Guilt and Association

My conscience is gnawing at me and I’d just as soon it didn’t. It my last post, I used something I had either heard or read (I can’t remember which) and I didn’t give the person who said it (or wrote it) credit. The fact that I can’t remember isn’t easing my conscience any.

It was the idea of renumbering Depressions. I built upon it (Gulf War I & II, Bush I & II) but the point is the original thought wasn’t mine. If I knew who to apologize to I would. In the meantime, I’ll just apologize to you. Hopefully I’ll run across it again so I can give proper credit.

With that out of the way, I’d like to point you to James Fallows’ piece for today.

Our capacity for self-government

”From twelve time zones away, it looks as if the United States is in one of those moments where the capacity to get serious and face big problems is sorely tested. “

I think Mr. Fallows is one of the more thoughtful writers (hence the reason he’s in my blog links) out there and I look forward to the day he returns home to the United States. His reporting from China is important but I’d like to see more from the home front (if you will.) Regardless, his point today blends with mine. We’re a great country. It’s time we started acting like it.

Don Brown
October 6, 2008

Holding Our Breath

Just in case you wondered, I’ve been traveling this weekend -- visiting my daughter at college. It’s an interesting experience, making sure you have enough gas to make a round trip because you might not find any. I understand the Southeast is somewhat unique in the gas shortage. It was interesting -- in a frightening sort of way. Panic comes all too easily to the populace. You can’t help but wonder what would happen if there was a shortage of something more important than gas -- like food or cash.

The good news is that the gas shortage seems to be easing and we here in Georgia can go back to holding our collective breath with the rest of the nation -- waiting to see what comes next. I no longer have to wait in isolation, wondering if we will have to start numbering our Depressions the way we’ve had to renumber our wars. The Great War World War I and World War II -- The Gulf War The First Iraq War and the Second Iraq War. Bush I and Bush II. Every other commentator is now uttering the previously unthinkable (it-might-cause-a-panic) phrase -- “the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.” Now we only have to wonder if $700 billion is enough to do the trick.

While we wait for the answer, the aviation world seems to be in a holding pattern. NATCA is getting first-hand experience as to how union busting really works. Today’s company goons don’t carry guns and ax handles, they carry briefcases and legal degrees. The FAA has already destroyed their profession a second time and they just might put a second union’s scalp on their belt. It will be interesting to see what “contract” the FAA offers during the next union election and whether or not NATCA’s membership has learned any lessons. In that NATCA’s membership mirrors the FAA’s personnel practices -- less experience as the record retirements continue -- I’m not real hopeful.

Of course, every cloud has its silver lining. Federal employees have joined the rest of America in their dependance on 401K-type retirements. They too will have to redetermine if they can afford to retire after the recent hit the economy has taken. Maybe the FAA won’t lose all of their experienced controllers after all.

I wonder if the NATCA members I know will still vote against their best interests again by voting Republican -- telling themselves that the country is more important than their well-being ? It’s a noble sentiment and one that I applaud. I just don’t understand how anyone can think that two wars, the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, a $10 trillion dollar national debt, a $1,200 dollar decline in median income, 4,000 dead and 30,000 wounded soldiers, $4 dollar-a-gallon gas and 5 million more citizens living in poverty is in the best interest of the country. Maybe they’ll take a look at their paychecks and their retirement funds and it will dawn on them that they are Americans too. And that they have a voice.

In the mean time (pardon the appropriate but unintended pun) we all wait, holding our breath instead of acting. And while we stand frozen in our fear, the damage goes on unabated.

Report faults FAA over maintenance outsourcing


”Although the FAA has taken steps to improve, "the agency still faces challenges in determining where the most critical maintenance occurs and ensuring sufficient oversight," investigators said in the report this past week.

In airlines' effort to lower costs, the report said, they continue to shift heavy airframe maintenance from in-house mechanics and engineers to hundreds of repair companies in the United States, Canada, Mexico and countries in Central America and Asia. “

Our jobs are still being shipped overseas and our government still stands bowed before the altar of unregulated capitalism. Only this type of deregulation won’t just take your money or your retirement -- this one can take your life.

