American flight reopens Haiti commercial air links
American Airlines flew the first commercial flight to Haiti on Friday since the earthquake on January 12.
Flight AA 377 from Miami, a Boeing 737 carrying 136 passengers, touched down at Toussaint L’Ouverture airport in Port-au-Prince and taxied up to the terminal, which was damaged in the quake but has been operating with the help of US military engineers and air force controllers.
Federal government to lift restrictions on guns in national parks
Starting Monday, the government will “lift long-standing restrictions on guns in national parks.”
Depending on state gun laws, visitors will be able to carry concealed and loaded guns into parks, the Park Service said.
The move concerns current and former employees of the National Park Service who are convinced that the move will damage the spirit of the nation’s park system.
FAA’s oversight of American is lax, says Inspector General
The FAA’s oversight of American Airlines’ maintenance program “lacks the rigor needed to identify the types of weaknesses alleged in complaints” according to a report released by the Office of the Inspector General (IG).
[T]he IG said that between 2005 and 2007, FAA did not perform required routine surveillance of American’s CASS [Continuing Analysis and Surveillance System] and reliability programs — two key systems for monitoring carriers’ maintenance programs.
While FAA reviewed the carrier’s policies and procedures governing the two systems, it did not determine whether the carrier actually followed them, said the IG.
(Photo: caribb/Flickr Creative Commons)
