FAA to ban pilot use of electronic devices

On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register which “would prohibit flight crew members in operations under part 121 from using a personal wireless communications device or laptop computer for personal use while at their duty station on the flight deck while the aircraft is being operated.” The rule was prompted by a 2009 incident in which a Northwest Airlines crew flew for 78 minutes and 150 miles past their destination without talking to air traffic controllers. It was later revealed that the crew became distracted with their laptop computers while in cruise flight. Additionally, the first officer of the Cogan Airlines flight that crashed in Buffalo in 2009 had sent text messages while the plane taxied out for takeoff.

There has long been a “sterile cockpit” rule in which flight crew members are prohibited from engaging in nonessential activities that could cause distractions in critical phases of flight such as taxi, takeoff, landing and operations below 10,000 feet except for cruise flight. The NPRM notes that the new rule would expand the ban for “personal wireless communications devices and laptop computers to all phases of flight.”

There would be several exemptions to the new rule. Pilots could use their personal communications devices or laptops if the use is “directly related to operation of the aircraft, or for emergency, safety-related, or employment-related communications and the use is in accordance with air carrier procedures approved by the Administrator.” In other words, pilots can make calls related to flying the airplane, aviation emergencies (personal emergencies are specifically excluded), or if they need to call their company for an operational reason. The rule would also exempt companies that have FAA approved programs that use electronic devices such as laptops or tablets for flight operations. In recent years, several airlines have been approved to use iPads in place of paper charts and manuals.

According to the NPRM, the rule “includes, but is not limited to, devices such as cell phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants, tablets, e-readers, gaming systems, netbook computers, and notebook computers.” Under the new rule, pilots could not legally listen to music or podcasts on their iPods or read an email on their phone during any phase of flight. Ironically, although pilots would be able to legally read a newspaper after the airplane is established in cruise flight above 10,000 feet, they would not be able to read a newspaper downloaded to a tablet application or browse a newspaper site on the internet.

While well intended, the new rule may have the unintended consequence of making pilots more fatigued and less alert. In jet aircraft, some flights can be very long. A typical flight from New York to Los Angeles can last from five to six hours and transoceanic flights are normally even longer. After the airplane takes off and reaches its cruising altitude, there can be little to do for long hours. Sitting still and staring out the window with nothing to do for extended periods can be very fatigue inducing. This is especially true when the flight is a “red-eye” that is conducted on the “back side of the clock,” when the airplane is being operated during nighttime hours when the crew is normally sleeping. During such flights, having a diversion such as a newspaper, crossword puzzle, or an electronic device with music, a podcast, or an ebook can keep the crew member mentally stimulated while conducting intermittent crosschecks of the autopilot and aircraft systems.

If electronic devices are banned from the flight deck, pilots will resort to old fashioned methods of passing the time. USA Today, delivered to nearly every hotel room in the country and stocked with crossword and Sudoku puzzles, is a traditional means of passing time on long flights behind a closed cockpit door. Many flight bags contain a deck of cards, a magazine, or a paperback novel. Pulling pranks on flight attendants is also a time-honored tradition of airline pilots. If all else fails, even in the age of GPS, most airplanes are still equipped with an automatic direction finder (ADF) that is more useful for listening to Rush Limbaugh on AM radio than for navigation.

The proposed rule is not yet in effect. The FAA has established a comment period that is open until March 17. Comments can be delivered electronically via a link on the Federal Register page where the proposed rule is published. A direct link to the comment form can be found here.

Originally published on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/faa-proposes-ban-on-pilot-use-of-electronic-devices?cid=db_articles

Rabbi’s book warns of God’s judgment on America

Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn believes that a 3,000 year old prophecy holds the key to understanding many of the cataclysmic events that have shaken the United States in the past decade. In his book, “The Harbinger,” a narrative that intertwines fiction with historical fact and Biblical teaching to point out striking parallels between God’s judgment of ancient Israel and recent American history. In the book, Cahn uses discussions between a mysterious prophet and journalist to point out these parallels.

