How to fix flying
popularmechanics.com
popularmechanics.com
- The 777's TCAS alerted them to the problem and recommended an evasive action, which they took
- The Controller, despite not having followed his normal procedure prior to issuing the takeoff clearance, noticed his mistake around the same time the TCAS went off in the 777 and ordered evasive action to the Cessna
- The FAA's reporting system allowed the pilot to report the incident which was followed up on with an official investigation after which several actions were taken, including training, QA reviews in the SFO tower, establishing a panel to review the SFO transition corridor, etc.
The road to flight safety is unfortunately paved with tragedy but that's the case with anything transportation-related.
The author's proposal to break ATC away from the FAA doesn't do much to fix the problem that caused the highlighted incident (human error). Although a better-funded ATC system might have more technical controls in place, when you're dealing with one of the busiest airspaces in the world issues like this are going to occur. A better solution might be to ban non-commercial traffic from certain Class B airspaces - not that I'm in favor of that.
And even in the face of so many failures, there was only a very close call, rather than a full incident. That seems like a pretty good outcome to me.
The system could still use improvement, sure, but it is still pretty darn good.
From the tape it looks like the controller asked Cessna to 'maintain visual separation', which is a standard procedure for VFR and not an 'evasive action'.
There's quite a bit to the SWIM program. The onboarding can be a bit tricky though and you have to know your way around site-to-site VPNs. I recently completed the onboarding process and am receiving live flight plan data -- proposed flights, en route, completed etc.
Would be curious to know if there are others on HN that are working with SWIM data or if there are companies that are hiring in this space.
[1] http://www.gps.gov/policy/legislation/loran-c/ [2] http://download.aopa.org/advocacy/151123_VORs_Approved_for_D...
I don't get it. There is already a fuel tax and a tax on tickets (as the article reports). That's how flyers pay for it directly now. I don't see how that's different from a portion of every gallon and ticket sold. That's literally what it is today (and what the article is reporting).
What am I missing?
And what exactly are we trying to fix? The sky is big, it's not like we have a lack of flight space over the centre of the country... None of the suggestions seems to imply any big efficiency or safety gain.
As described, there is a lot of tedium, inaccuracy, and potential for human error in the ATC system. They're passing strips of paper back and forth, and making sure that no two strips put two planes in the same spot, and relaying the information over verbal radio commands.
It's begging to be automated.
I know very little about the financial end of things, or what would or would not solve the problem, but it does seem like a saner funding system would go a long way. Most people I've spoken to here seem skeptical at best about suggestions of breaking us off from the FAA.
But it doesn't rise to the level of the title "how to fix flying". The current system, for all of its warts, has proven to be amazingly safe.
I can land and Logan from an international flight and be in a cab headed home in 10 minutes from the gate. On the way in, I can pretty reliably plan for 15 minutes from the cab to my gate. I don't actually cut it that close intentionally, but it's a massive win compared to the cattle lines.
For the $50 I paid to be interviewed by 2 US CBP agents and 1 Canadian border agent, I don't think they're making a profit on the Nexus program that I need to worry about my largess funding the establishment.
s/sabateur/saboteur/g
The only real complaints about radio transmissions are that better training is needed, and there's limited number of conversations per hour possible, sometimes being a limiting factor on landings.