Pilots

These are the dusky days of old age that kamikaze pilots like Shigeyoshi Hamazono were not supposed to see. Three times during the final months of World War II, Japanese officers sent Hamazono off to die, ordering him to crash-dive a single-engine plane stuffed with bombs into an American warship. Bad weather aborted the first mission, an oil leak the second. On his final attempt in April 1945, he encountered three American pilots over the sea off Okinawa.

Concerns about the Air Force's problem-plagued fleet of F-22 Raptor fighter jets led Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta to restrict flights of the aircraft because of problems with its oxygen systems that can cause its pilots to become disoriented mid-flight. In addition, Panetta wants a monthly progress report on the investigation into the root cause of the F-22's oxygen problems and ordered the Air Force to speed up the installation of an automatic backup oxygen system. Panetta also called on Navy and NASA personnel to find a solution.

Concerns about the Air Force's problem-plagued fleet of F-22 Raptor fighter jets led Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta to restrict flights of the aircraft because of problems with its oxygen systems that can cause its pilots to become disoriented mid-flight. In addition, Panetta wants a monthly progress report on the investigation into the root cause of the F-22's oxygen problems and ordered the Air Force to speed up the installation of an automatic backup oxygen system. Panetta also called on Navy and NASA personnel to find a solution.

In response to growing concern about problems with its F-22 Raptor fighter jet, the Air Force revealed it has slapped on new safety restrictions to protect its pilots. The announcement came as Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) Friday requested additional information from the secretary of the Air Force to further determine the scope of safety concerns raised by several pilots of the world's most expensive fighter jet, designed and built byLockheed Martin Corp.

The fatal collision on Friday evening between a large airliner and a small plane on the ground at Los Angeles International Airport, one of the nation's busiest, comes as no surprise to aviation experts who have been issuing warnings about dangerously congested runway conditions nationwide. "We know that the two planes did collide on the (ground)," said Elly Brekke, a regional spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Thanks to the San Fernando Swap Meet, pilot Jerry Hider will have his first job today since the Sept. 11 terrorist assaults. "I'm back with my banners," said Hider, who flies long, plastic strips promoting Sony PlayStation, shrimp specials, adult entertainment Web sites and other messages in the skies above Southern California's beaches, stadiums and residences. "Well," he said, pausing, "at least I'm back in the San Fernando Valley."

Three former Northwest Airlines pilots convicted of flying a passenger plane while intoxicated were sentenced to prison Friday, two of them for a year and the other for 16 months. U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum also imposed three years of probation on each, telling them: "Gentlemen, you are good men who have done a bad thing." The judge said that the pilots' actions amounted to a breach of faith between the traveling public and the pilots. "It is a crime against our sense of security.

Some of the nation's top aviators are refusing to fly the radar-evading F-22 Raptor, a fighter jet with ongoing problems with the oxygen systems that have plagued the fleet for four years. At the risk of significant reprimand - or even discharge from the Air Force - fighter pilots are turning down the opportunity to climb into the cockpit of the F-22, the world's most expensive fighter jet. The Air Force did not reveal how many of its 200 F-22 pilots, who are stationed at seven military bases across the country, declined their assignment orders.

The forecast called for heavy snow on the route home, so the three pilots who had just flown a covert CIA-sponsored "extraordinary rendition" flight were forced to stay an extra night at the Gran Melia Victoria, a luxury hotel overlooking the marina on the island of Majorca. Up in Room 552, the pilot who called himself Capt.

In response to growing concern about problems with its F-22 Raptor fighter jet, the Air Force revealed it has slapped on new safety restrictions to protect its pilots. The announcement came as Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) Friday requested additional information from the secretary of the Air Force to further determine the scope of safety concerns raised by several pilots of the world's most expensive fighter jet, designed and built byLockheed Martin Corp.

NEW DELHI - Hundreds of Air India pilots did not report to work Thursday, the fourth day of a sickout to protest their treatment by management, a dispute that so far has resulted in the cancellation of numerous international flights and cost about 45 pilots their jobs. Officials said the Mumbai-based airline was forced to cancel more than 35 international flights this week, including several bound for New York and Frankfurt, because of the protest. India's aviation minister called the sickout illegal, the airline said it had fired some pilots, and a high court called for negotiations.