Cahn’s message centers around Isaiah 9:10, a verse in which the ancient Israelites vowed to rebuild stronger than before in the aftermath of the first Assyrian invasion. According to Cahn, the process of divine judgment begins with the removal of God’s protective “hedge” to open the nation to attack. In the case of both nations, the removal of God’s protection led to an attack by terrorists. In Israel’s case, the attack was by the Assyrians in 732 B.C. In America’s case, it was by al Qaeda on 9/11. (Warning: The following review contains spoilers.)

In both cases, the attack was followed by defiance. The Israelites made the vow found in Isaiah: “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.” Put simply, they would take what was destroyed and replace it with something even better rather than repenting of their sins.

Ironically, this obscure Old Testament verse with its vow of defiance was used not once, but twice by American leaders in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. On Sept. 12, 2001, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle quoted the verse in a speech to congress where he specifically linked the verse to America. Three years later, on Sept. 11, 2004, Sen. John Edwards, then a vice presidential candidate, again invoked the verse in a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus. On February 24, 2009, President Obama echoed the defiant tone of the verse, saying in his address to Congress, “I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” Although George W. Bush also promised to rebuild after the attacks, he did not make the defiant vow that the U.S. would become stronger.

The prophecy literally came true in the case of the United States after 9/11. After the attacks, a giant sycamore tree was uprooted at Ground Zero. Two years later, the sycamore was replaced by a Norway spruce, scientifically the same type of tree that the ancient Israelites would have called a cedar according to Cahn. Likewise, bricks from the World Trade Center were replaced with a dressed cornerstone for the new Freedom Tower in 2004.

The links between the Bible and the news don’t end there. Cahn points out that the 9/11 attacks set in motion not one, but two record crashes of the stock market. The first occurred on the first day of trading after the attacks, Sept. 17, 2001. The second occurred seven years later on Sept. 29, 2008 at the onset of the Great Recession. The second crash was set in motion by the low interest rates put in place after 9/11 to stimulate the economy. The low interest rates fueled the credit bubble that eventually led to the real estate collapse.

There is significance to the dates of the two crashes. According to the Hebrew calendar, both occurred on Elul 29 of the years 5761 and 5768 respectively. Both of these years were Shemitah years according to Jewish tradition. In the Shemitah year, the ancient Israelites were to cancel debts and let their fields lie dormant. In 2008, billions of dollars in debts were canceled in terms of lost value, bailouts and bankruptcies. Many storefronts have factories have lain empty and unused since 2008. Further, the first collapse of the looming fiscal crisis was Northern Rock, a British bank that was nationalized on Sept. 13, 2007. In the Hebrew calendar, that would be Tishri 1, the New Year’s Day of the Shemitah year.

Cahn establishes the connection between America and Israel all the way back to 1789, the year of George Washington’s inauguration. Sen. Daschle alluded to this year in the same speech in which he cited Isaiah 9:10.

In 1789, New York City was the capitol of the United States. Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall where he gave a speech acknowledging God’s help in gaining independence: “No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”

Washington also called on the American people to remain faithful to God, saying “We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.…”

After being sworn in at Federal Hall, Washington led a procession of dignitaries to St. Paul’s Chapel in Manhattan for a prayer service. The same St. Paul’s Chapel is located at Ground Zero and was the original site of the Ground Zero sycamore. The shock wave when the World Trade Center collapsed literally cracked the foundation of Federal Hall, the birthplace of the United States government.

After the initial Assyrian invasion, Israel continued to resist both God and the Assyrians. Ten years after the first invasion in 722 B.C., the Assyrians conquered totally conquered Israel and took her people into captivity. The stakes for America are high.

“The Harbinger” lays out a convincing case that there is more to these connections than mere chance. The book contains many more links than can be presented here and their sheer volume makes it difficult to explain them away as coincidences. The majority of the instances that Cahn cites can be verified through independent sources online, such as the articles that have been linked here.

