Federal Aviation Administration

Arlington PD Answers All Your Questions About Its "Aviation Unit," Which Consists Entirely of Two Drones

The Arlington Police Department recently got permission from the FAA to use the two small, battery-operated drones they purchased last year using grant money from Homeland Security. Presumably, the drones will mostly be used to hover over Jerry Jones while he's at work, clipping him in the head with ... More >>

Arlington Police Now Have FAA Approval to Use Those Drones They Bought

Last month, we told you that the Arlington Police Department submitted an application to the Federal Aviation Administration in 2012, asking to please be allowed to use the two small remote control drones they bought. The drones were purchased for a little over $200,000 from Leptron Industrial Robo ... More >>

Arlington Police Bought Two Drones, Which They Hope to Start Using Very Soon

Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration released a list of all the city and state entities who have applied for a license to fly unmanned aerial drones. That list was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF), an organization tha ... More >>

Texas Lawmakers Want to Stop People (and the Cops) from Using Drones to Take Your Picture

Last February, animal rights activists in South Carolina launched a small drone equipped with a camera to monitor a pigeon hunt on a private shooting plantation. The hunters promptly shot it down. The activists' use of the drone seems to have been perfectly legal, but it's relatively uncharted terr ... More >>

Irving-based ExxonMobil's Allegedly Ageist Pilot Retirement Policy Survives Federal Challenge

A six-year court battle waged by the feds against an ExxonMobil policy mandating the retirement of all corporate pilots at the age of 60 was dealt its second defeat in a Dallas federal court. The challenge, filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, characterized the policy as ageist and ... More >>

Ten Observations from a Rangers Tailgate

If you weren't there for Opening Day on Friday, I'm sorry. But there's a lot more to come, including tonight's Opening Yu. We went Friday, and are here now with 10 tips, reminders and observations. 1. Tailgating at Rangers Ballpark on Friday was everything it was supposed to be. The crowd was big ... More >>

Survey Says American, Southwest Are the Top Two Carriers When It Comes to Losing Bags

​A Friend of Unfair Park passes along The Wall Street Journal's latest look-see at how well the big carriers handle passengers and their luggage, and per the annual Middle Seat survey the two locally based airlines don't do so well when it comes to getting your bags to your destination. As in: Ame ... More >>

Inland Port, Executive Airport Land on Council's Radar During Talk of Economic Development

​Before the council's Economic Development Committee got 'round to talking about Dallas's employment figures -- and it was a brief briefing -- familiar Unfair Park figure Karl Zavitkovsky, head of the Office of Economic Development, gave the council an hour-long-plus overview of what his office of ... More >>

WSJ Climbs Inside DFW's Control Tower

​As it turns out, according to an article that just appeared on the Wall Street Journal's website, life inside the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport air traffic control towers -- otherwise known as the Terminal Radar Approach Control facility, or TRACON -- is sort of a cross between Airplane! and Pushing ... More >>

Southwest's Flight Attendants Are Furious Over Pilot's Comments and Carrier's Response

​Perhaps you've heard: Back on March 25, a still-unidentified Southwest Airlines pilot was somewhere over the great state of Texas when he decided to use his open mike to review the Love Field-based carrier's flight attendants. Said the fellow, all he could find on his route were "11 fucking over- ... More >>

Ron Corning Will Save WFAA's Morning Show?

​A few weeks ago, Ed Bark noted that WFAA-Channel 8 was moving Chris Flanagan, co-host of its morning-news show Daybreak, to Good Morning Texas, whatever that is. His replacement: Ron Corning, who's leaving Kabletown's Long Island affiliate to pair up with Cynthia Izaguirre, the sixth-most famous ... More >>

Come Wednesday, Don't Worry About Those Fighters Overhead, Arlington. It's Only a Drill.

​Few weeks back we got a long, hard look at the Federal Aviation Administration's no-fly-zone for Super Bowl Sunday. Ah, yes, but what to do when someone decides to launch their seaplane or go hang-gliding anyhows? Well, of course -- North American Aerospace Defense Command to the rescue.But NORAD ... More >>

Goodbye Blue Sky: When You See This Plane Buzz Downtown Monday, Don't Run Like Hell

​What you see above is one of the Environmental Protection Agency's AeroCommander 680s, which the agency uses to sniff air quality via Airborne Spectral Photographic Environmental Collection Technology. (I dunno.) Which I mention only because the Dallas Police Department just sent this heads-up we ... More >>

Dunno About Super Bowl Sunday Being a No-Fun Zone. But No-Fly Zone? You Betcha.

​No doubt this will displease Shotgun Schutze, the noted model rocketeer and crop-duster who has crazy-big plans for Super Bowl Sunday. But via RotorNews we get a look at the Federal Aviation Administration's just-issued temporary flight restrictions issued for Dallas-Fort Worth during that weeken ... More >>

It Takes More Than Icy Wings to Keep a Mexican Grounded.

