The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday filed a civil forfeiture complaint regarding an aircraft it said had been smuggled from the United States and operated for the benefit of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in violation of sanctions. Maduro and his government have always rejected sanctions by the United States and others, saying they are illegitimate measures that amount to an "economic war" designed to cripple Venezuela. The Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft was seized last year in the Dominican Republic, according to a statement from the U.S. Justice Department. In February, the Venezuelan government rejected the seizure of government aircraft by the United States, calling it "blatant theft" and saying the move was illegal.<br/>
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The Federal Aviation Administration will shutter the Route 4 helicopter corridor near Ronald Reagan Washington National airport in response to the deadly 29 January mid-air collision involving a passenger jet. The agency is “permanently closing Route 4 between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge, and evaluating alternative helicopter routes as recommended by the NTSB”, the agency said on 14 March. The move comes several days after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that the FAA make that stretch of Route 4 off limits to helicopter traffic when commercial aircraft are operating from runway 15/33 at nearby National airport. Route 4 runs parallel to and on the east side of the Potomac River. National airport is on the river’s west bank. Hains Point is about 0.7 miles (1.1km) southwest of the threshold of runway 33, and the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge is about 3.9 miles south. Additionally, the FAA says it is “permanently restricting non-essential helicopter operations around DCA and eliminating helicopter and fixed-wing mixed traffic”. The FAA says it will allow some limited helicopter traffic in the airspace called Route 4, but only in cases involving an “urgent mission, such as lifesaving medical, priority law enforcement or presidential transport”. In such instances, air traffic controllers will prohibit fixed-wing aircraft from simultaneously using National airport’s secondary runways – 15/33 and 4/22. Runway 1/19 is the airport’s main strip.<br/>
Frankfurt airport operator Fraport is increasingly relying on airports it manages outside Germany for revenue due to weak passenger numbers at domestic airports, its annual results showed on Tuesday. Rising costs in Germany were making the country's airports uncompetitive, analysts said. Passenger numbers at Frankfurt totalled around 61.6m last year, Fraport said, down from pre-Covid levels of 70.6m in 2019 when Frankfurt Airport was the fourth largest passenger airport in Europe after London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol. Fraport operates 29 other smaller airports around the world and said on Tuesday that passenger traffic growth across its airports overall including in Europe, China and India had far exceeded weak domestic numbers in Germany that weighed on full-year core earnings. "If no political action is taken, costs imposed by regulators will further increase in 2025, with airlines facing an additional E1.2b burden," CEO Stefan Schulte said after Fraport released its results. The German aviation industry is currently facing several challenges, from worker protests and disruptions to high taxes and fees. These increased costs have prompted airlines - particularly low-cost carriers - to cut services in Germany.<br/>
Scottish detectives are examining what is alleged to be the first written evidence from inside Libya's intelligence service that it murdered 270 people in the Lockerbie bombing 36 years ago. The newly revealed documents are said to provide further proof that Colonel Gaddafi's Jamahiriya Security Organisation (JSO), was also behind the destruction of a French airliner, killing another 170 victims. One former FBI agent described the material as potential "dynamite". If authenticated, American prosecutors are expected to use the documents during the Washington trial of Abu Agila Mas'id Kheir Al-Marimi, known as Masud, who is accused of building the bomb. Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down on 21 December 1988, killing its 259 passengers and crew and another 11 residents in the Scottish town. Ten months later, a French airliner, UTA 772, crashed into the desert in Niger as it flew from Chad to Paris. Scottish and French courts have already convicted Libyan agents over both attacks but, if they are genuine, the newly revealed documents would bolster those convictions and could even lead to fresh prosecutions. The files have been published in a new book, The Murderer Who Must Be Saved, by French investigative journalists Karl Laske and Vincent Nouzille, and Libyan activist Samir Shegwara.<br/>
Troy Merritt, a pilot for a major U.S. airline, returned from his 30th birthday trip in Croatia in October 2022 — sailing on a catamaran, eating great food, socializing with friends — and cried. This wasn’t back-to-work blues but collapsed-on-the-floor, full-body-shaking misery. When he wasn’t crying, he slept. “I’ve got to find a therapist,” he told himself. And he did, quickly. If that therapist didn’t write down “depression,” Merritt would be OK. He could still fly planes, keep his job — as long as he wasn’t diagnosed with a mental illness. After several sessions, the therapist gently suggested that he might need medication. Merritt adamantly refused; the therapist never raised the subject again. Merritt’s husband, also an airline pilot, hoped he would break out of this funk. “Let’s go for a hike,” he would say. “We live in California, it’s a gorgeous day!” But Merritt wouldn’t get up off the floor. “I don’t know what to do,” Merritt sometimes mumbled. Other times, it seemed as if he were in a coma. His husband worried about going to work and leaving Merritt alone at home. But when Merritt was at work, flying planes, he was much better, focused on the tasks in front of him. It was when he reached his destination city and tried to settle into a strange hotel room that loneliness and sadness crept over him again. Co-workers didn’t seem to notice because he was often flying with different crews. Later that autumn, Merritt slipped into extraordinary darkness. Crying became more frequent, the bouts less predictable. Whenever he tried to leave the house, his breathing grew shallow, his fingers numb. “When do I get medication?” he asked his husband. “Do I do that now? “That’s a big, big lever to pull,” his husband replied. It was a big lever to pull. Merritt, like all pilots, knew that if he was formally diagnosed with a mental-health condition, he might never fly a plane again. Pilots and air traffic controllers must be deemed medically fit by the Federal Aviation Administration through a certification process — one that is particularly arduous when it involves mental-health diagnoses. Story has more.<br/>