FAA

IMPATIENT passengers who unfasten seatbelts before their plane has come to a complete stop at the gate could get hit with $37,000 fines.

There’s one key reason for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to penalize unruly flyers racing to be the first to disembark flights.

It’s a violation of federal law to ignore illuminated safety signs such as an aircraft’s “fasten seatbelt” sign.

But that doesn’t stop people from opening their safety restraints and reaching for their cabin bags in overhead luggage compartments.

The rule applies during the taxi, takeoff, and landing stages – until the aircraft has safely reached the gate and the sign has been turned off.

Passengers must remain buckled in while the seatbelt sign is illuminated, the FAA has warned.

Snubbing these safety instructions can result in a hefty civil penalty of up $37,000.

The regulation dates back to the 1970s, and was imposed for safety reasons.

After a plane lands, passengers are at risk of falling or other injuries if they stand and attempt to move while the aircraft taxis to the gate.

Seatbelts restrain the body movement when excessive force is applied, for example in a crash, explained Skybrary.

Keeping them fastened helps passengers survive by preventing flyers from being thrown around the aircraft and against hard objects or other people.

It also “prevents people being thrown out of the aircraft in case of a hull breach,” the website added.

There have been fatalities as a result of a failure to comply with the rule.

For example, in July 2013, a Boeing passenger flight operated by Asiana Airlines from Seoul Incheon, South Korea, to San Francisco crashed within the airport’s perimeter shortly before completing a landing.

The aircraft had hit the sea wall situated prior to the runway and the tail had detached.

Two people were found dead outside the plane, after being ejected at impact.

The dead girls were both 16-year-old students, Wang Linjia and Ye Mengyuan.

More than a decade ago, a passenger on board a Southwest Airlines flight appealed an FAA penalty after he left his seat and approached the front of the aircraft while the safety sign was on.

He was slapped with a $3,300 civil penalty.

In 2013 an appeal heard that the man, Brian Wallaesa, believed he should not be held accountable for his behavior in 2009 because he was having a medical emergency.

But his appeal was denied as he “failed to prove that he had a medical emergency that caused him to lose control of his actions on that flight,” according to the decision.

“About an hour outside of Las Vegas, the captain turned on the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign and informed the flight attendants that he wanted them to sit down and wear their seat belts because he expected the flight to experience turbulence.

“Not long afterwards, while the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign was lit, Wallaesa stood up and walked quickly toward the front of the airplane,” the filings added.

When flight attendants asked him to return to his seat, “he refused.”

The FAA had originally sought a $5,500 civil penalty, but he was given a $3,300 fine after his appeal was denied.

In 2021, the FAA proposed a $14,000 civil fine for an Endeavor Airlines passenger who allegedly unfastened her seat belt while the warning sign was illuminated.

The passenger had also refused to wear a mask properly despite repeated instructions from flight attendants.

“I can’t tell you how many times on a domestic flight, 10, 15, 20, 30 people would get up before we were parked at the gate,” ex-American Airlines flight attendant Steve Burman told the New York Times last May.

He saw a woman being injured after a bag toppled on top of her when an overhead bin was opened too soon.

The FAA has recently implemented a “zero-tolerance policy” of issuing fines.

This is due to skyrocketing cases of problem passengers risking the safety of crew and fellow flyers.

Unruly passengers can face fines of up to $37,000 per incident – as well as criminal prosecution, the agency confirmed last year.

Previously, the maximum civil penalty per violation was $25,000.

The $37,000 fine per violation for passengers also applies to flyers who assault, threaten, intimidate, or interfere with airline crew members, said World of Aviation.

Some cases also lead to FBI referrals.

A penalty also now applies to commercial flights to Turkey, with fines set at about $70 for flyers who move before the seatbelt sign turns off.

WASHINGTON — The sudden and surprising airspace closure over El Paso, Texas, stemmed from the Pentagon’s plans to test a laser for use in shooting down drones used by Mexican drug cartels, according to three people familiar with the situation who were granted anonymity to share sensitive details.

That caused friction with the Federal Aviation Administration, which wanted to ensure commercial air safety and the two agencies sought to coordinate, according to two of the people.

Despite a meeting scheduled later this month to discuss the issue, the Pentagon wanted to go ahead and test it, prompting the FAA to shutter the airspace. The laser was used at some point, one of the people said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier that a response to an incursion by Mexican cartel drones had led to the airspace closure and that the threat had been neutralized. Drone incursions are not uncommon along the southern border.

Officials at the White House, FAA and Department of Transportation did not respond immediately Wednesday to request for comment about the dispute. The Pentagon said it had nothing to add to its statement that largely mirrored Duffy’s comment.

The FAA had originally announced a 10-day closure of the airspace, confusing travelers at the airport in the border city with a population of nearly 700,000 people. The order was lifted a few hours later. No Mexican airspace was closed.

Duffy said in a post on X that the FAA and the Defense Department “acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion. The threat has been neutralized and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.” Duffy said normal flights were resuming Wednesday morning. He did not say how many drones were involved or what specifically was done to disable them.

Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes El Paso, said neither her office, the city of El Paso nor airport operations received advance notice. She said she believed the shutdown was not based on Mexican cartel drones in U.S. airspace, saying that “is not what we in Congress have been told.”

Pentagon officials declined to comment on Escobar’s remarks and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office referred questions to the FAA.

