Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Can the FAA Be Trusted to Fix Air Traffic Control?
Investors.com ^ | May 17, 2011 | JOHN MERLINE

Posted on 05/17/2011 6:05:45 PM PDT by Kaslin

Five years ago, a Comair flight taxied onto the wrong runway at the airport in Lexington, Ky., and crashed on takeoff, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard. It turned out that the lone air controller on duty who should have caught the mistake was operating on two hours of sleep. Two years before that, a tired controller nearly let two commercial jets collide on an LAX runway.

Now, in the wake of a raft of air traffic controllers caught sleeping on the job, the Federal Aviation Administration issued new rules to combat fatigue. But this problem has dogged the FAA for years.

Fatigue is just one piece of a long history of FAA management problems with the air traffic control (ATC) system, according to an IBD review of government reports and audits and various news accounts. Just last week, the Transportation Department's inspector general announced two audits focusing on air traffic controller mistakes.

To some, this record calls into question whether the FAA can be trusted to fix the problems plaguing the ATC.

Reason Foundation transportation expert Robert Poole, for example, argues that the FAA's problems stem from its dual role as operator and regulator of air traffic control, which he says "creates a potential conflict of interest."

FAA head Randy Babbitt said recently that "employees at the FAA work diligently every day to run the safest air transportation system in the world." And an FAA spokesman told IBD that while the Air Traffic Organization is part of the FAA, "it's regulated by another group that is independent of the ATO's chain of command."

(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airtrafficcontrol; atc; controller; dod; faa; tower
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

1 posted on 05/17/2011 6:05:47 PM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

It’s better than all the rest but its decline can be traced to the time it was placed under the DOT.


2 posted on 05/17/2011 6:16:53 PM PDT by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Can the FAA Be Trusted to Fix Air Traffic Control?

About as much as you want to trust the Department of Education to teach your kids sufficiently to compete in the world.

3 posted on 05/17/2011 6:17:33 PM PDT by kbennkc (For those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

About as well as government agencies setup traffic lights.


4 posted on 05/17/2011 6:24:13 PM PDT by GingisK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: saganite

How did air traffic control decline when it was placed under the DOT?


5 posted on 05/17/2011 6:33:12 PM PDT by CFIIIMEIATP737
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Q: Can the FAA Be Trusted to Fix Air Traffic Control?
A: F=Federal
Therefore, NO.


6 posted on 05/17/2011 6:33:53 PM PDT by elpinta (John 17:3)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

You can’t trust the government to “fix” anything.


7 posted on 05/17/2011 6:36:09 PM PDT by alice_in_bubbaland (DeMint/Ryan 2012!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Can the FAA Be Trusted to Fix Air Traffic Control?

Can the Obama-butt be trusted to provide an real birth certificate?

Is Nancy Pelosi really a female?

Did Jimmy Carter ever have a brain?

Did Bill Clinton “never have sex with that woman?


8 posted on 05/17/2011 6:37:49 PM PDT by Da Coyote
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The only thing I can trust the federal government to fix, is to fix it so that they are more in control.


9 posted on 05/17/2011 6:42:23 PM PDT by C210N (0bama, Making the US safe for Global Marxism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

What would you do instead? Have a Czar work with a blue ribbon congressional committee that reports directly to the WH?


10 posted on 05/17/2011 6:42:56 PM PDT by ThomasThomas (I am still looking for that box I am supposed to think out of.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: saganite
It’s better than all the rest but its decline can be traced to the time it was placed under the DOT.

Yep. The politicians wanted to spend the money the FAA controlled but couldn't until they put it under DOT.

Since then it has been all downhill and politics rules over safety and innovation.

11 posted on 05/17/2011 6:44:18 PM PDT by OldMissileer (Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, PK. Winners of the Cold War)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin


Now ... that being said ...
The answer is a very loud "NO!!!";
At least as long as the Union is involved.
The USAF has the best training policies, and management for ATC.

If it was up to me, it would be turned over to the Department of Defense (DoD).
Privatization of ATC might work if you got the government to take the insurance liability.

12 posted on 05/17/2011 6:59:42 PM PDT by Yosemitest (It's simple, fight or die.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Yosemitest

Excellent expertise post


13 posted on 05/17/2011 7:03:09 PM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

No! The FAA is being run by non-pilots and non-aviation morons.


14 posted on 05/17/2011 7:06:39 PM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Yosemitest

This man speaks the truth. USAF controllers were the best.

(Admitted prejudice from a USAF instructor and test guy)


15 posted on 05/17/2011 7:09:24 PM PDT by Da Coyote
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Yosemitest

This man speaks the truth. USAF controllers were the best.

(Admitted prejudice from a USAF instructor and test guy)


16 posted on 05/17/2011 7:09:34 PM PDT by Da Coyote
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: kbennkc

I wouldn’t even let them be school crossing guards. Fools would probably fall asleep after a hard weekend and all the school kids would get run over by a run away garbage truck.


17 posted on 05/17/2011 7:16:59 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (There's a pill for just about everything ... except stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
I'll give you an example. These second-job considerations, I believe, will be one of the contributing factors to most these problems.
18 posted on 05/17/2011 7:32:09 PM PDT by Yosemitest (It's simple, fight or die.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
I did it for 35 years, and no, they can't fix it.

PATCO screwed it up, then FAA caught a break and had a great opportunity to fix it, but....

Pressure to rebuild quickly, exacerbated by intense EEO mandates brought about another union that management essentially turned the day-to-day operation over to.

The genie is out of the bottle, the cadre of experienced personnel that is essential to ANY operation is gone now, replaced by scared kids who duck traffic and only stay on because of massive pay and ironclad union protection.

If you fly at all, thank your lucky stars for technology like TCAS...don't fly without it.

19 posted on 05/17/2011 7:34:10 PM PDT by diogenes ghost
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Da Coyote
What are your thoughts on work schedules, controllers working second jobs, and controller fatigue?

I knew one FAA controller that worked 40 plus hours in his second job, every week, stocking groceries.
You know he was tired when he got to work on his mids, and on his swings.

20 posted on 05/17/2011 7:38:48 PM PDT by Yosemitest (It's simple, fight or die.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson