[Peetwo]

Update on Trumps plan to 'make air traffic control great again'

In a parallel world still far far away, Trump Announces Plan To Privatize Air Traffic Control

In part, the article about the FAA and El Presidento said;

President Trump announced Monday a plan to privatize the nation's air traffic control system — a move that would remove the job of tracking and guiding airplanes from the purview of the Federal Aviation Administration. "Today we're proposing to take American air travel into the future, finally," Trump said.
The nation's air traffic control system was designed when far fewer people flew, Trump said, calling it "stuck, painfully, in the past." He also called the system "ancient, broken, antiquated" and "horrible" and said his reforms would make it safer and more reliable.
The FAA has worked to upgrade its system, but Trump and other critics say it was taking far too long. "Honestly, they didn't know what the hell they were doing," Trump said. "A total waste of money."

Link here;

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/05/531574945/...ic-control

Interesting article as the similarity with Australia's issues are comparable. I guess the difference is that at least Trump seems to understand the issues. That's what happens when a real businessman knows his shit from the ground up, unlike the pole sliding Houston, blue blooded Turdball and the sheltered workshop pedicure loving Harfwit. These Muppets wouldn't to know an ATC controllers screen from a barium enema!

Can you imagine the spineless Malcolm Turdball, the trough addicted Houston or the conceited Electric Blue Harfwit bowing to such a proposal?? I agree, very unlikely...

"Safe, protected, bureaucratic troughs for all"

Good catch Gobbles -

Here is another article courtesy USA Today:

In infrastructure push, Trump seeks to privatize air traffic control system

Meanwhile in a parallel hemisphere - Muppet 6D effectively announces that the government has full faith in the Harfwit administration & Sir A oversight of Airservices, while giving the green light to more wanton, ATP funded, OneSKY trough feeding :

Sir Angus signs to stay with Airservices Australia
Media Release
DC150/2017
02 June 2017

• Sir Angus Houston AK, AFC (Rtd) reappointed to Airservices Australia (Airservices) Board as the Chair.
  
• Mr David Marchant and Mr Tim Rothwell reappointed for two-year terms.
  

The Australian Government has reappointed Sir Angus Houston AK, AFC (Rtd) as the Chair of the Board of Airservices Australia for a further one year term.

Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester said Sir Angus Houston brought extensive aviation experience to this critically important role, ensuring Airservices future delivery of safe and efficient air traffic services.

“In addition, Mr David Marchant and Mr Tim Rothwell have been reappointed for a further two years, to help the Board oversee the acquisition of a new air traffic management system for Australia,” Mr Chester said.

“These reappointments will also ensure valuable finance, safety and governance expertise is retained. - Code for the OneSKY trough fund will be nurtured and greedily protected...

“Airservices is moving to replace its air traffic management system as part of a major capital expenditure and investment program of more than $1 billion over the next five years, to enhance the safety, efficiency and capacity of the national network, and meet anticipated growth in the industry.

“That is why having strong leadership will be essential in meeting the goals of Airservices Australia and why I am delighted to make this announcement,” Mr Chester said. - UDB! Does this Muppet have the first blind clue about what's been going on in the other house...

Here is a reminder: Hansard 2nd Estimates session Australian National Audit Office

 

   
Hmm...I would suggest that Muppet 6D's scriptwriters should be given the bureaucratic 'long drop' because they have now effectively got the miniscule to sign a confession of complicity on the government's ownership of the OneSKY tender duck-up...

Ps

Senator XENOPHON: ...I just want to go to the question of the publication of documents on your website. If you had documents that have been released under FOI, there is a protocol that you are required by law to publish them on your website; is that right?

Mr Harfield : I am unfamiliar with that, but it is supposed to be that, once you have published them, they should be available to everyone.

Senator XENOPHON: Isn't there a legal requirement? Maybe, when Senator Rice is asking some questions, I will do a quick bit of research to find the relevant section if there is.

Mr Harfield : If there is, we need to comply.

Senator XENOPHON: The stories that were published by the ABC on the accelerate program, back in February of this year—they do not appear to be online, as I understand they are required to be.

Mr Harfield : I will check that, because there should be no reason that they are not.

Senator XENOPHON: Let us go back a step, though. Is there a protocol to ensure that documents that have been released under FOI are on your website?

Mr Harfield : There should be a protocol that we should be publishing them as per the FOI legislation.

Senator XENOPHON: And who can tell me what that protocol is? Is anyone here—

Mr Harfield : I do not have the FOI protocol in front of me.

Senator XENOPHON: Could you provide an explanation as to why the documents that were released under FOI that the ABC obtained for their stories earlier this year do not appear to be on the website? If they are on the website and I have not been able to find them, I apologise, but they do not appear to be on the website.

Mr Harfield : We will find them, and we will give you an explanation of that.

 How any Crown miniscule in their right mind would blindly state that they have full faith in the governance procedures and executive administration of ASA when the CEO can't even demonstrate compliance and/or transparency with his obligations to the FOI Act is beyond me...

