
US Army Puts Chopper Training Flights Around Pentagon on Pause
An Army official confirmed the helicopter restrictions, first reported by Reuters, but added that the service is still conducting training out of Fort Belvoir in Virginia. The Federal Aviation Administration has permanently restricted non-essential helicopter operations near Reagan airport after a US Army helicopter collided midair with an American Airlines Group Inc. regional jet in January, killing 67 people.

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Associated Press
a day ago
- Associated Press
At 102, D-Day veteran looks forward to a long-delayed bar mitzvah
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Harold Terens fought in World War II. He's lived almost 102 years, celebrating his birthday a couple weeks early with family and friends in Florida. But he has something more to look forward to. His bar mitzvah. Terens said at his birthday celebration Saturday that his brother got the traditional Jewish ceremony marking the beginning of adulthood when they were kids living in New York, but he did not. 'My mother came from Poland. My father came from Russia. And my mother was a religious Jew. And my father was anti-religious. So they had two sons. And one son, they compromised. One son got bar mitzvahed, the other son didn't,' he said. Early next year, Terens said he will finally enjoy that ceremony. At the Pentagon outside Washington, no less. Terens said that came about when he was talking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on a TV panel and a rabbi overheard the conversation. 'I mentioned that I would like to be bar mitzvahed at 103 and he's the rabbi of the Pentagon so that's my next bucket list. I am going to be bar mitzvahed in the Pentagon,' Terens said. Terens turns 102 on Aug. 6. So Saturday's party was a little early. On D-Day — June 6, 1944 — Terens helped repair planes returning from France so they could rejoin the battle. He said half his company's pilots died that day. Terens went to France 12 days later, helping transport freshly captured Germans and just-freed American POWs back to England. Terens was honored in June 2024 by the French as part of the 80th anniversary celebration of their country's liberation from the Nazis. But that isn't all that happened on those Normandy beaches. He married Jeanne Swerlin, now 97. 'I thought my wedding in Normandy last year was the highlight of my life. Number one of all the moments of my life. You know, that's the saying, that life is not measured by how many breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away,' Terens said. He survived World War ll, was involved in a secret mission in Iran, another time barely escaping a German rocket after leaving a London pub just before it was destroyed. 'My life has been one huge fairy tale, especially with this new wife that I have. Who I love deeply and who I am going to spend the rest of my life till death do us part, as the mayor had us say in Normandy,' Terens said. After the German surrender in 1945, Terens helped transport freed Allied prisoners to England before he shipped back to the U.S. a month later. He married his wife Thelma in 1948 and they had two daughters and a son. He became a U.S. vice president for a British conglomerate. They moved from New York to Florida in 2006 after Thelma retired as a French teacher; she died in 2018 after 70 years of marriage. He has eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Terens gets asked a lot about his secret to longevity. 'I think if you can learn how to minimize stress, you'll go a long way. You'll add at least 10 years to your life. So that is number one. And 90% is luck,' he said.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
A Delta pilot narrowly avoided a B-52 collision in North Dakota: 'I don't know why they didn't give us a heads up at all'
A Delta pilot said he avoided a crash with a B-52 bomber after executing an "aggressive maneuver." The Delta flight, which was operated by SkyWest, was headed toward North Dakota. "It caught me by surprise, this is not normal at all," the pilot apologized to passengers. A Delta regional flight traveling from Minneapolis to Minot avoided a mid-air collision with a US Air Force B-52 bomber on Friday. The flight, which was operated by SkyWest Airlines as Delta Connection, was headed toward North Dakota when it encountered a B-52 bomber from Minot Air Force Base. It is unclear how close the two aircraft were to each other when the incident happened. The pilot of SkyWest flight 3788 told passengers that the craft had managed to evade the B-52 after executing an "aggressive maneuver." "I don't know how fast they were going, but they were a lot faster than us, I felt it was the safest thing to do to turn behind it," the pilot said while apologizing to passengers, per a recording of the conversation. "It caught me by surprise, this is not normal at all. I don't know why they didn't give us a heads up, because the Air Force base does have radar," the pilot continued, adding that it was "not a fun day at work." When