US wastes $5 billion running ancient air traffic control

How can the US government possibly be expected to raise the huge sum of $35 billion? That's a whole 5% of Hank Paulson's bailout package. It's enough to fund the Iraq war for 100 days! Be reasonable.

Oh, the FAA, the same ass hats that can ground flights over a week, cause my flights to be 2-3 hours late because an airport across the nation is having bad weather, and enforce moronic security checks like taking off my shoes and curbing the "liquids" I can carry can't force an airport or two to red eye flights to upgrade the system. Brilliant.

You think the flight control is inefficient, wait til you see socialized medicine. Circling an airport is nothing compared to having to wait 12 months for heart surgery like they do in Britain. And the Canadian government is considering giving their citizens vouchers so they can come to the U.S. for treatment rather than suffer the delays they experience.

Sources tell Quiet Rockland that U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Mary Peters is now making preparations to brief the “new Administrator” of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In a related story, FAA promotes Ruth Leverenz to “Acting Deputy Administrator” as Internet-listed second-in-command Key Official, in anticipation of Acting Administrator Robert Allan “Bobby” Sturgell’s departure from FAA office: http://www.faa.gov/about/key_officials/leverenz/ # For the full story, please see: http://www.bobbysturgell.net

"forces planes to take longer, zigzagging routes" Now wait...every time I have ever flown whether it be cross country or elsewhere, the plane has always flown point-to-point once at cruise altitude. Of course there are some turns while departing or approaching your airports but that is to be expected. When you have a whole bunch of traffic converging or departing a single location, it has to be done in an orderly way since the runways only point a specific direction. I don't think this news bit knows what it is talking about...

As there have recently been articles about how to fool GPS devices into thinking they are in different locations than they really are, perhaps this isn't a "wasteful" item, but one that is more secure. Before the ease of that hack was generated, it seemed silly not to let planes route themselves...unless, of course, you considered security concerns like no-fly zones, which most gps's don't have preprogrammed in.

$35 billion should buy at least a SkyNET AI that can efficiently control and enslave humanity. Guess the dollar ain't what it used to be. Figures the FAA would be the ones to build it. Though, seriously, the FAA really does work hard with horribly antiquated equipment. They've needed an upgrade for a LONG time.

As a pilot flying frequently in the US, I need to clarify some items. First, the US ATC system is indeed based on "radar", but it's not quite as bad as this article makes it appear. With software updates direct routing (not zig-zaggy routes) is already common for most flights. For example, climbing out near the West Coast, I routinely receive a navigational fix in the middle of the US as my next point. Airspace utilization has also been improved with 1000 foot separation for high altitude traffic (it used to be 2000 feet). The next two big improvements that are undergoing implementation are RNP (required navigational performance, which guarantees a specific flight path, including curves), and 4D, which guarantees arrival at specific points at a previously agreed upon time. Of these two RNP is already in use. 4D is common in a "virtual" form, where arrival times are assigned, and not based on most efficient performance of the equipment, adjusted for altitude, distance and weather. The article doesn't seem to discuss the former two technologies. Instead it seems to be focused on the somewhat more elusive efficiency increasing tool commonly referred to as "free flight". This means that aircraft will maintain separation from each other automatically, and all just go out, point their noses where they want to go, use the equipment to avoid collisions, and virtually agree on arrival times at airports. Free flight is not just an expense statement. The related software and its reliability requirements are extraordinary. Charging ahead with a system without first implementing and proving (through years of use) the technologies that form its foundation (WAAS, RNP, 4D, etc. etc.) can lead to horrible accidents. Hence, while a study could certainly show that there are savings in implementing some of these systems, they are about as realistic as putting a man on Titan without first putting one on Mars (alive, that is).

The FAA official says it's like changing a tire while driving. This is nonsense - a new system should be put in place in parallel - implement on a few aircraft (with radar backup - FAA ATC would see 'monitor' and 'control' tracks different). Airlines would be allowed to switchover for maybe 5 years until specific cities would ONLY use the new system so airlines would have to adopt or not go there. Finally all airports & airlines would have switched. The old system would be used maybe an hour a day for a few years to be sure it's able to take over as backup if the satellites were jammed or there's a failure. Retire it when the new system has full redundancy. A bit more expensive but it could be demonstrated in a few years with gradual switchover - the extra cost balances with near-term savings. FAA and NASA are extremely technology-averse when there's any life involved. They know they individually are 'safe' from criticism if they do nothing new - even if it's equally unsafe!

We can triple the number of aircraft in the air now. This is not the problem. The problem is when they get to the airport there is a limited number of runway space. You can only land one at a time on each runway. Most all carriers can go direct now. You can't reduce the spacing on final in a lot of the northeast because of wake turbulance from the preceding aircraft. Biggest causes of delays are weather and lack of runway space. Nexgen does nothing about either of those. But it does give big bucks to the companies that are represented by our previous Administror (Marion Blakey), which is a topic for another day on conflicy of interest. And what happens when there are interferences from the sun on GPS equipment and there is no backup?

I think you need to check with India before you start blabbering about cost savings. Marion Blakey pushed next-gen enough in India to get it in place, but it has not reduced delays. India's transport manager said the only way to reduce delays is pouring more concrete for new runways. You can't land two air carriers on the same runway at the same time!

From a natinonal security perspective, a ground-based system is easier to protect. If the entire ATC system were space-based, think of the harm a few well-placed missiles could do. Conversely, existing radar-based navigational equipment is on U.S. soil, and less susceptible to attack. The number of radar sites across the country is also high enough to compensate for limited outages, with plenty of built-in redundancy.

