Your Flight Has Been Delayed--And It's Washington's Fault!

As the holiday travel rush approaches, air travelers grounded by delays should take a moment to think about why they're stuck in airports or on the tarmac. There's a good chance Washington is to blame.

"The air traffic control system in the United States is technologically obsolete," says Robert W. Poole, Jr., director of transportation studies at Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason.tv. "This model is basically the same model that we have used since the beginning of air travel."

The technology the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uses to navigate $200 million jets is less advanced than the GPS technology drivers use to navigate $20,000 cars.

Poole says the system could safely handle more planes if the FAA used modern technology that would provide real-time information about where planes are. But the funding process, overseen by pork-hungry members of Congress, often thwarts technology upgrades.

The only way to get the politics out of our air traffic system is to take the system away from the politicians. Why not let a private corporation manage the skies?

That may sound like a far-out, free-market idea, but Canada doesn't think so.

Our neighbors to the north often take pride in their lavish government programs, yet they allow a private corporation called Nav Canada to manage their air-traffic control system. Canada's approach, often called commercialization, has some surprising supporters in the U.S., including Al Gore, who pushed for commercialization when he was Bill Clinton's vice president.

"Your Flight Has Been Delayed" is written and produced by Ted Balaker. Director of Photography: Alex Manning; Field Producers: Paul Detrick and Hawk Jensen. The host is Nick Gillespie.

Approximately 7.28 minutes. Go to http://reason.tv for downloadable versions.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• airlines
• faa
• thanksgiving
• christmas
• air travel
• flight delays
• reason magazine
• reason
• reason.tv
• nick gillespie
• ted balaker

[Anakha13]

Isn't that what the FAA pretty much is? A monopoly?

[HeadTater]

Wait a second.

Reason siding with Al Gore and the Canadian government? Even more confusing is the fact that Al Gore and Canada are taking the side of the free market! Maybe the Mayans are right. The end is nigh.

[seeburg220]

A slickly-produced video, but I'm not buying it. This Poole guy makes his living chipping away at things he doesn't like. I would hardly think that makes him an expert. Has he ever controlled air traffic ? No. Does he realize that the US FAR exceeds Canada in aircraft movements. It's not even close ! In fact, using 2010 statistics, 20 OUT OF 32 OF THE WORLD'S BUSIEST AIRPORTS (by aircraft movement, which is a true indicator of ATC ability) ARE IN THE U.S.A, WHILE CANADA HAS ONE !!!

[daconqueror101]

Let me try and get both sides of the argument to agree here.

How about we get the current FAA ATC system, and make it a private company. Everybody who works at the FAA right now will keep their job, but instead of being government employees, they are private employees. NATCA will still exist. If the company tries to put profit over safety, the union steps in. There is a reason why unions exist in a free market. If ATC are so concerned about safety, the union will keep the company in check.

[OJA861]

Nav Canada is NOT controlled by the airlines. It is a non-share capital corporation (not for profit). It's Board of Directors is made up by appointees from government, business, unions, and airlines. No group has a majority.

As for delays, anywhere, this is not due to antequated equipment, but the result of congestion due to weather and airline scheduling practices, and most importantly due to a lack of runway and gate capacity. Electronic strips and ADSB will do nothing to help this.

[stealth350]

@Anakha13 The FAA is there to ensure that safety is maintained in all areas. This is anything from Maintenance to training requirements for pilots. However, they often get in the way. Key example is that an identical bolt sold for a car is about 5% the cost of the same bolt for an airplane. The reason? Certification and safety requirements. Even this is more of a necessary evil than ATC. If the FAA is that concerned, use modern tech, or give it to someone who will.

[BbdHome]

The private sector would not exist for 2 seconds if it wasn't for MASSIVE government subsidizes which has be going on since aerospace existence. 60% of Boeing revenue comes from government contracts, after of course WE fund the research. That's why we have NASA, Pentagon, MIT, DARPA, Purdue, 100s of other taxpayer funded university research centers.

[PhiDelt937]

As a Air Traffic Controller in Canada, I can tell you our equipment is far better then american . I went to university in the States for Aerospace sciend (major ATC) and have seen 1st hand the equipment used in real life. And i still say Nav Canada has way better equipment. We are also a non for profit company , and that was the only way that Transport Canada(federal govt) would let us be a private company .

[Silvsilvchan]

Wow. Al Gore +1 respect point.

That puts him at.... well. Its a triple digit negative number. I lost track past -100

[uffda12345]

Yes, private ATC is all about safety ... funny how they ignored the mid-air over Switzerland that was being controlled by a private ATC company.

ATC has put more airplanes in the sky by reducing separation (and strips are basically gone from centers), but those planes need to come down sometime. Where are the runways and gates?

This appears to be a bit old since Carr hasn't been president of NATCA for about three years.