approached for comment, Delta Air Lines referred Business Insider to SkyWest Airlines. SkyWest said the flight was originally "cleared for approach by the tower but performed a go-around when another aircraft became visible in their flight." It added that the plane had landed safely in Minot and they are "investigating the incident." A US Air Force spokesperson told BI in a statement that the B-52 had been conducting a flyover as part of a "special event recognizing the city of Minot as a 'Great American Defense Community.'" "The flyover was planned in advance and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration," the spokesperson said Crew members were in constant contact with "the FAA's local Flight Standards District Office, Minot International Airport air traffic control personnel, and Minot Approach Control" during the flyover, the statement added. It said that the airport's air traffic control personnel "did not advise of the inbound commercial aircraft." The FAA said in a statement to BI on Monday that it is investigating the incident. It added that the airport's air traffic services were "run by a private company" and the "controllers are not FAA employees." In January, an American Airlines flight collided with a UH-60 Black Hawk as it neared the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The collision killed all 67 people abroad the two aircraft. Representatives for Minot Air Force Base did not respond to a request for comment from BI. July 22, 1:30 a.m. — This story has been updated with statements from the US Air Force and the FAA. Read the original article on Business Insider Solve the daily Crossword


Scientific American
6 days ago
- Scientific American
Could AI Have Prevented SkyWest Airliner's Near Collision with a B52 Bomber?
On the evening of July 20, commercial SkyWest Flight 3788 was preparing to land at Minot International Airport in North Dakota, and the pilot suddenly made an extreme turn to avoid colliding with a military plane crossing his path. The pilot later landed the SkyWest plane safely and entered the cabin to apologize to passengers for having to make an 'aggressive maneuver.' According to a video taken by a passenger, which was confirmed by NBC News, the pilot said that an air-traffic controller had instructed him to turn right upon approach, but as the pilot looked in that direction, he saw what he described as a B-52 bomber on a 'converging course' with the SkyWest plane. The pilot aborted the approach and made the aggressive turn instead. The pilot also noted that the air-traffic control tower that serves the airport does not have radar and that its controllers depend on their own vision of planes near the airfield to make decisions. He added that the nearby Minot Air Force Base does have radar, and he wondered why no one from that operation had given him a warning. It is not uncommon for small airports to lack radar or to rely on communication from larger airports nearby that do have radar, whether commercial or military. This incident occurred six months after a military Black Hawk helicopter crashed into an American Airlines passenger jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing 67 people. Scientific American recently ran a story investigating whether artificial intelligence could improve air-traffic-control (ATC) safety or even replace air-traffic controllers. The near collision for SkyWest makes the question even more pertinent. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. In that story, by Adrienne Bernhard, we noted that ' short-staffed and overworked ATC workers try to monitor thousands of flights each day. Their work relies on many systems that have remained virtually unchanged for decades: runway lights are supported by technology first rolled out in the 1980s, and controllers in some towers still use paper to track aircraft movements. But perhaps the most analog aspect of ATC is that human beings are needed to guide pilots at every stage of flight.' We added that 'given the meteoric rise of AI applications, the control tower may be ripe for full automation in the near future. Human intervention would be the exception, not the rule.' An AI system is being tested at London's Heathrow Airport and at Singapore Changi Airport. We wrote that 'AI control would raise legal and ethical questions. Could AI be blamed for an accident? How risk-averse would an automated ATC system be? How risk-averse should it be?' We also noted that 'aviation experts aren't confident that the benefits would outweigh possible new problems resulting from increased automation in the tower. For one thing, AI currently lacks the creativity, intuition or adaptability needed to deftly handle any emergency that deviates from historical flight data. Automated technology adds another layer of unpredictability to a system already mired in uncertainty. Forcing pilots and controllers to become more dependent on technology could erode their ability to make quick decisions. And increased digitization of ATC systems could make them vulnerable to cybersecurity threats.'