Airports, Federal Aviation Administration | featured news

Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration released a final list Friday of 149 air traffic control towers that it will close at small airports around the country starting early next month.

The Senate has approved legislation ending a two-week partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, clearing the way for furloughed employees and airport construction projects to resume.

The Federal Aviation Administration was forced into a partial shutdown Monday after Congress failed to temporarily extend its funding. The agency was ordered to furlough thousands of employees and freeze $2.5 billion in airport construction money.

After Sen. James Inhofe landed his small plane on a closed runway at a rural South Texas airport last October and sent workers on the ground scrambling, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered him to take remedial piloting lessons.

The Federal Aviation Administration changed air traffic control work schedules Saturday, acknowledging it has a widespread problem with fatigue after another controller fell asleep on duty - this time in Miami....

The head of the FAA's air traffic control unit resigned Thursday after a fifth controller was caught dozing while working the graveyard shift, officials said. "Hank Krakowski has submitted his resignation, and I have accepted it," said Randy Babbit, chief administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Federal Aviation Administration has uncovered another incident in which an air traffic controller fell asleep on the job, and the agency's chief told a congressional panel Wednesday the incident was "willful."

Federal officials say the pilot of a small airplane is dead after a crash in central Illinois. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro says the single engine home-built aircraft took off from the Decatur Airport on Thursday afternoon and crashed 1.5 miles east of the airport.