METRON is a (mainly) red herring in terms of this discussion. It's already up and running, and does a job that needs to be done (how well it does it is another discussion).
TFN buying METRON, quitting and then being employed by METRON stinks, but sadly is hardly unusual in business.
I aslo disagree that ASA and the RAAF using the same system makes no difference. When Pearce ATC went over to TAATS, our workload dropped significantly. Unfortunately, the rise in traffic levels quickly outstripped the efficiencies we gained.
Even running ASA at a profit doesn't have to have a safety impact. If done properly it would just mean airlines paying too much. Just like an airline, a firm competent regulator backed by an expert investigator would set hard limits and requirements based on science and logic, and enforce them. Oh, wait...
I think the problem we had was who was running the show. The two focuses seemed to be stamping his personality and cutting costs. On present form his replacement seems to be a 'just coast along' type.
If I could change anything at ASA it would be scrap SDE and the fantasy of generic ratings, and replace ALM's with rated supervisors.
Last edited by Nautilus Blue; 11th Dec 2012 at 04:02.