FAA loses track of 119,000 aircraft

[cory777]

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Federal Aviation Administration is missing key information on who owns one-third of the 357,000 private and commercial aircraft in the U.S. -- a gap the agency fears could be exploited by terrorists and drug traffickers.

The records are in such disarray that the FAA says it is worried that criminals could buy planes without the government's knowledge, or use the registration numbers of other aircraft to evade new computer systems designed to track suspicious flights. It has ordered all aircraft owners to re-register their planes in an effort to clean up its files.

About 119,000 of the aircraft on the U.S. registry have "questionable registration" because of missing forms, invalid addresses, unreported sales or other paperwork problems, according to the FAA. In many cases, the FAA cannot say who owns a plane or even whether it is still flying or has been junked.

Already there have been cases of drug traffickers using phony U.S. registration numbers, as well as instances of mistaken identity in which police raided the wrong plane because of faulty record-keeping.

Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-Enterprise-FAA-loses-track-apf-1362303896.html?x=0&.v=9

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Activist News http://activistnews.blogspot.com/

[Turbineguy]

1. Maybe some of the records

were dumped during the Bush admin as part of the "destroy government" program.

[melm00se]

8. actually it's more than likely

that owners of the planes:

didn't know their registrations expire/expired.
willfully ignored that fact
thought it was not their responsibility to do it
or (and this is the biggie) they realized that once their registration lapsed they would have to have their planes Airworthiness Certification redone (which I am gathering ain't cheap as it involves a physical inspection as well as a detailed review of maintenance files and the sites I can find that do that all have "request a quote" rather than a flat fee schedule)

so as long as the FAA didn't say anything the owners weren't either. It's not like there is an FAA license and registration "sky" block out there where they check your license, registration and insurance. "Sir, please pull over to that cloud and have your license and registration handy"

[Turbineguy]

12. Under the

"do not ascribe to malevolence what can be explained by incompetence" doctrine, that makes more sense.

[indimuse]

2. this is crazy! nt

[bulloney]

3. But we all get our full body scans and get felt up our body cavities before flying.

[hobbit709]

4. That's more important, doncha know.

[HopeHoops]

5. "I know I set them down around here SOMEWHERE! Maybe they're with my missing set of keys."

:shrug:

[hayu_lol]

6. Doncha think that the Homeland Security System should...

have built a fire under the FAA since 9-11?

Time to turn registration over to DMV.

If the FAA has not kept up with the flow, the question is what have they been doing over the past 8 years.

[HopeHoops]

7. It isn't like the shrub actually gave a shit about terrorism threats.

[BlueMTexpat]

11. You are absolutely right. The whole tactic was meant to keep everyone "terrorized"

so that BushCo could do exactly as they wanted and call us unpatriotic if we challenged them.
Actually doing anything meaningful to prevent terrorism - or to address the underlying causes of it - was never a part of it.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. The vast majority of the planes are General Aviaition

and the data has been in this shape for many years without significant incidents or problems

[Chef Eric]

9. How dare Associated Press release this dangerous info; they should be arrested. nt

:sarcasm:

[paparush]

10. PostgreSQL. Download, install, use. That is all.

Alarm-inducing headline you got there, OP.

A real attention grabber.

/imagined thousands of radar screens going blank simultaneously

[old mark]

13. Probably just an "OOPS" rather than a plot...I doubt our government is smart enough

to plot something this complex. They have not shown that much intelligence over the last 45 years or so...


mark

[bemildred]

14. FAA has a log history of being incompetent in dealing with computers.

I remember consulting on one of their attempts to upgrade their systems back in the 1980s and being just appalled. Of course I was sent back to my old project.

[2Design]

16. and they are worried about wikileaks - they are their own enemy