Talks on Private Air-Traffic Control Turn Serious in U.S.

Whether it goes anywhere or not and whether you are for it or against it, it is refreshing that there is even talk about it, especially as a way to do some realistic cost cutting rather than "protect my budget". It will be interesting

So would it be like the airlines where certification, responsibilities and penalties are handled by the government, but the pay scales shift to the private sector? I feel bad for those 'regional' controllers who will be working just as hard for a tenth of the pay. All of that bitching out of the way, I do have to say that in my opinion not one single thing should be handled by the federal government unless absolutely necessary.

just a quick question. Do any of you use Flight Service, and if so, do you feel the delivered product has improved since Lockheed took over almost 8 years ago?

Interesting - things are going full circle. ATC was started by the airlines and was later taken over by the government.

What I am worried about is the transfer of duties from the FAA to the Private corporation. Since I have worked for both the private sector and the government, when a service is privatized it has transition period that can be fairly rough, and that is an understatement. Some of the questions should include, how much time does the private system need in order to reach the capacity of todays commercial and general aviation traffic level? Will it be sixty days, a year, or mabe five years before the current traffic load is met?. Anything longer than a week is going to be met with pressure that is unbelievable. If privatizing the ATC just means that the federal government turn the ATC system over to a group of airlines with the same costs, then what have government accomplished in the transfer? The costs of the start-up corporation dictate that the costs will be higher to the consumer. Then you could have the profit factor of 20% added to what we are paying today, and a passenger could be looking at a surcharge that is around 20% of the cost of the ticket. It could even end general aviation and close many small airports. Once the airline industry starts the lobbyist effort to keep the status quo, this idea will disappear very quickly. In the end this try at privatization will answer the question of taking complex government services and privatizing them. The fact is that the government and private service organizations operate with the same basic problems. The old adage is if it isn't broken, then don't try to fix it.

They need to stop wasting money at the FAA and they will have their funding. sometime in the last two weeks they gave $40 Million to a company for Bio Fuel development to replace 100LL when we don't need a replacement. But its the government and they encourage wasting tax dolloars

Cutting costs by diverting funds to those motivated by profit rather than safety. It is a recipe to reduce funds available for safety, diverting limited cash to Wall Street. Amazingly stupid and not a thing refreshing about it.

So, let's cut out funding to the military, too. Right? There is also waste, fraud and abuse there. Besides, I am sure we can trust Lockheed, Boeing, and Raytheon to do what is best for this country, yes? The VERY REASON ATC is a governmental, non-profit function is the necessity for safety and impartiality. Do you want the ATC System run and influenced by American or Delta or United, etc. ?? What about GA? Ridiculous. This is NOT a "business." Safety first, last, and always. If we can get the FOOLS in Congress out of the picture, all these other things would be taken care of.

Mr wallace has no idea what he is talking about.