If only I had paid attention in school, maybe my words would have the power and clarity of Garrison Keillor’s.

”Confident men took leave of common sense and bet on the idea of perpetual profit in the real estate market and crashed. But it wasn't their money. It was your money they were messing with. And that's why you need government regulators. Gimlet-eyed men with steel-rim glasses and crepe-soled shoes who check the numbers and have the power to say, "This is a scam and a hustle and either you cease and desist or you spend a few years in a minimum-security federal facility playing backgammon." “

If only I could find the words. Don’t hold your breath. I won’t. I’ll use the words that I can find and do the best that I can. You might want to give it a try. You might be surprised how well it works. It beats standing frozen in panic --turning blue in the face. Breathe. Act.

Don Brown
October 6, 2008

The Company You Keep

My brother called me yesterday. We don’t talk often. And we aren’t very good at small talk. Some of you know that we’re identical twins. Knowing that, it may surprise you to find out he’s pretty much a Republican. He’s in business. His business deals with a lot of military and ex-military people. Both groups are mostly pro-Republican.

Anyway, while trying to make small talk, we got started on politics. He gave me the same Republican talking points that I’ve been getting from all my Republican friends -- Barney Frank and Bill Clinton sealed our fate in 1999, mark-to-market, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac making bad loans, etc., etc. I mentioned “Starve the Beast”. I was surprised he hadn’t heard of the phrase.

That is when it hit me that I really am retired. I actually have time to look some of this stuff up. Most people that are working for a living don’t. They’re simply too busy. They depend on others -- the media for instance -- to do a good job and supply them with information necessary to make rational decisions.

The same thought hit me again when I saw where someone was rationalizing their candidate’s lack of experience by pointing out that Presidents are surrounded by expert advisors. That made me curious and I decided to dig into it a little. I’ll provide the links to the information I found but don’t feel compelled to click on them if you’re one of the ones that are just too busy. If you have the time, please have a look. I’d much rather you read the truth for yourself.

First, I found a press release from the McCain campaign in USA Today.

For Immediate Release

Thursday, July 12, 2007

ARLINGTON, VA - U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today announced an impressive collection of economists, professors, and prominent conservative policy leaders who will advise the Arizona Senator as he seeks the White House.

As I read it, I kept seeing the same organizations over and over again. The American Enterprise Institute and The Heritage Foundation. Both are conservative think tanks. Let me provide you with some selected quotes from Wikipedia, highlighting what I consider to be important facts. Again, feel free to read the entire entries at Wikipedia if you have the time.

The American Enterprise Institute

”AEI (American Enterprise Institute) has emerged as one of the leading architects of the second Bush administration's public policy. More than twenty AEI alumni and current visiting scholars and fellows have served either in a Bush administration policy post or on one of the government's many panels and commissions. Former United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is a visiting scholar, and Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is a senior fellow. “

(Emphasis added)

All of those names are linked on Wikipedia and I encourage you to follow as many of the links as your limited time will allow. Some names listed in various roles at AEI that are worth checking into are; Newt Gingrich, Robert Bork, John Yoo, Richard Perle and Irving Kristol.

The Heritage Foundation.

”Since the end of the Cold War, Heritage has continued to be an active voice in foreign affairs and has been generally supportive of President George W. Bush's foreign policies. “

(Emphasis added)

If you somehow think that the McCain/Palin ticket stands for change, I humbly submit that you are mistaken. The fundamental philosophy is the same. In essence, McCain has chosen the same groups to advise him that President Bush chose. He didn’t inherit them -- as Sarah Palin might -- he chose them. If you liked the last eight years -- two wars and a looming economic disaster -- you should probably vote for McCain.

