Congress: create a private corporation to govern the air traffic control system

[murphey]

If the system is automated what operation remains to be contracted out?

IT support.

Calling Nate!

 

[Vinny]

I wonder why the union would think a private corporation would be better? Do they really think that a private corp would be as agreeable in wages and benefits as a government agency?

I think the quote from the NATCA president in the OP's article is a bit out of context. They're open to discussing new ideas but don't appear to be overtly pro or anti private corp (and have maintained for some time that ATC should be a government function). PATCO is against.

NATCA's written testimony says they want stable funding for ATC. They outlined several different ideas for changes and gave the pros and cons of each - a lot of cons for the non-profit private corporation - but declined to endorse any particular option. But they did say a for-profit corp was a non-starter.

http://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2015-03-24-rinaldi.pdf

 

[ollopa]

Personally, I wouldn't trust a private company to operate all of ATC.

The benefit of the government running it (and admittedly the downside) is that they're not concerned with making money. They treat every situation the same, regardless if it's one person in an LSA or 100+ people in an airliner. The cost to individuals and corporations don't factor into decisions (at least that's what I've been led to believe), keeping people in the air alive and getting them on the ground safely is their first and only priority.

I don't trust a company that operates in a for-profit manner (that is large enough to cover all of ATC's responsibilities) to have the integrity in this day and age to do the right thing over making a profit.

My 2 cents

Agreed

 

[jsstevens]

I don't know. I have no knowledge of any entity that fits your description of The MITRE Corporation. I suspect your description is incorrect.

Mitre corporation is a not-for-profit corporation which was created to manage the SAGE program for the Air Force. It currently manages about a dozen FFRDCs. So it does in fact fit my description.

I suspect you are ignorant on this subject.

John

 

[roncachamp]

Mitre corporation is a not-for-profit corporation which was created to manage the SAGE program for the Air Force. It currently manages about a dozen FFRDCs. So it does in fact fit my description.

I suspect you are ignorant on this subject.

Perhaps I'd be a bit less ignorant on this subject if you had answered my questions instead of dodging them. You wrote; "But Mitre is limited in size by government decree and can only undertake certain types of work (only government, only R&D) again by government decree." By what authority does the government limit the size of or prohibit a private corporation from doing any work outside of government?

 

[RalphInCA]

Personally, I wouldn't trust a private company to operate all of ATC.



The benefit of the government running it (and admittedly the downside) is that they're not concerned with making money. They treat every situation the same, regardless if it's one person in an LSA or 100+ people in an airliner. The cost to individuals and corporations don't factor into decisions (at least that's what I've been led to believe), keeping people in the air alive and getting them on the ground safely is their first and only priority.



I don't trust a company that operates in a for-profit manner (that is large enough to cover all of ATC's responsibilities) to have the integrity in this day and age to do the right thing over making a profit.



My 2 cents

I agree also. Especially with the way companies now a days are giving "just barely enough customer service to keep growing".

 

[docmirror]

At least the congressman is asking some of the right questions. The FAA went all-in on Next-Gen. They promised the moon in fuel savings, more direct routing, increased automation(never figured that one), integration, maximization, utilization, and a lot of other xxxxx-ations. 6 bil spent, and where are we right now? Point to something significant that 'next gen' accomplished?

If I could cut the heart out of the FAAs ATC and reduce it to rubble I might be better off with user-fees. Of course, that won't happen. What WILL happen, is that fed funding for an 'FAA-like' ATC system will continue AND we will get user fees stacked on top. When that happens, I predict a lot of mid-level or upper level GA traffic lining up radio silent at 16.5 and 17.5' altitude with txp set on 1200(or whatever passes for VFR in ADS-B) depending on fee structure. Think about it, everyone above 10k' is going to have ADS-B in cockpit for traffic avoidance, so why call ATC and pay? I'm betting the stretching of the term 'remain VFR' will be stretched to infinity(I have 5 miles vis, sure no-prob).

 

[Jimmy cooper]

Personally, I wouldn't trust a private company to operate all of ATC.

The benefit of the government running it (and admittedly the downside) is that they're not concerned with making money. They treat every situation the same, regardless if it's one person in an LSA or 100+ people in an airliner. The cost to individuals and corporations don't factor into decisions (at least that's what I've been led to believe), keeping people in the air alive and getting them on the ground safely is their first and only priority.

I don't trust a company that operates in a for-profit manner (that is large enough to cover all of ATC's responsibilities) to have the integrity in this day and age to do the right thing over making a profit.

My 2 cents

your two cents is appreciated! Makes sense to me. An example;Private company's that have taken over a lot of our prisons are a disaster! Big big money! Judges have been arrested for sending people to prison, getting paid a bounty, etc. Mercenary troops like blackwater's,uncalled for, again, big big money! Taxpayers money! Next time, start the draft!