Southwest's Flight Attendants Also Don't Much Care For TSA's New Screening Procedures

​Southwest Airlines's 9,400 flight attendants just sent word: They don't wanna be scanned. And they don't wanna be gate-raped.  That's the gist of the missive Transport Workers Union Local 556 President Thom McDaniel sent to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and TSA Administrato ... More >>

It'll Never Fly Wilbur, Or How Leppert's Airport Money Grab Was Shot Down.

Quick, Robin, to the Vertiport! Sixteen Years Later, City Finds Use for $24 Mil Landing Pad.

​There are any number of interesting and important items on the council's agenda this week -- like the latest suggestions for regulating neighborhood farmers markets (which I'm gonna pass around this morning when I head over to the White Rock Local Market), the proposed budget for street services ... More >>

Look at It This Way: Now You Won't Have to Decide If You Want to Fly Stand-By on AA

​If you loved American Airlines' decision to charge for blankets and pillows, you're bound to go nuts over today's announcement: Starting with tickets bought on February 22, you won't be able to fly stand-by on the Fort Worth-based carrier unless you're willing to pony up $50 for a confirmed seat. ... More >>

"Suspicious Object" on a Light Pole in Front of Dallas News, WFAA Gets Police Attention

Schutze is at the Don Hill trial today, and during the lunch break he was sent word that WFAA and The Dallas Morning News buildings on César Chávez were cordoned off by police. Till moments ago, the Dallas Police Department's Web site listed an active call down thataways with no further explanatio ... More >>

City Needs Just a Little More of Passengers' Dough to Pay for Love Field Renovations

In October 2007, the Dallas City Council's Transportation and Environment Committee took up the issue of a proposed passenger facility charge for folks flying out of Love Field. The reason? The council was looking for ways to fund the capital improvements as part of the Love Field Modernization Prog ... More >>

Re: FYI, Read This ASAP. OMG!

The following is a prime example of my curse here on Earth. A fleeting thought sprouts into a mild observation, only to bloom into a thesis that eventually flourishes into a blog item with sports branches. My apologies ... Got a text the other day, the salutation of which was LOL ... More >>

Southwest's Settlement With the FAA Will Cost the Carrier Quite a Few Peanuts

Speaking of Southwest Airlines ... The Federal Aviation Administration today announced that at long last it has reached an agreement with the Dallas-based carrier concerning those 46 planes that were allowed to fly despite their not having been inspected for fuselage cracks. Southwest will pony up $ ... More >>

As Jeff Brady Departs Local TV, Tracy Rowlett Weighs In On the "Sad and Bad Place"

The head of Jeff Brady, which you'll no longer see on WFAA-Channel 8 in about a month's timeThose interested in the state of local TV news may want to peek at Uncle Barky's item from late last week concerning the March departure of WFAA-Channel 8 anchor Jeff Brady. He's exiting the ABC affiliate to ... More >>

Buzz Reviews the News of 2008: Yes. It Was All Bad.

Sex clubs in the 'burbs, teacher layoffs in the district, black holes in the commissioners court—Buzz makes perfect sense of 2008

Southwest Doesn't Feel Like Paying the FAA $10.2 Million in Fines. So There.

Southwest Airlines doesn't feel the Federal Aviation Administration's $10.2 million fine, handed down in March and due last August, is "fair or reasonable." So, you know what, Southwest's not gonna pay it, its spokesperson tells Bloomberg News today. To which the FAA says it's "still talking with" S ... More >>

Ron Kirk Still Mum on Possible Place in Barack Obama's White House

This morning, a Friend of Unfair Park directed our attention to The New York Times' page featuring Barack Obama's "New Team" -- those folks who've either been appointed to the new administration or who're being rumored for the short list of maybe-so's. And nowhere on the page does former Dallas Mayo ... More >>

Who's Having a Worse Day: American Airlines or the Dallas Zoo?

Reason to Believe

Quick, someone call Mulder. We have a sighting.

Looked Like You Picked the Wrong Week to Stop Sniffing Glue

FAA'ked

Update: The Fear of Landing

Herb Kelleher Had Himself a Good Ol' Time In Front of Congress

Whistle-Blowing at the FAA, Followed By a Few Threats

Items of Interest, Far As You Know

The Tale of Two Southwests

Southwest's Up and Down Day

Engine Trouble? What Engine Trouble?

No, Thanks, I'll Take the Bus

Wright is Wrong. No, Wait. Right. Wrong. Uh.

Rocketman

To boldly go where many have ralphed before

Yeah, But Where's Pinto?

Get the DVD or face double secret probation

Best TV Sports Anchor

Dale Hansen, WFAA-Channel 8

A Few Good Dogs

September 11 creates a bull market for dogs with a nose for explosives

Better Safe

Crop dusters contend with a slew of post-attack regulations

Survivor

Carmen Rivera-Worley swam away from the plane crash that killed her daughter. Now she wonders how many more will die before the FAA acts to prevent similar accidents.

Wading in

The FBI looks into DFW's pollution woes

Troubled waters

DFW Airport officials were warned years ago that they had a problem with water pollution. So why are fish still dying?

The (W)right to Fly

How little Legend Airlines beat mammoth American at its own game

Buzz