How Unsafe Could Flying Become in the U.S.?

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ColdBlueSteel said:
I’m more worried about technicians and other support personnel quiet quitting and while looking for work from home gigs
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Maybe, just maybe, the current environment increases the number of employees doing this?

I wouldn't want to work for a company that operated like our government currently is.
 
HintonJamesHeel said:
Anyone with a brain knows the DC crash didn’t have anything to do with Democrats/Republicans.

I have no clue if DOGE will be a net positive or negative. I’d guess negative because Trump and Musk aren’t the most trustworthy folks. With that said, I doubt it’s going to make flights more unsafe. That’s a bridge too far.
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This is the fundamental flaw that has led us all to where we are now. The catastrophic failure of imagination of just over half of Americans to grok just how bad thing can and will get.

If you have an iota of foresight, ever read any history, or have the ability to pull your head out of your own ass for more than a moment, you'd see what was barreling down on us all.

The same mournful refrain has always echoed down the windy halls of History... "Geez, I never thought it could get this bad...".
 
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nycfan said:

Trump begins firings of FAA air traffic control staff just weeks after fatal DC plane crash​

apnews.com

Trump begins firings of FAA air traffic control staff just weeks after fatal DC plane crash

The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a fatal mid-air collision in Washington.
apnews.com apnews.com
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“… Other FAA employees who were fired were working on an urgent and classified early warning radar system the Air Force had announced in 2023 for Hawaii to detect incoming cruise missiles, through a program that was in part funded by the Department of Defense. It’s one of several programs that the FAA’s National Defense Program manages that involve radars providing longer-range detection around the country’s borders.

Due to the nature of their work, staff in that office typically provide an extensive knowledge transfer before retiring to make sure no institutional knowledge is lost, said Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander, one of the employees in that branch who was terminated.


The Hawaii radar and the FAA National Defense Program office working on it “is about protecting national security,” Spitzer-Stadtlander said. “I don’t think they even knew what NDP does, they just thought, oh no big deal, he just works for the FAA.”

“This is about protecting national security, and I’m scared to death,” Spitzer-Stadtlander said. “And the American public should be scared too.”

Spero said messages began arriving after 7 p.m. on Friday and continued late into the night. More might be notified over the long weekend or barred from entering FAA buildings on Tuesday, he said. …”
 
ChapelHillSooner said:
I agree that they are playing with fire.

What gets me is that these idiots didn’t seem to even understand what probation means in the federal government.

Guess that is not a surprise considering they accidentally fired people responsible for maintaining nuclear weapons.
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I expect they understand what “probationary” means in terms of federal employees.

Musk, DOGE, and Heritage Foundation/Project 2025 want to either eliminate or privatize much of the federal government. The FAA and ATC are likely prime targets to privatize - see Musk’s comments that SpaceX is willing to “help.”
 
But...on the other hand, Musk is sending in teams from SpaceX to analyze and recommend technology upgrades for the control towers to bring these systems out of the 1980's Atari technology. This will undoubtedly make air traffic control safer with, most likely, less personnel.
 
Ramrouser said:
But...on the other hand, Musk is sending in teams from SpaceX to analyze and recommend technology upgrades for the control towers to bring these systems out of the 1980's Atari technology. This will undoubtedly make air traffic control safer with, most likely, less personnel.
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I would love nothing more than for that to be true. I have serious doubts and skepticism, but I would love for it to be true and for my doubts to ultimately prove unfounded.

Once more, though, this seems to be a solution in search of a problem. We had ZERO commercial aviation fatalities for more 15 years before the tragedy at DCA last month. Seems that the "1980's Atari technology" was doing just fine.
 
Ramrouser said:
But...on the other hand, Musk is sending in teams from SpaceX to analyze and recommend technology upgrades for the control towers to bring these systems out of the 1980's Atari technology. This will undoubtedly make air traffic control safer with, most likely, less personnel.
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LOL. You have no idea how any of this works. None. First, the people from SpaceX don't know how to do ATC. They've never done it before, nor anything like it. You see, you don't really need ATC systems when you're launching rockets. Not much traffic. Second, SpaceX has a spotty track record. 80% success rate ain't good enough for ATC. Third, does Elon look like a guy who is trying to solve problems? Fourth, you have no idea about the technology of ATC. Neither do I, but I'm not willing to say that it's horrible given that it seems to work pretty well.
 
nycfan said:
“… Other FAA employees who were fired were working on an urgent and classified early warning radar system the Air Force had announced in 2023 for Hawaii to detect incoming cruise missiles, through a program that was in part funded by the Department of Defense. It’s one of several programs that the FAA’s National Defense Program manages that involve radars providing longer-range detection around the country’s borders.

Due to the nature of their work, staff in that office typically provide an extensive knowledge transfer before retiring to make sure no institutional knowledge is lost, said Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander, one of the employees in that branch who was terminated.


The Hawaii radar and the FAA National Defense Program office working on it “is about protecting national security,” Spitzer-Stadtlander said. “I don’t think they even knew what NDP does, they just thought, oh no big deal, he just works for the FAA.”

“This is about protecting national security, and I’m scared to death,” Spitzer-Stadtlander said. “And the American public should be scared too.”

Spero said messages began arriving after 7 p.m. on Friday and continued late into the night. More might be notified over the long weekend or barred from entering FAA buildings on Tuesday, he said. …”
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nycfan said:
FTR, the ATC equipment is very old and the Biden Admin had initiated a major upgrade project.

Background:

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Right. They are building new control towers. That's likely how it would have to be done. You'd have to keep the old systems running while you run the new systems concurrently for quite some time, to make sure the new systems are actually ready. Elon ain't building towers.

I'm all for upgrading airports, which is what the $1B is for. It's not related to Elon.
 
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