AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL WEB LOG
ATC fact and opinion
Air traffic control is unnesessary.
Example: Southern California last month -
The ATC radio system shutdown, which lasted more than three hours, left 800 planes in the air without contact to air traffic control, and led to at least five cases where planes came too close to one another, according to comments by the Federal Aviation Administration reported in the LA Times and The New York Times. Air traffic controllers were reduced to using personal mobile phones to pass on warnings to controllers at other facilities, and watched close calls without being able to alert pilots, according to the LA Times report. An FAA spokesman said the safety was never in jeopardy.
Example: This week in Dallas -
The jets flew 2.78 miles from each other, less than the 3-mile minimum distance required by federal regulations, but officials said there was no risk of collision.
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In every situation where the ATC system fails, there will be an official spokesman denying that safety was compromised.
That's dumb!
Of course, the short-term objective of making the responsibe government agency look good is served. But what about the real issue: improving safety. If the public perceives that nothing is ever wrong, is it surprising that nothing is ever fixed? Shouldn't the agency response to such incidents be, "Wow, that was close! We need to put all our available resources into solving this problem."
What are your thoughts? 
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