You may not see the link between Blackwater and contracting out the FAA’s training. I do. As wildly different as those two subjects are they are linked by a fundamental philosophy used to make public policy -- limited government. It is that same philosophy-turned-into-policy that failed to provide the oversight at Southwest Airlines and Wall Street. And if you click on that last link, you’ll see that the policy of “ Starve the Beast” isn’t something I read just yesterday.

"Starving the beast" is a fiscal-political strategy of some American conservatives to use budget deficits via tax cuts to force future reductions in the size of government. The term "beast" refers to government and the programs it funds, particularly social programs such as welfare, Social Security, and Medicare.

The tax cuts of current US President George W. Bush's administration are a current example. He said "so we have the tax relief plan [...] that now provides a new kind -- a fiscal straightjacket for Congress. And that's good for the taxpayers, and it's incredibly positive news if you're worried about a federal government that has been growing at a dramatic pace over the past eight years and it has been."

Prior to being elected as the President, then-candidate Ronald Reagan foreshadowed the strategy during the 1980 US Presidential debates,... "

Let me sum it up for you. Since Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party strategy has been to cut funds available to the Federal Government so as to limit the size of government and limit its spending on any social programs -- programs designed to help our poorer citizens.

As I am writing this, the vote on the bailout bill is clearing the House of Representatives. With the signing of the Bill, the Federal Government will borrow over $700 billion dollars. That is $700 billion dollars to undo the damage Wall Street has done while your government was busy “limiting government” oversight of the financial industry (and everybody else.) While the hedge fund managers were busy earning billion-dollar bonuses and ruining the nation's economy, the same Federal Government -- under George W. Bush -- was giving tax cuts to the wealthy, even as the median yearly income for U.S. workers fell by $1,200. The rich got richer, you got poorer and now your government has $700 billion less to help you and your fellow citizens out in the recession ahead.

”A well-known proponent of the strategy is activist Grover Norquist who famously said “My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”“

In the next thirty days, when you get your bank statement, when you get a good look at the gaping hole in your 401K, when you see the newly homeless on the street -- I hope you’ll remember the words that I’ve written. I hope you realize that it is your fellow citizens that they are starving and it is you that they are trying to drown in the bathtub.

When you go to vote on November 4th, remember who brought you this mess. If the name has an “R” next to it, think REJECT.

Don Brown
October 3, 2008

Listen to Reason

I hope some of the themes in this piece from “Fresh Air” sound familiar to you. I haven’t covered them all, nor have I covered them as well. Having said that, I have tried.

I just heard this program. I’ve never read anything by the interviewee. I’ve never even heard of him. But I think the piece is fantastic. It does a great job of telling you how we got to the current financial crisis. I think it well worth your time.

Steve Fraser: A Long View Of The Wall Street 'Dream’

Don Brown
October 1, 2008

More Delay for Delays

Here’s the news for today.

GAO: FAA Lacks Legal Basis For Slot Auctions

"We conclude that FAA currently lacks the authority to auction arrival and departure slots, and thus also lacks authority retain and use auction proceeds," the GAO report said. "FAA lacks a legal basis to go forward with the Newark auction or any other auction."

Be sure to take note of the last line.

”Earlier in the day, FAA's Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition lifted its stay on the slot auction at Newark. The auction was originally scheduled for Sept. 3, but ODRA stayed the auction pending legal challenges. “

Confused ? Don’t be. Fighting this out in the court system will take much longer -- effectively delaying a real solution to delays; Slot controls. No auction is needed. Never has been. Its just a delaying tactic.

Don Brown
October 1, 2008

FAA History Lesson -- October 1 (08)

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”Oct 1, 1969: Sixteen area navigation routes opened between 11 U.S. cities on an interim basis pending formal rulemaking. The new routes were the first in a projected nationwide area navigation route system designed to increase airway capacity.

They ran between the following cities:

Chicago and New York (two routes);

Los Angeles and Chicago (two);

Kansas City and Minneapolis (two);

San Francisco and Chicago (two);

Atlanta and Pinehurst, N.C. (two);

Knoxville and Atlanta (two);

Houston and Dallas (four).

