Safe Skies - No Atc
 

(From ATCeaBLOG 11/10/04)

Air traffic control is unnesessary.

Example: Southern California last month -

The ATC radio system shutdown, which lasted more than three hours, left 800 planes in the air without contact to air traffic control, and led to at least five cases where planes came too close to one another, according to comments by the Federal Aviation Administration reported in the LA Times and The New York Times. Air traffic controllers were reduced to using personal mobile phones to pass on warnings to controllers at other facilities, and watched close calls without being able to alert pilots, according to the LA Times report. An FAA spokesman said the safety was never in jeopardy.

Example: This week in Dallas -

During tests of new RNAV departure procedures, two jets flew 2.78 miles from each other, less than the 3-mile minimum distance required by federal regulations, but officials said there was no risk of collision.

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In every situation where the ATC system fails, there will be an official spokesman denying that safety was compromised.

That's dumb!

Of course, the short-term objective of making the responsibe government agency look good is served. But what about the real issue: improving safety. If the public perceives that nothing is ever wrong, is it surprising that nothing is ever fixed? Shouldn't the agency response to such incidents be, "Wow, that was close! We need to put all our available resources into solving this problem."

What are your thoughts? :confused:

I find it best not to think. :rolleyes:

atcea.com
 

I think you show great potential, and I recommend that you set up your own web site...............................somewhere else!

'Safe skies - no atc'

I was hoping it meant Barber's lot was finally laid to rest:p

Oh well......

THANKS
 

Thanks for the suggestion, Numbers.

Here it is! :rolleyes:

TODAY'S EXAMPLE
 

From yesterday's LA Times:


LOS ANGELES - Several mistakes by a pilot and a controller caused a corporate jet to land last week on Los Angeles International Airport runway that two other aircraft had already received permission to use, federal aviation authorities said.

The appearance of the corporate jet forced a commuter flight taxiing toward the runway to slam on its brakes. It came within 2,000 feet of a turboprop crossing farther down the runway.

It was the second runway mix-up at the airport in three months.

"The incident did not pose a threat to any of the aircraft involved," said Greg Martin, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. "Nonetheless, it did involve incursions into our very stringent standards."

The controller who handled the corporate jet has been taken off the job, pending an evaluation, federal officials said.

The event last Wednesday night came one day after the National Transportation Safety Board tried to draw national attention to runway safety problems by releasing video animation of a near-collision between two commercial jets at Los Angeles International on Aug. 19.

The board used the incident to emphasize its calls for a new warning system that would alert pilots if they were about to enter a runway already in use.

In the Aug. 19 event, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 747, arriving from South Korea with hundreds of passengers aboard, came within 185 feet of hitting a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737. The planes had been cleared for the same runway.

Los Angeles International averages 1,800 takeoffs and landings a day.

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