RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. The City of Cincinnati is the municipal owner and operator of the Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport (Lunken). Flamingo Express, Inc., which was already using Lunken to conduct chartered and unscheduled air service, sought an additional permit from the City in 2004 to operate scheduled commuter air service with seating for up to 30 passengers per flight. After the parties had unsuccessfully negotiated for more than a year and the City had still not approved Flamingo Express’s application, Flamingo Express filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The complaint alleged that the City had violated its obligations under federal law by, among other things, failing to approve Flamingo Express’s application and requiring that the company obtain unreasonably high liability insurance coverage.

Following an informal investigation, the Director of the FAA Office of Airport Safety and Standards (the Director) dismissed Flamingo Express’s complaint on the basis that the City had not violated its federal obligations. Flamingo Express then filed an administrative appeal with the FAA Associate Administrator for Airports (the Administrator). After the Administrator affirmed the Director’s decision, this appeal followed. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the decision of the FAA.

MERRITT, Circuit Judge. In this appeal, four defendants challenge their convictions for conspiracy with the intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Two of the defendants, Cirilo Torres-Ramos and Jose Servin, entered conditional guilty pleas and now argue that the district court erred by not granting their motions to suppress the government’s search and seizure relating to the cocaine, which was found in a van in which both defendants were traveling. Defendants Rudolph Rhaburn and Alaric Simon proceeded to a jury trial, where both were convicted of the conspiracy charge. They contend that the court made a number of errors and challenge, inter alia, the district court’s determination that probable cause existed to make the initial arrests and the court’s denial of the defendants’ Rule 29 motions challenging the sufficiency of the evidence. Defendant Simon also contends that the prosecution impermissibly struck a black juror in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986).

For the following reasons, we affirm both the district court’s denial of Torres-Ramos’ and Servin’s motions to suppress the evidence and the conviction of Rhaburn. Because the district court’s ruling on Simon’s Batson challenge was based on incomplete information, we remand with instructions to reconsider its conclusion in light of the additional evidence discussed in this opinion.

COOK, Circuit Judge. Certain facets of criminal proceedings are so critical that the absence of a criminal defendant’s lawyer at those stages renders the proceedings inherently flawed. See United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 659 n.25 (1984). The Michigan Court of Appeals held that a sidebar discussion between the prosecutor and judge during Petitioner Darron Hereford’s bench trial was not one of those critical stages, and that any error arising from defense counsel’s absence was harmless. The district court granted habeas relief after concluding that the state court’s holding represented an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law, as determined by the United States Supreme Court. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1). We disagree and reverse.

MARILYN SHEA-STONUM, Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Judge. The Debtors appeal an order of the bankruptcy court granting the chapter 13 trustee’s motion to modify the Debtors’ confirmed plan. The modification sought to correct the chapter 13 trustee’s preconfirmation mistake in calculating the plan’s length with a resulting increase in the dividend to unsecured creditors from 7% to 50%. For the reasons that follow, we REVERSE the decision of the bankruptcy court.