According to Lucille Gabel, an assistant at Cahn’s Hope of the World Ministry, the “Harbinger” is “reality” that is “framed and delivered through a narrative.” She continues, “The characters are fiction, but what they say through the mouth of the prophet is real.” The storyline makes the message easier to understand and receive.

Cahn has not revealed what he believes the next acts of judgment against the United States to be or when they will occur. On the “Jim Bakker Show” on Nov. 9, 2012, Cahn did say that the pattern of judgment includes repeated “shakings” that can include natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy and the Newtown massacre. He also noted that in the wake of the storm, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo again made the vow to rebuild Ground Zero better than before.

An obvious question is whether there is any significance to the next Shemitah Elul 29. The Gregorian date for this day on the Hebrew calendar is Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015. According to Gabel, “Jonathan [Cahn] was not led to dogmatically commit to that or deal with it in the present book.  He did allude [to] the fact that the pattern may extend – but he hasn’t yet been led to be dogmatic concerning it – just that we must stay vigilant and aware regarding this and many things.”

A recurrent theme in the book is that the “attempt of a nation to defy the course of its judgment, apart from repentance, will instead set in motion a chain of events to bring about the very calamity it sought to avert.” Cahn refers to this as the Isaiah 9:10 effect. The low interest rates after 9/11 leading to the real estate bubble and financial collapse is a prime example.

In the end it is up to each reader to decide for himself if the evidence that Cahn presents is sufficient to prove that the U.S. is indeed coming under divine judgment and, if so, what to do with that information. In any case, Sept. 13, 2015 might be a good day to watch the stock market.

 

If you are a social conservative or a believer in Christ and are concerned about the direction of the country, join the Christian Tea Party on Facebook.

 

Originally published on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/rabbi-s-book-warns-america-is-under-divine-judgment?cid=db_articles

American Eagle offers signing bonus as pilot shortage looms

In an email to prospective job seekers on Friday, American Eagle Airlines announced that it is offering a $5,000 signing bonus for newly hired pilots. At present, Eagle plans to hire 600 new pilots in 2013. New FAA rules require that new airline pilots meet Airline Transport Pilot license standards.

American Eagle notes that American Airlines, its parent company, is planning to hire 2,500 pilots over the next five years. Approximately half of the current list of Eagle pilots is expected to be hired by American or other major airlines.

The $5,000 bonus is paid at the beginning of training and requires a two year commitment to Eagle. According to Airline Pilot Central, American Eagle’s first year pay is $25 per hour with a 75 hour reserve guarantee. This works out to about $22,500 for the first year, not including the bonus. Pay is relatively flat for turboprop first officers, but FOs on jets, the majority of the fleet, will see an increase to $34 per hour and about $30,600 annually for the second year. Currently, the most junior captain has a hire date of May 2006, but as the major airlines ramp up their hiring, upgrades could potentially move much faster.

Last month, Aviation Week reported that an industry coalition has requested that the Government Accountability Office study the looming pilot shortage. The combination of increasing airline retirements and decreases in the number of pilots trained by the military and civilian schools is leading to a shortage of trained and experienced pilots that is first being felt by the regional airlines.

The shortage may force regional airlines to increase their pay to try to lure pilots away from more lucrative charter and corporate jobs. The signing bonuses may be the first attempt of the regionals to do so without having to amend union contracts.

Originally published on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/american-eagle-offers-signing-bonus-as-pilot-shortage-looms

Alternative energy for aviation

As high oil prices cut into airline profits, companies and governments are researching alternatives to traditional oil-based jet fuels for aviation. The quest for synthetic aviation fuels goes back to World War II when Nazi Germany’s lack of resources led it to develop processes to convert coal into gasoline.