The intense sweetness, distinctive knobbly appearance and mysterious provenance of the Temecula Sweet mandarin have endowed the fruit with a mystique. Farmers market citrus vendors from De Luz, just a few miles from where the fruit is grown, say customers often ask for the variety and wonder what it is, but there's only one source, and that's a most secretive and gorgeous citrus farm, just west over the mountain from the suburban sprawl of Temecula. In a pristine valley of chaparral and oaks along the Santa Margarita River, the last free-flowing waterway in Southern California, across from a nature reserve where mountain lions prowl, is a 24-acre grove of Temecula Sweet.

Some of the nation's top aviators are refusing to fly the radar-evading F-22 Raptor, a fighter jet with ongoing problems with the oxygen systems that have plagued the fleet for four years. At the risk of significant reprimand - or even discharge from the Air Force - fighter pilots are turning down the opportunity to climb into the cockpit of the F-22, the world's most expensive fighter jet. The Air Force did not reveal how many of its 200 F-22 pilots, who are stationed at seven military bases across the country, declined their assignment orders.

Dania Ramirez had a bike phobia. It all started when she was 7, racing her cousin down a steep hill in their native Dominican Republic when her wheels spiraled out of control. Ramirez flipped over her handlebars, spun three times in the air and earned a scar that she still sports today. But when she was offered a role as a bicycle messenger in "Premium Rush," she knew she'd have to face her lifelong fear. "I wanted the job, so I was like, 'Oh, yeah, I can ride a bike,'" the actress, 32, recalled.

Storm clouds hovered over the San Fernando Valley, but businessman Jack Engel was smiling as he pointed to a row of solar inverters at one of two commercial warehouses he owns in Sun Valley. Power was being generated despite the weather, no problem. His problem, he said, has been the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. "I like the idea of solar, but unfortunately my experience is that the DWP doesn't support it," said Engel, who has run a small manufacturing firm on Pendleton Street for four decades.

The voice of the Delta Air Lines captain on Flight 1063 on Thursday sounds beyond calm as he informs air traffic controllers: " Aaaand Delta 1063 has had an engine failure on the right engine, declaring an emergency due to a bird strike. " (Check out the audio above, posted online by NYC Aviation. ) The rest of the conversation tracks the emergency landing of the flight that had just taken off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and was bound for Los Angeles.

The pilots of a charter jet from Los Angeles that crashed last year in Aspen, Colo., made "numerous" errors as they rushed to make an instrument landing at dusk in snowy weather, federal investigators concluded Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the March 29 crash that killed 18 people also called for improved training of charter crews on the management of complex, rapidly evolving situations. Since the Sept.

Pilots at South Korea's two major airlines plan to go ahead with job actions set for early this week, signaling possible havoc in the midst of the high travel season, a news report said Sunday. Unionized pilots of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are demanding better benefits and the power to change their assistants and cabin crew members, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

U.S. Coast Guard  and Navy forces have been dispatched to the scene of a plane crash off the coast of Florida. So far there is no word about the fate of the pilot believed to have become incapacitated at the controls. The small aircraft circled aimlessly in the skies for hours over the Gulf of Mexico as anxious air traffic controllers watched helplessly. Air traffic controllers apparently tried for hours to make contact with the pilot, but all attempts failed, pointing to the likelihood that the pilot had perhaps fallen unconscious at the controls, or perhaps suffered a heart attack.  FlightAware.com released the above image of the path of the plane, including the erratic and repetitive circular patterns it made over the Gulf of Mexico.

The Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees announced Wednesday that it has reached a settlement with a Pasadena firm, Gateway Science & Engineering, over alleged billing improprieties. The company will continue to supervise the $450-million building program at Los Angeles Mission College. The district had alleged that Gateway approved payments to the construction company FTR International for work it had not performed at a 90,000-square-foot fitness center on the campus The project was plagued by delays and allegations of faulty workmanship, which were detailed in a Times series last year on the community college district's $6-billion campus reconstruction program.