In succeeding months, additional cities were linked as more routes were developed (see Apr 29, 1971).

The primary air navigation system in use in the United States in 1969 required pilots to fly directly toward or away from the ground-based radio navigation aid (a VOR or VORTAC) transmitting a line of position, or radial. With area navigation, aircraft did not have to fly a track to or from a navaid, though they did depend on signals from VORs or VORTACs. Pilots flying appropriately equipped aircraft could, within the limitations of the system, follow any preselected arbitrary track. An airborne computer calculated the aircraft's position and displayed track and distance to a point selected by the pilot or prescribed by the controller. The system's advantages included: routes could be established along the shortest and most convenient paths; parallel and one-way routes could be established to reduce congestion; aircraft could be segregated according to speed and destination; navaids could be placed at accessible points on more favorable terrain; departure routes could be designed to lead directly from the runway to the appropriate parallel airway; and arrival routes could be designed to accept traffic directly from en route airways. (See Mar 6, 1972.) “

(Formatting edited)

Just curious -- does any of this sound familiar ? “... designed to increase airway capacity...“ “...routes could be established to reduce congestion... “

I hired on in 1981. I never saw any “area navigation routes” until they put a GPS airway through CLT Approach’s airspace around 2000 or so.

I can just see the edited version of the FAA’s history:

"The primary air navigation system in use in the United States in 1969 in 2006 required pilots to fly directly toward or away from the ground-based radio navigation aid (a VOR or VORTAC) transmitting a line of position, or radial."

Don Brown
October 1, 2008

Party ! Party and party

But first, this word from our sponsors...

Okay, so I don’t have any sponsors. I do have a few links to Amazon though. And you’re not clicking on them. I try not to bug you about it and I try to make it as painless as possible. I haven’t even written any lengthy reviews of the last two books I’ve read.

Lies My Teacher Told Me was a good book. I just don’t think it was a great book. It should have been -- and many think it was. So might you. It was chock full of the tidbits of history I like and had some great overall themes in it. In other words, I’m at a loss as to why I didn’t like it more than I did. Let’s just put it down to “chemistry.”

As far as Jeff Sharlet’s book The Family, I don’t know what to think. I did enjoy it but more than a week later I’m still pondering over it. I think it’s an important book. It’s certainly generating a lot of interest. I’m not sure if I was confused by Mr. Sharlet’s writing style or if I lack sufficient education about religion in America.

The beginning of it reminded me of reading Charlie Wilson's War. It reads like over-the-top fiction -- but it’s true. The names you read in it are simply incredible. Senators, Congressmen, Presidents and various world leaders that you will recognize. It’s just hard to imagine the level of fundamentalism’s involvement in government that Mr. Sharlet depicts. Yet a quick check at Wikipedia lets you know that Mr. Sharlet is on to something and it is very real. Check it out for yourself: The Family organization. The National Prayer Breakfast. Even this little blurb from Wikipedia grabs attention.

”The Fellowship operates a retreat center as an "unofficial headquarters," at the end of Twenty-fourth Street North in Arlington, Va. Called "The Cedars," it was purchased in 1978 through donations from, among others, Tom Phillips, CEO of arms manufacturer Raytheon... “

You might not get it immediately but we’ll get back to Raytheon in a minute and you will.

Now, back to our program.

I went to another controller retirement party last night. It was a great party. “Doc” has done his time and he went out in style. I can tell you without the slightest doubt, the taxpayers got their money out of Doc. He was one of the best -- the kind of guy that makes you proud of the profession.

As always, I pick up the latest news at these events. It’s as bad as I feared. The rookies when I left less than two years ago are now the senior controllers on the team -- sometimes the senior controllers on the whole shift. The next generation of controllers will be left to find their own way, just as my generation did after the PATCO strike in 1981. The loss of “institutional memory” is incredible and just as tragic -- if slightly slower -- than it was in 1981.

In case there is any doubt in your mind, this tragedy has been brought to you courtesy of the Republican Party.

