WTF! Once a Plane Flies Offshore Over Water, Nobody Knows Where It Is!

Quite an air safety infrastructure, and technology, we have in 2014! Once a plane takes off over water, apparently, no one knows where it is, or where it goes. Some (Malaysia military*) say MH370 [Malaysia Airlines flight 370] crashed in the Malacca Straits. Others say no, it crashed hundreds of miles away from there into the Gulf of Thailand. With all due respect, does all of this sound like some US government program or what? [cf. Obamacare a/k/a healthcare.gov -- $500 million spent for a failed website] Clueless, inept, incompetent? Take your pick.

The FAA, and the rest of the aeronautical government-industrial complex, is stuck in a 1950s-1960s time warp. Outdated technology, and unwilling to update to 21st century technology like GPS, satellite tracking, etc. This would all be laughable but for the human tragedy involved. Everybody is in charge/nobody is in charge of our outdated aeronautical global standards and infrastructure. Yet we have billions to trillions of dollars to waste spying on our own innocent citizens, invading Iraq, etc. Talk about misplaced priorities. Washington doesn't need more tax money. It needs to reallocate and start spending taxpayer funds like a wise steward. Stewardship--something they know nothing about inside the beltway.

Happy flying!

*source: Mystery Malaysia flight may have been hundreds of miles off course - CNN.com

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Flying the idiotic US Government Skies

Review & Outlook: Flying the Government Skies - WSJ.com: "The FAA still uses ground radar and voice-based communications that were the best technology the 1950s had to offer. Many planes are now equipped with advanced avionics that enable more direct and precise flight paths, but they aren't allowed to fly these faster, safer routes because the FAA can't track their navigation methods."

The idiots in charge of the FAA in Washington should be thrown out! They are less than inept and incompetent. 1950s technology is the best the FAA can do in 2013???

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Air Traffic Controller Furloughs Were Completely Unnecessary

We either have an idiot or very political and cynical operator, as President--"The sequester cuts about $637 million from the FAA, which is less than 4% of its $15.9 billion 2012 budget, and it limits the agency to what it spent in 2010. The White House decided to translate this 4% cut that it has the legal discretion to avoid into a 10% cut for air traffic controllers. Though controllers will be furloughed for one of every 10 working days, four of every 10 flights won't arrive on time." (source infra)

Review & Outlook: Flying the Government Skies - WSJ.com: "The White House claims the sequester applies to the budget category known as "projects, programs and activities" and thus it lacks flexibility. Not so: This is a political pose to make the sequester more disruptive. Legally speaking, the sequester applies at a more general level known as "accounts." The air traffic account includes 15,000 controllers out of 31,000 employees. The White House could keep the controllers on duty simply by allocating more furlough days to these other non-essential workers. Instead, the FAA is even imposing the controller furlough on every airport equally, not prioritizing among the largest and busiest airports. San Francisco's Napa Valley airport with no commercial service will absorb the same proportion of the cuts as the central New York radar terminal, which covers La Guardia, JFK and Newark International, as well as MacArthur, Teterboro, New Haven, Republic and other regional fields."

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