Israir’s landing rights in the US will not be suspended.
US Federal Aviation Authority spokesperson Laura Brown told “Globes” that a special ground sensor system, which had been bought but not yet installed, could have prevented the near collision involving an Israir plane at JFK airport in New York in July 2005. The system is designed to prevent this kind of incident, especially under conditions of poor visibility. Brown said the FAA planned to install the system at 14 large US airports, including JFK.
The FAA has the authority to suspend the landing rights of foreign airlines in the US for safety reasons, but has not taken this measure against Israir. “If we had charges against the Israeli pilots, we would contact the Israeli authorities, and I am not aware that this has been done,” said Brown. She said disciplinary steps against the pilots, or any other decision involving the crew involved in the incident, were the sole responsibility of Israel’s Ministry of Transport.
The Ministry of Transport investigator into the incident submitted an interim report to the FAA last Friday. Brown said Israel was not required to file any report on the incident with the US, and that this had been done at “solely at Israel’s initiative”. The FAA is waiting for the final report into the incident, in order to decide how to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 11, 2006