"Another reality in the post-9/11 growth of intelligence analysis capability is outsourcing. We have outsourced the management of billion-dollar technical collection programs, and we have contracted for intelligence analysts."

"In the area of analysis, the number of contractors also grew. Not satisfied with doubling the number of analysts at the CIA, the intelligence community turned to the private sector, or at least privately owned companies. Many of the companies involved, such as Lockheed Martin, earn almost all of their money by selling to governments."

"The result of all those decisions to take the easy way out and sign contracts is that we have created a two-tier system for intelligence analysis. For now, at least, the more experienced analysts are often in the profit-making firms, aspiring to be among the ranks of their highly paid bosses someday. And their highly paid bosses are motivated to persuade the intelligence agencies, where they once worked, of the continued need for their contracts. And many of the bosses in the intelligence agencies are thinking about what they will do when they have worked twenty years and can begin pulling down a government pension."

Is any of this sounding familiar to you ? Seriously, maybe just a little too familiar ?

If you didn’t catch Raytheon’s name in the link above, you can always try this one.

”A team led by Raytheon Technical Services Company (RTSC) LLC, a subsidiary of Raytheon Company, has received a 10-year contract to provide training support for Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers. The single contractor award is valued at $437 million for the five-year base period. The contract also has two options. If exercised, the first option is three years and the second option, two years. “

Oh, and all those quotes above about the contracting out of our intelligence services ? They’re from the book I’m reading now -- Your Government Failed You. If you’ll think back to the days right after 9/11 maybe you’ll recognize the phrase. It was uttered by the author of the book, Richard A. Clarke, at the 9/11 Commission hearings.

You might want to buy the book. I hear Raytheon is hiring but I don’t think I’ll be invited to that party.

Don Brown
September 29, 2008

Global ATC

In case anyone wonders why I try to keep up with ATC in other countries and occasionally post a story about it...

Why Swanwick hit the headlines

”It is possibly no surprise that when something goes wrong at the London Air Traffic Control Centre it inevitably hits the headlines.”

“Richard Wright of Nats - the partially-privatised company that provides air traffic control to commercial flights in the UK's airspace - admits that Swanwick had a "difficult birth".

The centre opened six years after its planned commissioning date, in January 2002.

Nats says that the extensive delay was mainly due to problems with the software it chose to power its systems.

The plan was for Nats to use a package that was being developed as part of a huge upgrade of the US air traffic control network.

But this ran into problems - and the American project eventually collapsed. Richard Wright says this meant the software developers and Nats were left to continue alone.

Their role in picking up the pieces and bringing the software up to scratch "took much longer than planned," Mr Wright says.“

Don Brown
September 27, 2008

Clean Up On Aisle Eight

As the folks on Wall Street stare into the abyss, the folks in Washington try to figure out a way to clean up the mess. I realize that everyone in the Free World -- let’s just make that everyone -- is wondering, what do we do now ?

The air traffic control system doesn’t carry the same weight as the world’s economy but it is a significant endeavor nevertheless. Aviation and aerospace represent about nine percent of the U.S. GDP. Boeing is the largest exporter in the country. I thought while Washington is distracted by the financial crisis, I’d take a look at the aviation crisis and see how we might clean that up.

Unless I miss my guess, the “business is better”, “government is the problem”, “let’s contract out everything if we can’t privatize” era is over. Ronald Reagan’s "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem" manta has turned into praying that government actually is the solution. What we need is competent government with a smart, professional civil service. We have our work cut out for us.

The first thing that needs to happen is that the leadership needs to set the tone.

”I think that one of the missions I have as president is to, not create a bigger government, but to restore some luster to the federal government. To recruit the best and the brightest, and to say that service in federal government is something that is critically important to the well-being of the American people, and by the way, to the well-being of the marketplace. “

That sounds about right to me.

In my mind, the government needs to go back to being the government. It doesn’t need to “act more like a business.” It needs to be the best government it can be. That -- above all -- will take competent government employees.