Update: US ATC privatisation debate rages on -

By Joan Lowy, via the Washington Times:

Q&A: The pros and cons of privatizing air traffic control


President Trump is looking to shift responsibility for the air traffic control system from the government to a private, nonprofit corporation run by airlines and other aviation interests. (Associated Press)
Print
By JOAN LOWY - Associated Press - Tuesday, June 6, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. air traffic control system, the world’s largest and most complex, is in the midst of an era of unsurpassed safety. There has not been a fatal crash of a domestic passenger airliner in the U.S. in eight years.

Now President Donald Trump is looking to shift responsibility for the system from the government to a private, nonprofit corporation run by airlines and other aviation interests. The handover of about 300 airport towers and other flight tracking centers would be one of the largest transfers of U.S. government assets. About 35,000 workers, including 14,000 controllers and 6,000 technicians, would be affected.

Privatization supporters, including some Republican lawmakers, say it would improve efficiency and modernize the air-traffic system. But congressional approval isn’t certain. Some lawmakers in both parties are reluctant to give up oversight. Some politically influential business aircraft operators, private pilots, small aircraft manufacturers and medium- and small-sized airports fear airlines will dominate the corporation’s board, resulting in higher fees for them and less service.

There are also concerns about whether the air traffic system would suffer during the transition.

Some questions and answers about what’s at stake:

WHY MESS WITH A GOOD THING?

The idea is to remove air traffic control from the vagaries of the government budget process, which has limited the Federal Aviation Administration’s ability to commit to long-term contracts and raise money for major expenditures.

That’s hampered the agency’s “NextGen” program to modernize the air traffic system by switching from radar and radio communications to GPS surveillance and digital voice and text communications. Recent controller furloughs and government shutdowns have worsened the problem.

___

WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES?

Many countries have created government-owned corporations, independent government agencies or quasi-governmental entities. Canada is the only country to create what is clearly a private nonprofit air-traffic corporation. NavCanada can raise private capital, make long-term financial commitments, and it recently lowered the fees it charges airlines.

But the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reported last month that there appears to be no conclusive evidence that any of those approaches is better or worse than government-run services, including the FAA’s, in terms of productivity, cost-effectiveness, service quality, and safety and security.

___

WHO WANTS TO DO THIS?

The U.S. airline industry has been campaigning since the 1980s to privatize air traffic control to try to gain greater control over the system, reduce their costs and replace airline passenger ticket taxes with user fees based on takeoffs, landings and other operations. The Clinton administration proposed spinning off air traffic operations into a government corporation but ran into congressional opposition.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., has proposed using NavCanada as a model. But he couldn’t win enough support to bring legislation to the House floor last year, and he faced even greater opposition in the Senate. Trump administration officials have cited Shuster’s bill as a starting point for their efforts.

Shuster received $148,499 in airline industry campaign contributions last year, making him the industry’s top recipient in the House, according to the political money tracking site Opensecrets.org.

___

IS NEXTGEN IN TROUBLE?

The FAA has been working for more than a decade on NextGen. Early on, it predicted the program would be completed by 2025, but officials now describe NextGen as an evolving effort with no end date.

The National Academy of Sciences reported in 2015 that the original vision for NextGen of transforming the air traffic system has devolved into a series of incremental changes that primarily emphasize replacing aging equipment and systems.

But FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said recently the agency has made “tremendous progress” revamping the system with the latest technology, and is poised to switch from ground-based radar to GPS surveillance. The switch is expected to save time and fuel and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Huerta has predicted $13 billion in benefits to the government and aircraft operators by 2020, with greater gains after that.

Calvin Scovel, the Transportation Department’s inspector general and a frequent NextGen critic, recently told the House transportation committee that even though the program hasn’t met expectations, it’s not broken.

___

WOULD PRIVATIZATION HELP?

Privatization supporters complain that the FAA’s procurement process is so cumbersome that new equipment is no longer the latest technology by the time it’s acquired. Also, delays in updating landing and takeoff procedures to incorporate technological advances make the system less efficient. Airlines say that costs them billions of dollars in flight delays each year.

A corporation would be free of such government regulations and could act faster and with more flexibility, supporters say. The FAA would still provide safety oversight.

Opponents say there’s no evidence a corporation run by airlines would do a better job. Major U.S. airlines have suffered massive computer outages in recent years that have roiled air travel.

___

WHERE DO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS STAND?

Their union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, endorsed Shuster’s bill after winning assurances that controller wages, benefits and collective bargaining rights would be protected. Union leaders say controllers are tired of working with outdated equipment and are concerned about government shutdowns and furloughs

Still got a long, long, way to go but unlike our NFI, AIOS inflicted miniscule and government..

AIOS - & the 21st Century??

...The industry has "acquired institutionalised ostrichitis syndrome" (AIOS).

 ...at least they're having the debate...  



MTF...P2