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Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

nytimes.com

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Re: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

#241

Post by raffraffraff »

davedx wrote: post #234
raffraffraff wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are driving spaceship-sized SUVs while using their phones, hitting pedestrians who are walking around looking at their phones, jumping out of the path of an oncoming 12yo doing 40kmh on a battery powered scooter while looking at porn on their phones and using Whatsapp to schedule a meet up with their Fastgas supplier. Their parents think that a scooter is a toy, the phone is so that they can call home, and the…

In the Netherlands ebikes are a game changer because many people can now commute between cities on a bike (bike lanes are alongside motorways too). But they are so fast! There’s been an increase in dangerous accidents with them, particularly among the older generations. Electrification is great but it has risks too.

Most of the kids I see on scooters and bikes aren't legal. I have no idea where the kids are getting them because they're not "pedelec". You push a button and accelerate up to 40kmh. They're essentially electric mopeds and they require a driving license here (and anywhere in the EU I believe) which makes them illegal for under 16s to ride them.

Re: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

#242

Post by raffraffraff »

strken wrote: post #216
Roark66 wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does a technical gas supplier factor into the life of today's teenagers? I'm genuinely curious. Is our hypothetical 12yo person learning tig welding on a side?

Nitrous oxide is a popular inhalant. It's reasonably safe despite the usual hysterical claims, and it's unregulated in most countries, possibly because regulating it would drive users towards more harmful inhalants like glue and petrol.

And those empty canisters are everywhere, thrown around parks and playgrounds

Re: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

#243

Post by quickthrower2 »

Geisterde wrote: post #202

Usually I like to just read comments, get a feel for where society is. I love the comments in this, it can be summarized as "throw AI at it" and "more tax dollars will fix it". Lets all forget that we have put the airline industry on government life support through regulation and bailouts, thats turned the biggest companies into tumors that survive off their (literal) monopoly rights. We can all pretend we didnt dehu…

Yeah people doing that kind of job needed a jab. Sorry to say it. Greater good.

Re: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

#244

Post by spurgu »

uoaei wrote: post #239
rowanG077 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure phones can explain it. Even when I was in high school 10 years ago everyone had a smartphone with social media.

You didn't have the same platforms nor the same dynamics on them. Social media has evolved over the past decade.

Yup. Things like filters & algorithms have "improved" significantly.

Re: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

#245

Post by spurgu »

grok24 wrote: post #52
anonymousiam wrote: post #48

[flagged]

If you didn’t think there was some validity to the reporting, you wouldn’t be posting it.

To stimulate discussion perhaps? Because it is a related topic (regardless of whether or not there is direct correlation). Hiring people based on skin color rather than skills is a problem, esp. with industries where lives are at stake.

Re: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

#246

Post by kuschku »

rowanG077 wrote: post #222
strken wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nitrous oxide is a popular inhalant. It's reasonably safe despite the usual hysterical claims, and it's unregulated in most countries, possibly because regulating it would drive users towards more harmful inhalants like glue and petrol.

It's not safe at all. In my country there are many people who have destroyed their brains using it. I would say even drugs like cocaine are safer.

It's just as safe as choking yourself, the gas itself isn't causing any damage, but the oxygen deprivation may.

That's already an improvement over many other drugs, where the active ingredient is actively harmful.

Re: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

#247

Post by kuschku »

phreeza wrote: post #218
fifteenforty wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, maybe, mass infection by a virus that affects the brain and vascular system has consequences for society.

It's an interesting hypothesis but should be easy to corroborate with other data, e.g. test scores. I would assume we'd have heard of that?

We have. The scores have fallen significantly.

Re: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

#248

Post by himinlomax »

davedx wrote: post #234
raffraffraff wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are driving spaceship-sized SUVs while using their phones, hitting pedestrians who are walking around looking at their phones, jumping out of the path of an oncoming 12yo doing 40kmh on a battery powered scooter while looking at porn on their phones and using Whatsapp to schedule a meet up with their Fastgas supplier. Their parents think that a scooter is a toy, the phone is so that they can call home, and the…

In the Netherlands ebikes are a game changer because many people can now commute between cities on a bike (bike lanes are alongside motorways too). But they are so fast! There’s been an increase in dangerous accidents with them, particularly among the older generations. Electrification is great but it has risks too.

Legal ebikes in the EU stop their electrical motor at 25 km/h. You can go faster, but only as much as you would with a regular bike, ie by pedaling. Therefore ebikes are not the problem as such, illegal vehicles are the problem.

Re: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

#249

Post by macNchz »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #230
sxyuan wrote: post #189

There's an increase in incidents because ATCs are overworked and understaffed. The knee-jerk reaction is to try to automate the work away. A few problems with that kind of thinking: - Automation already exists - e.g., the collision detection warning mentioned in the article. I don't know much about air traffic control but I imagine there's some element of defense in depth. ATCs dozing off or running on fumes won't ca…

The lack of automation is causing ATC work to be stressful. People orchestrating complex procedures over a shared vhf radio channel is inherently hard and error prone. Which is why it involves people endlessly confirming and double checking known bits of information. Automation could simplify that a lot and remove a lot of the uncertainty. Making communications easier might save some lives. A lot of accidents are cau…

> The lack of automation is causing ATC work to be stressful. … > And it would free up ATC staff and pilots to do more urgent things.

There’s a problem that can happen with this, though, wherein the “easy” routine work is automated out and the number of humans involved is scaled down, but the work those people do then winds up being 100% the urgent/stressful stuff.

I’ve heard that ER doctors have been experiencing this in recent years–not quite with automation so much as just offloading, as less serious cases are picked up by nurse practitioners/urgent care centers, staffing has been adjusted and the actual physicians wind up with a steady stream of stressful high-acuity cases back to back to back.

Re: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

#250

Post by saalweachter »

phreeza wrote: post #218
fifteenforty wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, maybe, mass infection by a virus that affects the brain and vascular system has consequences for society.

It's an interesting hypothesis but should be easy to corroborate with other data, e.g. test scores. I would assume we'd have heard of that?

If we're drawing connections between 2020 and driving behavior, the much more obvious correlation would be the massive anti-police-violence protests, the accompanying increased negative public sentiments re: police, and the police reaction that occasionally gets brought up on HN, decreased policing as retribution.
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