1982 into Hong Kong, which at the time was still a British colony.

However, the world into which they emerged had changed greatly in the intervening years. The US no longer had a mutual defense treaty with Taiwan and had formally switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Though the Cold War US-Taiwan alliance was no longer, the CIA brought the two pilots to the US to live until they were finally allowed to return to Taiwan in 1990.

Members of the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron

Indeed, by the time of their release CIA control of the U-2 program had long since ceased. It had turned the planes over to the US Air Force in 1974, according to a US Air Force history.

Two years later, the Air Force’s 99th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron and its U-2s moved into Osan Air Base in South Korea. Commander Lt. Col. David Young gave the location the “Black Cat” moniker.

Today, the unit is known as the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron.

But US U-2s continue to be involved in what might be characterized as “cat-and-mouse” activities and their activities continue to make waves occasionally in China. In 2020, Beijing accused the US of sending a U-2 into a no-fly zone to “trespass” on live-fire exercises being conducted by China below.

The US Pacific Air Forces confirmed to CNN at the time that the flight had taken place, but said it did not violate any rules.

Meanwhile, for those involved in the original Black Cats, there are few regrets – even for those who were captured.

Yeh told the documentary makers he had fond memories of life at 70,000 feet.

“We were literally up in the air. The view we had was also different; we had the bird’s eye view. Everything we saw was vast,” he said.

Chang too felt no bitterness.

“I love flying,” he said. “I didn’t die, so I have no regrets.”

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  • Lufthansa flight diverts to Virginia after ‘significant turbulence,’ and 7 people are transported to hospitals | CNN

    Lufthansa flight diverts to Virginia after ‘significant turbulence,’ and 7 people are transported to hospitals | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A Lufthansa flight traveling from Texas to Germany was diverted to Virginia’s Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday evening because of turbulence that left some passengers injured, an airport spokesperson said.

    Lufthansa Flight 469, which took off from Austin, experienced “significant turbulence” and landed safely at Dulles, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokesperson Michael Cabbage said.

    Seven people were transported to hospitals, Cabbage said.

    Brief but severe turbulence happened about 90 minutes after takeoff and resulted in minor injuries to some passengers, a statement given to CNN by a Lufthansa spokesperson reads.

    “This was so-called clear air turbulence, which can occur without visible weather phenomena or advance warning,” the statement reads.

    “The affected passengers were given initial care on board by the flight attendants trained for such cases. As the safety and well-being of passengers and crew members is the top priority at all times, the cockpit crew decided to make an alternate landing to (Dulles airport) after flying through the turbulence.”

    The crew of the Airbus A330 reported reported encountering the turbulence at an altitude of 37,000 feet over Tennessee, the Federal Aviation Administration told CNN.

    The flight landed at Dulles airport around 9:10 p.m., FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor said.

    The FAA will investigate the incident, Gregor said.

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  • FAA is investigating a close call between 2 aircraft at Boston Logan | CNN

    FAA is investigating a close call between 2 aircraft at Boston Logan | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Air traffic controllers stopped a departing private jet from running into a JetBlue flight as it was coming in to land Monday night in Boston, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

    The FAA says it is investigating the incident. This is the fifth close call involving a commercial airliner on a runway this year.

    The two planes involved in Monday night’s apparent close call at Boston Logan International Airport came within 565 feet (172 meters) of colliding, according to Flightradar24’s preliminary review of its data.

    Asked for comment on the Flightradar24 analysis, the agency told CNN, “The FAA will determine the closest proximity between the two aircraft as part of the investigation.”

    “According to a preliminary review, the pilot of a Learjet 60 took off without clearance while JetBlue Flight 206 was preparing to land on an intersecting runway,” the FAA said in a statement on Tuesday.

    “JetBlue 206, go around,” said the controller in Boston Logan’s tower, according to recordings archived by LiveATC.net.

    The FAA says its air traffic controller told the crew of the Learjet to “line up and wait” on Runway 9 as the JetBlue Embraer 190 approached the intersecting Runway 4 Right.

    “The Learjet pilot read back the instructions clearly but began a takeoff roll instead,” the FAA said in a statement. “The pilot of the JetBlue aircraft took evasive action and initiated a climb-out as the Learjet crossed the intersection.”

    The National Transportation Safety Board tells CNN it has not launched an investigation into the incident at Boston Logan, though it has investigated four other runway incursions involving commercial airliners at major US airports this year.

    On Friday, the agency announced it was investigating a possible “runway incursion” in Burbank, California, involving Mesa and SkyWest regional airliners.

    Three other incidents have occurred at Honolulu, Austin and New York’s JFK airport this year.

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