atcea.com
30th May 2005, 14:06
Would someone who has an opinion - based on knowledge of the situation - please address the issue of European politics and ATC. How will the present status of the EU, which I presume governs ATC there, affect the future of a "Single European Sky?" Are things looking good right now, or bad, for ATC. Why?
-Thanks
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ATC 24/7 (http://atcea.com)
Lon More
30th May 2005, 19:09
A real can of worms. I spent most of my career in it :*
Lots of politicians pay lip service to the idea, however, when push comes to shove, national civil servants wishes tend to over rule.
The only nations that have really done anything positive are Belgium, Luxembourg and the then FRG. The Netherlands joined in about 20 years after first promising to do so, but considerable resistance continued even after the transfer of control of part of the UAS to Maastricht.
Other nations, e.g. France and UK, claim their airdpace is "special" and could not be delegated to a European organisation.
Realistically, progress in computer science makes the idea of one super centre covering large areas of the world unneccessary, although it probably would still be a good idea to reduce the numbers of co-ordination partners by about half; this is now happening with CEATS.