Comments on: Your Flight Has Been Delayed–And It’s Washington’s Fault!

By: Silvsilvchan

Silvsilvchan — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:06 +0000

Wow. Al Gore +1 respect point.

That puts him at…. well. Its a triple digit negative number. I lost track past -100

By: uffda12345

uffda12345 — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:06 +0000

Yes, private ATC is all about safety … funny how they ignored the mid-air over Switzerland that was being controlled by a private ATC company.

ATC has put more airplanes in the sky by reducing separation (and strips are basically gone from centers), but those planes need to come down sometime. Where are the runways and gates?

This appears to be a bit old since Carr hasn’t been president of NATCA for about three years.

By: ATCinWI

ATCinWI — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:06 +0000

I’m a radar controller at a major TRACON facility in the midwest (not in WI). Today I was vectoring several aircraft to the airport when the city that operates the airport (not the FAA) closed that airport for 25 minutes for snow removal. Six aircraft diverted and several dozen more were delayed due to the ensuing delay program. I wonder how Canada’s private ATC system would have gotten all those planes into the airport and avoided the “ATC Delays”.

By: HeadTater

HeadTater — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:06 +0000

True, the private sector does make mistakes. Humans make mistakes. However, it seems as though the private sector is generally more effective, productive and efficient than the government sector. Those private companies may be out there but the whole system is still run by the FAA and those private companies that are operating are very heavily regulated.

By: ATCinWI

ATCinWI — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:06 +0000

@HeadTater There are several privately run (contracted out in an experiment by the FAA) Air Traffic Control Towers in the USA (google Midwest ATC, Serco, and Robinson Aviation). They have operational errors there, too. What’s your point?

By: ATCinWI

ATCinWI — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:06 +0000

@HeadTater It costs less because they work a fraction of the traffic US FAA controllers work. NavCanada STILL hasn’t figured out how to get more than 1 airplane on a runway at a time, which is, by a huge margin, the reason for airline delays.

By: HeadTater

HeadTater — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:06 +0000

I just now saw on ABC that, on the Monday before Thanksgiving, two jets came within 1.7 miles distance and 200ft altitude of colliding outside Denver because of bad info and direction given by an FAA controler.

By: HeadTater

HeadTater — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:06 +0000

You don’t trust for-profit companies. What about non-profits? How about the government? How much do you trust it? Besides, NavCanada is a private company and it is safer, more efficient and costs less than than the FAA.

By: bbranson

bbranson — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:06 +0000

Yeah… Al Gore is a f***-ing right-wing extremist!

By: kokid0012001

kokid0012001 — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:06 +0000

Robert Poole has long had an agenda of trying to turn over the responsibility for the safety of the skies in America to the airlines or private industry. I, personally, do not trust “for profit” corporations running Fire Departments, Police Departments, Food Safety Inspection, or Air Traffic Control. Some things are inherently governmental.