There will be no better time to find them. Because of Wall Street’s malfeasance and this Administration’s failure to govern, there will be a huge pool of talent looking for a good, stable job. That is, if the financial crisis is contained. Otherwise, there will be a horde looking for a job -- any job. One way or another, the talent is out there. All the next Administration has to do is get it in place.

Likewise, there is no better time to institute landing slot restrictions at all commercial airports. As my readers know, this is a key factor in my ideas on how to fix our aviation system. On a fundamental level, landing slot restrictions address the reality of limited capacity at airports. On a regulatory level, it provides the stability the market needs to allow airlines to prosper.

Now that regulation is no longer a dirty word, I would recommend we limit the scheduled commercial air traffic to the IFR arrival rate. Again, it’s a negotiable item but I assume the economy (and travel demand) will contract in the immediate future. In that “politics is the art of the possible”, it might be possible to get the tighter restrictions in place now. This is important for two reasons.

First, a major problem for the airline industry since deregulation is the level of destructive competition. Combined with the lack of slot restrictions, the most popular airports have been overwhelmed as airlines overschedule our major airports. There simply isn’t enough capacity (runways) to meet the demand at these critical airports. When we run out of room at these airports, it overwhelms the air traffic control system. The holding patterns fill up, clogging up the airspace used for enroute traffic and the whole thing snowballs. Departures are held on the ground at other airports to relieve the pressure and the whole system starts grinding to a halt. Despite the billions of dollars spent on “flow control”, the situation has only grown worse. That is because “flow control” doesn’t address the fundamental problem -- overscheduling at the busiest (most popular) airports.

The second reason for the tighter restrictions is the sorry state of the air traffic control system. The ATC system is near the breaking point. No one knows precisely where that point is -- we never will until it breaks -- but you’ll just have to trust me (and the people that work it) that it is. Hardware, software, maintenance, personnel -- there isn’t any good news at the FAA. We’ll get to the details momentarily. For now, it’s important to understand that the ATC system needs some breathing room. Slot restrictions will give it the room it needs to get some new people on board.

There is one other regulatory function that needs to be addressed before we get to the details at the FAA. The rules that govern the entry of new airlines into the system need tightening up. This is an area outside my expertise so I have to tread lightly. You cannot have a stable group of air carriers if they have to continuously fight off an unlimited number of cut-rate, start-up airlines. The idea is to regulate competition -- not destroy all competition. You want competition but you don’t want destructive competition -- which is what we’ve had since airline deregulation. That is why our airline industry has nearly been destroyed. Restricting access to the major airports (slot restrictions) might be enough to limit new entries into the market. But it might not. Further measures might be needed.

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. The FAA needs to take back many of the functions that it has contracted out. Training, maintenance and computer programming support.

The FAA is busy developing what will be the biggest computer program it has taken on in decades -- ERAM. Without a doubt, the FAA needs Lockheed Martin’s expertise in developing such a large and unique program. It is what happens afterwards that the FAA needs to concentrate on. The program is one-of-a-kind. The FAA is the sole customer. Even if Lockheed is successful in marketing portions of it to other countries, the FAA will still be a unique user. There is simply no other ATC system close to the FAA in sheer size.

The thing to remember is that the program ERAM is replacing is around 40 years old. Even if ERAM only lasts half that long, it is longer than Lockheed will be willing to support it without some truly outlandish incentives. We’ve seen this over and over again in the FAA. The FAA’s unique requirements -- including the long-term stability needed in the NAS -- are beyond what private industry can support. The day-to-day requirements of data systems support needs to be internalized to the FAA. The FAA needs to take responsibility for the institutional memory of its data system support. For those that remember the Data Systems Specialists, no further explanation is needed. They became the experts on the data systems and remained the experts long after the private contractors (IBM on the last system) had moved on.