“I believe the FAA owes the community and the country an explanation as to why this happened so suddenly and abruptly and was lifted so suddenly and abruptly,” Escobar said during a news conference. The shutdown had been expected to create significant disruptions given the duration and the size of the metropolitan area around El Paso.

“The information coming from the federal government does not add up,” Escobar said.

Cross-border drone activity is not new

Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district covers an area that stretches for about 800 miles along Texas’ border with Mexico, said cartel drone sightings are common.

“For any of us who live and work along the border, daily drone incursions by criminal organizations is everyday life for us. It’s a Wednesday for us,” Gonzales said.

Asked about the drone explanation provided by U.S. officials, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had “no information about the use of drones on the border.” She noted that if U.S. authorities have more information they should contact Mexico’s government.

Steven Willoughby, the deputy director of the counter-drone program at the Department of Homeland Security, told lawmakers in July that cartels are using drones nearly every day to transport drugs across the border and surveil Border Patrol agents.

More than 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet of the southern border in the last six months of 2024, he testified, mostly at night. Homeland Security has said agents have seized thousands of pounds of methamphetamine, fentanyl and other drugs in recent years that cartels were trying to fly across the border using drones.

Mexican officials head to Washington

El Paso is hub of cross-border commerce alongside Ciudad Juárez. The Mexican city is home to about 1.5 million people, and some of its residents are accustomed to taking advantage of facilities including airports on both sides of the border. That easy access to the U.S. has also made Juarez, like other border cities, attractive to Mexico’s drug cartels seeking to safeguard their smuggling routes for drugs and migrants headed north and cash and guns moving to the south.

El Paso International Airport said in an Instagram post after the closure was announced that all flights to and from the airport would be grounded through Feb. 20, including commercial, cargo and general aviation flights. Local newscasts showed stranded travelers with luggage lining up at airline ticket counters and car rental desks at the El Paso airport hours after flights were grounded.

The airport posted later Wednesday morning that its operations had resumed and encouraged travelers to contact their airlines for the most up-to-date flight information.

Mexican defense and navy secretaries planned to meet with Northern Command officials in Washington on Wednesday in a meeting scheduled to be attended by representatives of several other countries, Sheinbaum said during a news conference. Sheinbaum said the Mexican officials would “listen” in the meeting and that her government would look into “the exact causes” of the closure.

‘This was a major and unnecessary disruption’

El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said at a news conference that he didn’t hear about the closure until after the alert was issued and he called the failure to communicate that to the city unacceptable.

“Decisions made without notice and coordination puts lives at risk and creates unnecessary danger and confusion,” Johnson said. “This was a major and unnecessary disruption, one that has not occurred since 9/11.”

The airport describes itself as the gateway to west Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico. Southwest, United, American and Delta all operate flights there, among others.

A similar 10-day temporary flight restriction for special security reasons remained in place Wednesday morning around Santa Teresa, N.M., which is about 15 miles northwest of the El Paso airport. FAA officials did not immediately explain why that restriction remained in place.

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, a Democrat, said in a statement: “Keeping our communities informed and safe is critical. I’m demanding answers from the FAA and the administration about why the airspace was closed in the first place without notifying appropriate officials, leaving travelers to deal with unnecessary chaos.”

Shutdown and restart creates confusion for travelers

The airspace closure upset travel plans on both sides of the border.

María Aracelia was pushing two roller suitcases across the pedestrian bridge from Ciudad Juarez to El Paso on Wednesday morning. She had a round-trip flight to Illinois scheduled for the afternoon.

After receiving a text at 4 a.m. telling her about the 10-day closure, she scrambled to try to find other options, even how to get to another airport. Then came a notification that the El Paso airport had reopened.

“This is stressful and there isn’t time to make so many changes, especially if you need to get back for work,” Aracelia said.

Kim, Finley, Jalonick and Lee write for the Associated Press. Lee reported from El Paso, Texas. AP writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas; Josh Funk in Omaha; Darlene Superville, Mike Balsamo and Konstantin Toropin in Washington; Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H.; María Verza in Mexico City, and Christian Torres Chávez in Ciudad Juarez contributed to this report.

Feb. 11 (UPI) — The Federal Aviation Administration ended what was initially announced as a 10-day suspension of all flights over El Paso, Texas on Wednesday, hours after closing the airspace.

The FAA stopped all incoming and outgoing flights over El Paso late Tuesday night, citing “special security reasons.” It warned that deadly force may be used against aircraft entering the airspace if they pose an “imminent security threat.”

The closure was triggered by military operations from Biggs Army Airfield in Fort Bliss, about seven miles away from El Paso.

CBS reported that Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace, causing the Department of Defense to disable the drones.

“There is no threat to commercial aviation,” the FAA posted on social media. “All flights will resume as normal.”

When the airspace was closed, the FAA said that it was being classified as “national defense airspace.” The closure also halted medevac helicopters from flying.

“Just pass it on to everybody else, at 6:30 for the next 10 days, we’re all at a ground stop,” an air traffic controller informed pilots in audio recorded on LiveATC.net.

Some travelers received notifications from airlines about changes to their flights and offerings of travel waivers before the closure was lifted.

El Paso is home to the El Paso International Airport, which saw about 3.5 million travelers through the first 11 months of last year. The city has a population of about 700,000.