FAA Archives - Granite Grok

The FAA Is Actually the FA FAFO A

February 2, 2025 Steve MacDonald

Sixty-seven people are dead thanks to the Federal Aviation F-around and Find Out Administration (FAFAFOA). It is a problem that has been growing for over a decade of FAFO hiring policy decisions at the FAA and elsewhere that began during the Obama administration. First things first. The Associated Press reported Thursday that preliminary findings by … Read more

Boston Federal Judge to Hear Transportation Mask Mandate Case Tuesday Morning

April 26, 2022 Op-Ed

Media Advisory for 9:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, April 26 A federal judge in Boston will hear arguments Tuesday morning on several motions pending in Seklecki v. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, one of 14 lawsuits pending around the country by members of Americans Against Mask Mandates seeking additional judgments declaring the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate … Read more

New England Plaintiffs Condemn CDC for 5th Extension of Transportation Mask Rule

April 14, 2022 Op-Ed

UXBRIDGE, Massachusetts — Numerous Americans Against Mask Mandates members suing the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Transportation Security Administration, and 10 airlines to strike down their face-covering dictates expressed outrage today at CDC’s announcement it will extend the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate for a fifth time, from April 18 to May 3.

Why Did the FAA Secure Air Space over the Nashville RV Explosion Site?

December 27, 2020 Steve MacDonald

On Christmas morning, an RV played an evacuation announcement before exploding. The blast did damage to several buildings, including one used by AT&T that took out communications equipment. And now the Federal Aviation Administration has declared a No-Fly Zone over part of Nashville, Tennessee.

Obama Admin Releases $500 Million for the FAA…Nope, Wait!

September 26, 2018March 24, 2013 Steve MacDonald

Sorry. That should read….Obama Admin Releases 500 Million dollars for the FAA PA. Not Pennsylvania, the Palestinian Authority. Ben Shapiro reports that the Obamadministration has agreed to allow half a billion dollars to flow into the hands of Mahmoud Hamas Abbas. So screw you air traffic controllers, park rangers, and border agents everywhere. You Head-Start kids … Read more

Oh WHY did we think that this would be part of those FAA tower closures?

September 26, 2018March 23, 2013 Skip

I learned to fly out of the Lawrence Airport in MA and part of the training was to fly in and out of smaller airports. I learned the radio frequencies to use to announce my entry into the landing / takeoff patter and to toggle the runway lights. Standard fare as most of the airports in the US are considered “general aviation” fields – small biz jets and prop planes – not having a Tower talk you in was no big deal. So upon hearing that the FAA was going to close some of these towers of the mid size fields was not a big deal – pilots are trained to deal with this. But like much of Obama’s response to his own sequester plan (for it was the White House that came up with it), instead of a corporate handling of a 2.4% lowered budget (where true non-essentials are cut out), his Administration has been intent on causing the taxpayers and citizens as much grief as possible (even as his Administration just caused all of us to live 2.4% less due to raising out taxes). So closing FAA towers is part of that – but WHY these particular 149 Towers? From Hot Air:

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday told 149 regional airports across the country it would begin closing their air traffic control towers in April, but said it would spare another 40 towers that had been on the chopping block.

As the post says, this is all about less than 2/3ds of a $Billion out of budget of $58 Billion – small change at the 50,000 foot level. But take out paper pushers first? But what is so special about those 40? Oh, sure:

From The Edge of Sequestration – About Those Job Cuts…

September 26, 2018March 13, 2013 Steve MacDonald

We’ve been warned of tainted food as the FDA furloughs workers, thinning ranks as border agents get let go, and fewer Federal prosecutors, and don’t forget about those FAA employees that have to be let go. So why, in the age of sequesteria, has the Federal Government posted job opening to fill 2,596 positions in just the past ten days? … Read more

Shea-Porter Promotes Air Traffic Controller Sequester Scare But Ignores FAA Waste on One-Percenters

September 26, 2018March 12, 2013 Steve MacDonald

Shea-Porter on potential FAA cuts at Manchester airport

Democrat Carol Shea-Porter, the Democrat parties “narrative mule” for congressional district one in New Hampshire, has a link on her official “I’m Your Congresswoman!” Facebook page. Shea-Porter’s status update simply says “Control towers at airports such as Manchester’s could be left unstaffed by budget cuts.”

Unstaffed! Holy Air traffic controller-less tower Batman!

The link provided with this ‘news’ leads to a story at NECN about how the airport tower in Manchester, New Hampshire is on the list of candidates in New England that could lose it’s midnight shift as a result of some $600 million dollars in cuts to the FAA budget as a result of Barack Obama’s sequester. That would be the sequester that the White house and Democrats arm-twisted the House into passing (with Democrat support), and has since decided to blame them for in its entirety.

Carol, the dutiful Democrat sheep that she is, has happily toed the assigned narrative without regard to the veracity of its claims, but someone might want to tell her a few things about how much DOT, and more specifically the FAA, requests annually in its budget, and how much of that massive sum gets wasted on what the FAA itself calls “low priority spending.”