The debate on so-called “ATC privatization†is not a new one. A Google search of the phrase yields 171,000 results, many of them news articles going back more than a quarter century.
AOPA, EAA, NBAA, and most other alphabet groups are pushing back against the most recent iteration of this idea, probably because of the current administrationâ€Image may be NSFW.
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s support for the concept and the feeling that unsteady funding from Congress is causing some people to take another look at it.
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Clik here to view.m highly opposed to privatization for a number of reasons. In general, I prefer a competitive marketplace where possible, as this provides the best product at the lowest price for the consumer. But there are some areas where multiple vendors just arenâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.t an option. Air traffic control, it seems to me, is one of those. But Iâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.ll leave the argument against ATC privatization to the pros. The folks at AOPA, EAA, etc. have articulated that far better than I ever could.
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Clik here to view.m concerned about right now is the patently false idea that air traffic control in this country is somehow mired in the 1960s. Iâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.ve read recent articles from the Reason Foundation, Steve Forbes (who, as a major user of general aviation, ought to know better), the Orange County Register, and a number of other publications proffering this claim. Itâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.s fake news – demonstrably false. Whoever peddles this stuff either has no idea what theyâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.re talking about, or is intentionally putting forth a lie.
I spend the early part of the 1980s living in Alaska, frequently hanging out at the Anchorage ARTCC because my cousin worked there. I used to take flight data progress strips off the huge dot matrix printers and put them in those little plastic holders and run them to the various sectors. I saw the vacuum tube powered computer equipment they were using. I flew with my cousin in those round gauge equipped airplanes, and marveled at the sophistication of Silver Crown avionics.
Today? Visit any Center and youâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.ll find modern computers have replaced all that old stuff. From trainers to airliners, weâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.re flying almost exclusively based on satellite navigation. That didnâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.t even exist in the early 80s, let alone the 1960s! Our airways were defined solely by ground-based navaids. VOR navigation was a luxury, and NDB usage was ubiquitous. People were still flying around using four course ranges!
Today, T and Q routes are rapidly supplanting the old stuff. When Iâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.m up high enough to get over traffic, I will often be cleared direct from coast to coast. That wouldâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.ve been impossible in the 1960s.
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Our arrival and departure procedures are optimized for routing and traffic. Weâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.ve got radius-to-fix segments on approaches, satellite overlays for many of the remaining ground-based procedures, and even GPS-based precision approaches which require almost no equipment beyond that which exists in orbit.
As I understand it, air traffic control weather radar, to the extend they had it 50 years ago, was a marginal mish-mash of green shades providing information which was difficult to interpret and limited in scope. Today theyâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.re using ASR and NEXRAD-derived WARP systems which provide infinitely better weather data to controllers and, by extension, aviators. Heck, over the past 20 years Iâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.ve noticed the marked improvement in the way controllers are able to route traffic around weather. They arenâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.t doing that with divining rods.
Back then, ATCâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.s radar network was limited and ground based. That system is being replaced by satellite-based ADS-B technology which provides better coverage, faster updates, and many other benefits – including traffic and weather data beamed directly into the cockpit.
The list goes on and on. How about the ATC towers? Weâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.re starting to utilize “remote†towers which donâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.t even require the physical presence of a controller at the airport. Would that have been possible in the 1960s? Of course not.
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Clik here to view.s talk about filing flight plans. In the 1960s, you had to physically go to an airport to visit a weather specialist to find out what Mother Nature was doing. Then youâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.d write out a flight plan by hand on a piece of paper and give it to the FSS specialist, who would do… well, something with it. Within a half hour, you might be able to obtain your clearance. That was pretty speedy for 1960!
Today, you get all that information on a smartphone and can file a flight plan with that same app. Iâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.ve seen a clearance show up within 30 seconds after filing. Part of that is due to the advance of computer technology, but a big piece of it is also the way our ATC system is able to interact with the modern internet. From NOTAM and weather dissemination to airspace design, virtually nothing of the old system is still in use. VHF voice communication represents one of the few exceptions, but even that is being supplanted, especially on oceanic routes.
The bottom line here is that our air traffic control system is NOT stuck in the 1960s. Those who believe it is should talk to a few pilots and controllers. Sure, we have plenty of traffic delays in aviation. Much of that is due to weather – something no ATC “reform†is going to fix. The rest of the congestion is due to a lack of runway and airport capacity. Remember all those airports which were closed? They were called “relievers†for a reason. All those runway and airport expansion ideas which were quashed? You see the result every time youâ€Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.re #10 in line for departure at a major airport.
Equating delays with ATC is as illogical as claiming the freeways are congested because faded highway signage. If people want to support ATC “privatizationâ€, I can respect that viewpoint. But letting hyperbole, sensationalism, and misinformation into the conversation serves us all poorly.
If you want to look at facts — and I hope you do — then the answer is clear: America’s air traffic control system is the largest, safest, most efficient, and modern one on Earth.