More recently, the U.S. military has been working toward synthetic fuels as a means of protecting its ability to operate in the event of an interruption of oil supplies. In 2006, the Air Force operated a B-52 Stratofortress using a 50/50 blend of JP-8 jet fuel and a natural gas based synthetic fuel according to the Sohbet Karbuz blog. In 2012, the Air Force flew an A-10 Thunderbolt on Alcohol-to-Jet fuel (ATJ), which is derived from cellulose from wood or plants according to Oil Price.com.

National Defense magazine says that the Navy is taking a different strategy. Where the Air Force is a consumer of alternative fuel technology from existing companies, the Navy has provided seed funding to try to spur the domestic biofuels industry. The Navy has certified several of its aircraft, including the F-18 Hornet, the MH-60 Seahawk, and the MV-22 Osprey to operate on a 50/50 blend of JP-5 and hydrotreated renewable fuel (HRF) according to the Congressional Research Service.

"Eventually, it is possible that aircraft will see JP-8 consisting of all these alternatives," Air Force Certification Division chief Jeff Braun told Oil Price.com. "You won't be able to determine the difference and you won't care, because all perform as JP-8."

Currently, the big difference is in the cost. The ATJ fuel that the Air Force purchased in 2012 cost $59 per gallon according to Reuters. At the same time, traditional jet fuel cost $3.60 per gallon.

NASA is also researching alternative aviation fuels. Using a DC-8 at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California, the space agency has tested fuels based on coal and natural gas.

There has been a movement toward alternative fuel in private industry as well. Much of the private interest in alternative fuels may stem from the European Union’s attempt to impose a carbon tax on aircraft flying to and from Europe. Consequently, airlines are more interested in biofuels than in fuels derived from coal or natural gas.

In 2006, CAAFI, the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, was formed by governmental groups and trade associations to help develop alternative jet fuels. In 2011, Boeing and Aeromexico operated the first transatlantic flight to use biofuels. The flight from Mexico City to Madrid was on a 777-200ER powered by a mixture of 70 percent jet fuel and 30 percent combination jet fuel and oil from the Jatropha Curcas, an oilseed plant native to Mexico. In 2012, Airbus and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) entered into an agreement to create a biofuel for the Chinese market. Several other airlines have used biofuel mixtures on flights as well.

Piston engine aircraft face a different fuel challenge. Piston airplanes are typically powered by 100 low lead avgas. Lead is a gasoline additive that boosts octane ratings of the fuel. Leaded gasoline was banned for automobile use in the United States in 1986 because it was a public health hazard. Low lead fuel is still being used in light airplanes, however.

The most likely fuel to replace 100LL is diesel. Although diesel fuel does not address concerns about the availability and environmental impact of petroleum-based fuels, it does provide a proven replacement for leaded avgas. A number of engine manufacturers have already certified diesel aircraft engines and Cessna is even offering a diesel version of its 182 Turbo Skylane.

Others have more radical solutions. In July 2012, electric vehicle pioneer Chip Yates set a speed record for electric aircraft. Flying a Long-ESA, a modified Long-EZ, Yates became the first person to fly an electric airplane faster than 200 miles per hour. Ironically, the flight, which reached a speed of 202.6 mph, ended prematurely when a “dead cell killed propulsion” and forced Yates to make a dead stick landing. The report in Wired does not indicate the normal endurance of the Long-ESA.

Another aircraft doesn’t use fuel at all. Bertrand Piccard plans to fly his airplane, the Solar Impulse, around the fuel using only solar power. The Solar Impulse has flown during the day and at night and has already set five world records including absolute height (30,300 feet), duration (26 hours, 10 minutes, 19 seconds) and free distance (693.5 miles). At an average flying speed of 43 mph, the Solar Impulse is noticeably slower than Chip Yates’ Long-ESA.

At present, alternative forms of energy to power airplanes are more costly than oil, less efficient, or both. If oil prices continue to rise, however, today’s research in nontraditional fuels or sources of energy may result in new technologies that are more cost effective.

