What Do You Pilot Types Think

Discussion in 'Politics' started by SuperMoChombo, Jul 20, 2017.

  1. SuperMoChombo

    SuperMoChombo Well-Known Member

    I heard something about something about ATC stuff today. Made me think of you guys. Good or bad?
     
  2. bigbudztoo

    bigbudztoo growin the good stuff

    gonna have to be a bit more specific there. :)
     
  3. blazerwill420

    blazerwill420 Fuck AUMA

    Say what? I'm sure both of us have good and bad stories. One of my bad ones is yes, even people that graduated the Academy with a 70% final are controlling airplanes even as we speak. I knew one person in school I actually told them to let me know where their airspace was so I could stay out of it.
     
  4. blazerwill420

    blazerwill420 Fuck AUMA

    And on the bright side, I was one of the controllers that guided Dick Rutan and Jenna Yeager on their round the world trip. They went thru my sector when I worked at Oakland Center (radar screens for days, traffic out the ass, weeeeeee).
     
  5. SuperMoChombo

    SuperMoChombo Well-Known Member

  6. blazerwill420

    blazerwill420 Fuck AUMA

    Well they have to do something because the FAA are a bunch of boneheads when it comes to modernization, but I think they need to have a quasi government/private sector partnership. Unfortunately that won't happen because of all the competing interests.

    They could solve a lot of problems by switching over to gps/satellite navigation, that would solve a host of issues, the main one being that under the current state of affairs a controller can only handle so much traffic safely before you lose the picture and everything starts going south. With gps/satellite navigation I can now get what amounts to more planes in a smaller space and do it safely, however, you still have the human factor. A human can only do so much before they get overwhelmed. I've had it happen as has every controller at one time or another.

    Now days most of the planes that the air carriers use can actually be put into auto pilot and they can take off and land without human intervention once you push the right buttons. I personally think that if you used the satellite nav and switched that sucker to auto pilot you could take the controller out of the equation entirely in an enroute environment. Terminal environment, i.e. Landing and takeoff, not so much as this is the most critical time in flight and also the most dangerous. You'll always need controllers for that part I think, otherwise a pilot may line up to a taxi way with four fully loaded passenger jets sitting there.

    In 1984 I was part of a panel that considered allowing air carriers in a terminal environment to switch from IFR to special vfr rules, but only when the actual wx was vfr conditions. This essentially allows you to get more ac in the same space because you can put them closer together. I honestly don't remember what conclusion we came to but I do remember all the competing interests at the table and a lot of yelling and screaming. I was on the fuck that noise side.

    The other big issue that I always saw was mixing in general aviation aircraft with the big jets. Dangerous as all get out at someplace like sfo or lax. When I worked at Oakland International Airport we actually had two different towers and runways, one for the general aviation and one for the air carriers so the traffic never mixed. Don't know that that is feasible at all though, id just ban general aviation during my busy hours, but again, where do you draw the line with that? Is twin engine and above? Learjets and Gulfstreams and the like? One thing for sure, your stupid ass student in the Cessna is grounded, we could probably all agree on that.

    I'm just so glad I don't do that anymore, makes my head hurt just thinking about it.
     
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  7. bigbudztoo

    bigbudztoo growin the good stuff

    Until 1995 The FAA was the largest purchaser of Vacuum tubes in the world. yeah, that was where our tech was. We finally got solid state displays in 96 where I worked. They are working on what is referred to as " next gen" now and have been since I retired. Blaze is right in that if we would go to GPS, we could reduce the separation standards that we have been using for decades. As to privatizing, some lower level towers have been contracted out for years. I am leery of total privatization. I can see landing fees going up and that will get passed on to the passengers. And corporations are always looking for ways to cut costs . Though we were there at different times, I worked radar approach to Oakland in my last two years in the agency. Blaze is right in that trying to mix in the 2 seat Cessna's with corporate jets and the heavies could be a pain in the ass. I haven't been following all the recent stuff that is going on in regards to modernization. Blaze is also right about the quality of some controllers. I knew a lot that I trusted implicitly and knew some that couldn't separate the cheeks of their ass.
     
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  8. blazerwill420

    blazerwill420 Fuck AUMA

    I forgot all about those private run airports, one of those is what used to be Mather AFB here in sac, they mostly do air cargo flights now.

    And my favorite saying was always..."that cat couldn't separate two flys with a screen door."

    The other thing I forgot about was the oceanic sectors at the center. No radar at all, everything was seperated by altitude, time and distance. Something like that would benefit greatly from gps navigation.
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2017
  9. blazerwill420

    blazerwill420 Fuck AUMA

    What radar were they using when you worked at approach? When I was at the tower there they were using the ARTS3A in the tracon.
     
  10. bigbudztoo

    bigbudztoo growin the good stuff

    Arts 3e was in use when i got to Norcal tracon. We had it earlier at Ont and socal . Those guys were still getting used to it at norcal when i got there. i showed them a lot of keyboard commands that they didn't know. LOL, no one could keep up with me on arts inputs. There is an extra time share data block in the 3e system and a couple of other whistles and bells. Still, the format and inputs were similar to 3a. Loved the mosquito joke. hadn't heard that one.

    Oh yeah, we gained the capability of inputing vfr flight plans from the arts keyboard, too. Beat hell out of typing one into the FDEP and waiting on a center code.
     
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