Copies of this post with photos, are available at: Bobbysturgell[dot]com Bobbysturgell[dot]net Bobbysturgell[dot]org Failed FAA Pilot Bobby Sturgell Racks Up His 3,000th Civilian Kill, And Somehow Keeps Flying To this day, our federal government in the United States has continued to allow the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), for good reason otherwise known as the Tombstone Agency, to be run by a morally-bereft incompetent liar and perjurer by the name of Robert Allan [Bobby] Sturgell. You already know Bobby Sturgell. He self-touts his Top Gun status while seemingly unable to cite any bona fide combat experience. He professes his married status while somehow unable to wear a wedding ring while on business trips. He feigns public official status while borne of a DelMarVa shoot-’em-up biker bar until recently owned by Bobby’s FBI Mom who served as J. Edgar Hoover’s secretary. Bobby Sturgell is the imposter known as FAA –Acting- Administrator. How apt. A few months ago, Bobby Sturgell racked up his 3,000th civilian aviation kill. That makes for a lot of notches on his Top Gun wing. In but one (1) short year in office as bumbling Acting Administrator of the FAA, Bobby Sturgell has finished the job, and he has murdered aviation safety. Yet the Bobby Sturgell homicide-of-decency commenced at least 5 years ago when Bobby Sturgell joined the FAA back in 2003. The period of time from 2003 forward, to the date within the next few weeks that Bobby Sturgell ejects from his corner office at 800 Independence, shall be forever known as: The Bobby Sturgell Tombstone FAA Regime, 2003-2008. United States aviation fatality statistics are public record, and are available on the Internet. They are the damning admission of NTSB and FAA. See: Ejectsturgell[dot]blogspot[dot]com According to a Quiet Rockland count of the NTSB statistics of approximately one (1) week ago, since the year in which Bobby Sturgell joined the FAA, in 2003 – no less than Three Thousand, Three Hundred And Eighty-Three (3,383) human beings have died in aviation accidents and other aviation incidents in the United States. The body-count number has even increased since then. These 3,383 tombstones are on the head of Bobby Sturgell. Naturally, Bobby Sturgell did not run every single one of these planes and corpses into the ground in aviation flame-out, even though the incompetence of Bobby Sturgell well could have. Rather, in this case, the Sturgellian offense is not mere negligence alone. The offense is willful on the part of Bobby Sturgell, and it is 5 years perpetuated and protracted. The fact is, that it is Bobby Sturgell himself, the Sturgell arrant recidivist pandering to aeromercantile interests to the exclusion of human safety, the Sturgell inhuman abuse of the ATC work-force, and the Sturgell continual and contemptuous lawless derision for the Culture of Safety that should otherwise govern American aviation, that are the primary causes of these 3,383 dead bodies. In reply, Bobby Sturgell will squirm, avoid, deny responsibility, blame the victim, and blame others – just like he always does out of his own cowardice. Yet today, we – Americans - hold Bobby Sturgell accountable. Today, WE count the bodies that Bobby Sturgell is afraid and unwilling to count. The blood is on the ugly FAA airline-bought-and-paid-for hands of Bobby Sturgell. It is now confirmed. The failed Bobby Sturgell FAA regime is responsible for the loss of more human life than that which occurred at The World Trade Center in Manhattan on September 11, 2001. Quiet Rockland invites anyone else similarly-concerned, to carry out their own careful count of the Bobby Sturgell and FAA fatality statistics since 2003. We are warning you, it is an unpleasant and difficult task. The NTSB aviation fatality links follow, immediately below. Meanwhile, Bobby Sturgell and the other FAA ghouls continue to –celebrate- the FAA -50th Anniversary-, with verbatim quotations like these: The… women and men of the FAA over the years have pulled together in one direction to create the safest transportation system in the history of the world. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acting Administrator Robert A. Bobby Sturgell August 21, 2008 Speech And Press Release Entitled: The Credit Goes to You – FAA 50th Anniversary (Washington, D.C.). [I]t [i]s the safest period we’ve ever been in aviation. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acting Administrator Robert A. Bobby Sturgell August 1, 2008 EAA Air Venture Speech and Interview (Oshkosh, WI). We are currently experiencing the safest period in aviation history… That [i]s not chance. It [i]s not a miracle. It [i]s the result of an entire industry making safety its driving focus. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acting Administrator Robert A. Bobby Sturgell April 2, 2008 Speech And Press Release Entitled: FAA Announces Improvements to Inspection Program - Initial Airline Audit Validates Agency[] Overall Approach to Aviation Safety, (Washington, D.C.). [W]e should note that we are living in the safest period in aviation history… Safety is and will always be the primary goal of the FAA. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acting Administrator Robert A. Bobby Sturgell September 26, 2007 Testimony And Statement Before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Aviation, (Washington, D.C.). Bobby Sturgell would deceive you into believing that his failed FAA regime was the safest period in aviation history. The souls of no less than 3,383 dead, now attest otherwise. Bobby Sturgell is a liar. Bobby Sturgell and his failed FAA regime are responsible for an outrageous and unacceptable number of aviation fatalities. The Bobby Sturgell FAA was the worst FAA regime in the 50-year history of this Tombstone Agency. Aviation Fatality Statistics, United States - Year 2003 Through Year 2008: ejectsturgell[dot]blogspot[dot]com Aviation Fatality And Injury Statistics, Worldwide - Year 2003 Through Year 2008: removesturgell[dot]blogspot[dot]com