Originally published on Examiner.com:
http://www.examiner.com/article/alternative-energy-for-aviation?cid=db_articles

“Harbinger” author to headline inaugural prayer breakfast

Jonathan Cahn, a controversial messianic rabbi, announced on his Facebook page today that he has been asked to be the keynote speaker at the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast on Jan. 21. Cahn is the rabbi of the Beth Israel Worship Center in Wayne, N.J. and president of the Hope of the World ministry. He is also the author of “The Harbinger,” a prophetic novel that details Cahn’s belief that the United States is receiving divine warnings as a prelude to judgment.

“The Harbinger” centers around Isaiah 9:10, a verse in which the ancient Israelites vowed to rebuild stronger than before in the aftermath of an Assyrian attack. Cahn finds many parallels between modern America and ancient Israel.

According to Cahn, the process of divine judgment begins with the removal of God’s protective “hedge” to open the nation to attack. In the case of both nations, the removal of God’s protection led to an attack by terrorists. In Israel’s case, the attack was by the Assyrians in 732 B.C. In America’s case, it was by al Qaeda on 9/11.

In both cases, the attack was followed by defiance. The Israelites made the vow found in Isaiah: “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.” Put simply, they would take what was destroyed and replace it with something even better rather than repenting of their sins.

Ironically, this obscure Old Testament verse with its vow of defiance was used not once, but twice by American leaders in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. On Sept. 12, 2001, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle quoted the verse in a speech to congress where he specifically linked the verse to America. Three years later, on Sept. 11, 2004, Sen. John Edwards, then a vice presidential candidate, again invoked the verse in a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus. On February 24, 2009, President Obama echoed the defiant tone of the verse, saying in his address to Congress, “I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” The book cites many other striking similarities between ancient history and modern news.

Other confirmed guests at the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast include Chaplain of the U.S. House Father Patrick Conroy, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Eric Cantor, and Sen. Roy Blunt. Worship music will be provided by Jeremiah and Wendy Ginsberg and the Philadelphia Tabernacle of David. It is not known whether President Obama will attend.

Tickets to the event are available to the public. They can be purchased online at http://pipb2013.eventbrite.com/ or by calling (804) 971—0414. Limited tickets will be available at the door.

Originally published on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/author-of-book-on-judgment-of-u-s-will-headline-inaugural-prayer-breakfast?cid=db_articles&no_cache=1357424951

GOP revolt blocked Boehner’s spending amendment

According to a report by Dick Morris, Republican rebels scuttled a last minute attempt by Speaker John Boehner attach an amendment to the fiscal cliff deal that would have tied spending cuts to the tax increases. If the amendment had passed, it would have sent the bill back to the senate which would have had to vote to accept or reject it.

Bloomberg and CBS News also reported on Boehner’s attempt to tie the tax increases to spending cuts. According to CBS, the amendment would have required 217 Republican votes to pass. The final bill garnered 85 Republican votes and was passed primarily with Democratic support.

Among the Georgia delegation, the vote largely followed party lines. Rep. John Barrow (D-12) crossed party lines to vote against the bill and Rep. John Lewis (D-5), whose wife recently passed away, did not vote.

If the amendment had passed, it is unlikely that it would have passed the senate and the fiscal stalemate would have continued. A Democratic leadership aide told CBS, “We will absolutely not take up the House bill if they change the bipartisan agreement reached in the Senate" and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told Bloomberg, “My senators have gone home.”

The Republican opposition may have been due to unwillingness to accept any tax increases as part of a compromise to avert the fiscal cliff. However, on the Dec. 21 edition of the Michael Medved Show, even Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform agreed that compromising with President Obama on tax rates for the wealthy would not be considered a vote for a tax increase because taxes were already scheduled to go up.

