Apparently I am not the only one that thinks the current FAA chief should get the ax. Sen. Charles Schumer (D) has publicly blamed the FAA chief, Marion Blakey, over massive delays in the northeast that have cascaded throughout the system and has faulted her with the destructive feud between the government and the nation's air traffic controllers.
"She has engaged in a counterproductive fight with the air traffic controllers, cut the number of controllers that are needed, and they sometimes lash back," said Schumer.
FAA officials say they are taking a number of steps to reduce delays in the New York area, including redesigning flight routes and adding new software to help respond to bad weather.
However, the delays will continue to add up while the government and the Federal Aviation Adminstration start to upgrade the systems. The new system that will involve a global positioning system that will help aircraft fly a more direct path among other options. Satellite-based navigation technology is currently being used at some airports around the nation including DFW and Atlanta. The system is saving airlines a lot of money too; as much as $36 million in Atlanta.
MSNBC.com
Related: Record Number of Passengers in 2006; Atlanta Still World's Busiest
Can the FAA legally force the airlines to change from the Hub and Spoke system? Can the FAA legally force the airlines to change their flight scheduling so they all don't arrive at the 20 busiest airports at the same times? Or need to take off at the same times?
The flow control problems, contrary to what the various leaders of the airlines and ATA say, are specifically the airlines' problems because of how they run their schedules. The Airlines can't show one shred of evidence that the problems are caused by GA pilots flying in instrument conditions that cause most of the flow control issues.
While various Airline CEO types are putting out letters to their passengers to the contrary, General Aviation has bought into GPS systems so much so that the FAA is shutting down older navigational aids as fast as they can. So here we are with another point that the problems belong more to the airlines and less to the FAA -- given that the FAA is producing GPS routings as fast as they can.
So while blaming the FAA administrator sounds good, she's not at fault for the airline problems. Speaking out of both sides of her mouth on the costs of modernization, who and how it gets paid for, and obfuscation of the same -- yeah she's guilty, but not for the flow control, navigational and weather issues.
Posted by: Piper Driver | July 18, 2007 10:46 PM | Permalink to Comment