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Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system

bloomberg.com

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Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system

#31

Post by rtx »

mullen wrote: post #14

> Donald Trump on Monday unveiled his proposal to hand over control of the U.S. air-traffic control system to a non-profit corporation, calling the current system an antiquated mess that doesn’t work and wastes money. Did someone point out to this idiot that we are having a string of years where there are no deaths in domestic commercial travel. Whatever is happening in the US Traffic System appears to be working rea…

These people are not being fired, just being transferred to a new company. I believe they will continue to perform at the same level. And with a non-gov entity we also get the benefit of optimal resource allocation. A win-win for everyone. Only reason of opposing this would be personal vendetta against Trump.

Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system

#32

Post by reverend_gonzo »

d0lph wrote: post #15
mmanfrin wrote: post #8

Why . I don't get this at all. Why privatize? What is the benefit? All I see this doing is decreasing safety.

Private organizations are more efficient than governmental ones. Ideally the way they are managed/regulated will remain the same. It would be really neat to see some innovation here as well, with governmental agencies there really isn't an incentive to break the status quo. edit: If you're downvoting at least comment with why you think this isn't the case

There is a reason that air traffic is tightly controlled, primarily there is massive public risk for minimal errors.

There is a saying that the FARs are written in blood, as in regulations aren't passed willy-nilly, but passed after there has been a serious incident.

Air traffic is one place where "Iterate quickly and break shit" doesn't work. What happens when in the name of "efficiency", one tower reduces current safety limits because "99% of the time these are unnecessary", then the one time it actually was necessary, you've got two jets about to make a head-on collision, or one quickly changes course, loses control, and crash-lands into a town.

There are absolutely improvments that can be made with the FAA, but privatizing ATC is definitely not one of them.

Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system

#33

Post by twinkletwinkle »

freehunter wrote: post #16
mmanfrin wrote: post #8

Why . I don't get this at all. Why privatize? What is the benefit? All I see this doing is decreasing safety.

Seems to have worked for Canada. Non-profit private sector organization, and they don't seem to have any more air disasters than anywhere else.

Right, but why. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Is there any evidence that our current system doesn't work?

Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system

#34

Post by kevinburke »

kem wrote: post #25

A monolithic private institution doesn't inspire confidence in me any more than a monolithic public one. I don't see the purpose in switching one for the other, and would probably rather see it run by the government. If it was replacing the current system with one where you had 12 different companies competing with one another, maybe so but I don't really see the benefit in what I'm reading. But I don't feel strongly…

"The New York metropolitan area is the single largest aviation market in the United States. Last year, there were nearly 33 million domestic origin and destination passengers that came to and from the three major New York airports (LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark). Nearly 60% of the total delays endured by these passengers are a result of today’s inefficient air traffic control, among the highest in the nation."

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/air-traffic-control-tech-...

Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system

#35

Post by travisjungroth »

mullen wrote: post #14

> Donald Trump on Monday unveiled his proposal to hand over control of the U.S. air-traffic control system to a non-profit corporation, calling the current system an antiquated mess that doesn’t work and wastes money. Did someone point out to this idiot that we are having a string of years where there are no deaths in domestic commercial travel. Whatever is happening in the US Traffic System appears to be working rea…

Which must have happened before he became President. Air Force One gets to hear something before anyone else: "cleared to land".

Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system

#36

Post by icebraining »

rtx wrote: post #31
mullen wrote: post #14

> Donald Trump on Monday unveiled his proposal to hand over control of the U.S. air-traffic control system to a non-profit corporation, calling the current system an antiquated mess that doesn’t work and wastes money. Did someone point out to this idiot that we are having a string of years where there are no deaths in domestic commercial travel. Whatever is happening in the US Traffic System appears to be working rea…

These people are not being fired, just being transferred to a new company. I believe they will continue to perform at the same level. And with a non-gov entity we also get the benefit of optimal resource allocation. A win-win for everyone. Only reason of opposing this would be personal vendetta against Trump.

with a non-gov entity we also get the benefit of optimal resource allocation

How do you figure?

Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system

#38

Post by d0lph »

d0lph wrote: post #15
mmanfrin wrote: post #8

Why . I don't get this at all. Why privatize? What is the benefit? All I see this doing is decreasing safety.

Private organizations are more efficient than governmental ones. Ideally the way they are managed/regulated will remain the same. It would be really neat to see some innovation here as well, with governmental agencies there really isn't an incentive to break the status quo. edit: If you're downvoting at least comment with why you think this isn't the case

Is this really that controversial? Competition only exists in Capitalism, if there's no competition, then there's little benefit to improve.

Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system

#39

Post by beckler »

d0lph wrote: post #15
mmanfrin wrote: post #8

Why . I don't get this at all. Why privatize? What is the benefit? All I see this doing is decreasing safety.

Private organizations are more efficient than governmental ones. Ideally the way they are managed/regulated will remain the same. It would be really neat to see some innovation here as well, with governmental agencies there really isn't an incentive to break the status quo. edit: If you're downvoting at least comment with why you think this isn't the case

Yeah, but private orgs usually like to play fast and loose with safety regulations to cut costs and increase efficiency. I believe ATCs top priority should be safety, and efficiency should be secondary.

Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system

#40

Post by chillingeffect »

d0lph wrote: post #19
pudo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When did we decide efficiency was the goal of air traffic control? I want the thing to be effective and reliable, efficiency is way down the list here.

Right, but part of efficiency improvements would probably include some level of automation, which would be more safe in the end.

lot of hedging there.

What you're referring to is a research project, not a deployable one.

I agree it's worth researching. Common industrial research grants with a mixture of government and private funding can perform the research and develop it.

And those improvements may be deployed to the sector whether it's private or not. There's no need to pre-emptively privatize the industry to perform R & D.

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