“They made it clear because they had a previous vote to extend it [the Bush tax rates] for everybody in the country,” Norquist told Medved, “so the two votes taken together make it very clear, we wanted to extend it for everybody, but in order to get something to the senate and get it passed, let’s extend it for as many as they [the Democrats] will allow. I mean if somebody’s thrown anybody out of the lifeboat, it’s the Democratic senate and the Democratic president….”

The Republican revolt ended quickly as the same representatives who refused to follow Speaker Boehner in fighting for spending cuts on Tuesday reelected him to a second term as speaker on Thursday. Only 12 House Republicans failed to vote for Boehner.

Originally published on Examiner.com:
http://www.examiner.com/article/gop-revolt-blocked-boehner-spending-amendment?cid=db_articles

Fiscal cliff deal pushes U.S. toward Obama recession

The fiscal cliff deal that House Republicans and President Obama agreed to on New Year’s Day means that a return to recession is almost inevitable. The House voted Tuesday night to approve the deal, officially named the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which essentially gives President Obama and the Democrats everything that they wanted.

The Wall Street Journal notes that the deal, the biggest tax increase in 20 years, is being cynically spun as a tax cut for the middle class. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even though income tax rates only increase on income above $400,000 ($450,000 for joint filers) there are no tax cuts for anyone and all Americans will pay more in taxes in 2013. Additionally, because joint filers can only earn $250,000 each before the higher rates take effect, the marriage penalty is being returned.

According the Journal’s analysis of the deal, there are a multitude of tax increases that will affect every American, not just the wealthy. The death (estate) tax, which affects many family farms and businesses, will increase from 35 to 40 percent. The capital gains and dividends taxes will rise from 15 percent to 23.8 percent. This includes a 3.8 percent Obamacare investment income surtax. While often associated with the wealthy, the capital gains and dividends taxes affect anyone with a 401(k), an IRA, or any other type of investment. Many countries that compete with the U.S. for international business do not have capital gains taxes at all.

There are also other tax increases associated with Obamacare that will now take effect. The medical device tax is a new 2.3 percent excise tax on medical equipment. There is also an additional Obamacare payroll surtax on incomes above $200,000 ($250,000 for joint filers) of 0.9 percent.

Finally, the payroll tax holiday is expiring. This means that taxes on income up to $113,700 will increase by two points to 6.2 percent. According to an analysis by CBS, this means that a worker earning $50,000 would pay almost $1,000 more in payroll taxes in 2013. According to the Tax Policy Center, the average taxpayer will see an increase of $1,257.

The total cost of the tax increases in the deal is $620 billion over ten years according to Forbes. This represents money that will not be available to small business owners to expand or hire new workers, that families will not be able to spend or save for their own needs, and that will be diverted from wealth-building projects into tax shelters to avoid the new Obama tax increases. As $620 billion exits from the fragile U.S. economy, there will almost certainly be a contraction that will lead to another recession.

New tax increases were unavoidable given President Obama’s reelection and would have been more palatable if they had been accompanied by meaningful spending cuts. Under President Obama, the federal government has run deficits in excess of $1 trillion every year. The so-called emergency stimulus spending has become permanent. Erskine Bowles, Bill Clinton’s chief of staff and head of Obama’s own deficit commission, recently was quoted by the Wall Street Journal saying, “If we're going to raise revenue and if we're going to raise it in any form, then we darn well better cut spending, because spending is the biggest part of this problem.”

So how did the fiscal cliff deal handle the deficit spending issue? Spending and the associated borrowing actually increase under the compromise. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the deal will increase federal spending by $332 billion over 10 years. Deficits are projected to rise by $3.9 trillion. This means that the ballooning federal debt will continue to crowd out private investment and act as a drag on the economy.

The fiscal cliff deal is a clear victory for President Obama and the Democrats and presents the country with the worst of both worlds. Taxpayers and businesses will be faced with massive tax increases in an already weak economy paired with still more increases in federal spending, borrowing and growth of government.

Originally published on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/fiscal-cliff-deal-will-lead-to-the-obama-recession?cid=db_articles