Over a year ago, Popular Mechanics, a magazine I always thought was 'up' on the current cool stuff, had an article claiming that the planes were wasting fuel and amassing delays because they had to fly zigzag patterns in the sky FROM RADAR SITE TO RADAR SITE!
Folks, I don't even know where all the radar sites are, let alone you pilots! And really, how would you know when you were over one? Do you hear a bleep?
(Some of those bleeps aren't from the equipment.) Do you have special 'radar' maps telling you which one to smile at as you pass it?
The tragedy is that the FAA is selling snakeoil to the public and the media, without doing its own verification of information, is buying it, HL&S. (hook line and sinker). If you actually go to the FAA's own documentation, and read past the first few pages, you'll see where NEXGEN will actually help the flying public and reduce delays for aircraft. Where? Areas like Alaska and the ocean! Areas where normal radar coverage is nearly impossible. This is where Nex shines because oceanic flights DO fly specific paths, so that non-radar equipped controllers can separate one plane from another (that they can't 'see') by the use of time-over-fix and altitude. When? The report states sometime between 2018 and 2025! Being able to 'see' the planes crossing the oceans and travelling through places like Alaska by using satellites, makes a lot of sense. Saying that delays will be reduced over the contiguous U.S. is a farce. Telling congress that the reason for Nexgen's delays is the fault of private pilots and their little bug smashers smells so much like doggy doo-doo, but its not the first time for that peculiar odor. The first time was when the FAA laid the blame for the late Nexgen at the feet and salaries of the controllers. Anyone notice a pattern here?
How about the commercials that the airlines were putting out with the animated airplanes reminiscent of the 'CARS' characters. The airline planes had to wait because the corp jet and private planes were slowing down the system. In 20 years, I've NEVER held an air carrier so that I could let a GA go first, unless it was operationally advantageous or first come first served. What a deceptive piece of misinformation! I'm sure that the delays had NOTHING at all to do with the fact that at the destination airport, there were 90 scheduled air carrier arrivals for that hour with an airport acceptance rate of 50.
I read an FAA report from at least 10 years ago, pre 9-11, that talked about nexgen. It stated that nexgen would help in the areas like I described above, BUT WOULD NOT REPLACE RADAR, just be in addition to it. It was vital that there be radar sites along all of our boarders! Why do you think that would be important? This is an FAA report! It seems to me that they need to read their own report...
How many of you caught Marion Blakey saying recently, that a certain piece of technology that her company produced was on time and under budget when it reached the facilities? Can anyone remember ANY FAA project that was on time and under budget in the last 20 years? I can remember in '89, at my first facility, I was told that the big room was for the sector suites that will be installed within two years. Um, they weren't...