Another area is training. The FAA needs to do virtually all air traffic control training in-house. The College Training Initiative school idea is a farce. There is really only one employer of air traffic controllers in the United States and that is Uncle Sam. The idea of having a college-like system for one occupation that only has one employer is ridiculous on its face. The FAA needs to scrap the program and go back to doing all its initial ATC training at their academy in Oklahoma City.

Controller training at the facilities needs to be brought back into the FAA. Currently, at the Centers, much of it is done by WCG -- Washington Consulting Group. This is another failed “business is better-they-can-do-it-cheaper” idea. What you have is a bunch of retired controllers -- rehired by a private contractor -- providing new controllers with training, and senior controllers with refresher training. As soon as a new piece of equipment is introduced on the control room floor -- say URET for instance -- you soon have retired controllers, that have never used a piece of equipment in real life, providing controllers that use it every, single day with refresher training. That too is a farce.

The need to return training to an internal function goes beyond that obvious flaw. The instructors need to have a stake in the system. If you use current, qualified controllers to provide the training -- controllers that will be working with the trainees -- you get what is commonly referred to as “buy in.” The instructors have a stake in the outcome. They know that in a few months time, when their instructor rotation is over, they will be returning to the control room floor where they will have to work with that trainee. They know that their career might depend on how well that trainee is able to do the job. It’s tends to improve “quality control.”

The last area I will address is the maintenance side of the FAA. There are many justifications for keeping maintenance of the FAA’s infrastructure in-house but none are more important -- or as intangible -- as the level of commitment and dedication the FAA’s technicians bring to the job. Being “in-house”, they see firsthand the troubles and dangers that come about when a system fails. They see the controllers sweating bullets when the radio or radar goes out. They see the chaos that erupts when a computer quits or the power fails. Even something as simple as talking shop with controllers on their breaks brings a deeper understanding of just how critical their job is. It not only brings a level of commitment to the job that a private contractor can’t match, it brings with it a sense of pride too. That commitment and sense of pride has real value. Do I need to remind you of the Southwest inspection scandal to convince you ?

I sense that the era of blind faith in the superiority of business is over. I hope so. Private industry certainly has its place in our society. But so too does government. Every citizen should want their government to be the best it can be. Demonizing the government will not make it better. Only hard work and constant vigilance will. Government needs to work and indiscriminate contracting out of government is a recipe for disaster. This experiment of contracting it out has failed and it is time to begin cleaning it up. Before our aviation system suffers the same fate as our financial system.

Don Brown
September 26, 2008

Sleepy Head

I’m off to a late start today. Russ and Paul -- of The 25 Zulu Show kept me up past my bed time. In case you missed the radio show last night, you can download it from the archives at Gold Seal Live. Last night’s program isn’t up yet but I’m sure that it will be soon.

I think a good time was had by all. I certainly had one. The only time I found myself at a loss for words was when I found out my daughter was in the chat room. She’s up at Berry College, studying art, and it just wouldn’t compute that she was listening -- much less in the chat room. Oh well, she knows she’s daddy’s little girl anyway.

Coming back through Atlanta was probably the fastest trip I’ve made since I sold the Prelude 20 years ago, so I really didn’t get home that late. It was probably all the brush hauling I did yesterday that kept me in bed. Maybe I’m just getting old.

A quick check of the news hasn’t revealed anything that really interests me. The FAA wants to spend a boatload of money to put a “satellite-based”, “electronic mapping device” in airplanes so they don’t get lost on runways. I’m thinking it’s a lot of money (and a lot of words) for GPS but I finally figured out they aren’t talking about anything new -- they’re still talking about ADS-B. I still wonder why everyone doesn’t have GPS to use for navigating around the surface of large airports.

Delta and Northwest are still on course to merge. The FAA settled a case involving a mid air collision between two helicopters for $4.5 million. Bobby Sturgell is still the “acting” Administrator and the controllers still don’t have a contract.

In other words, aviation is holding its breath -- waiting to see if the financial world is going to collapse and wondering if we will survive the Bush Administration -- just like the rest of the world.

Don Brown
September 25, 2008