state of flying...update.......Follow

people are finally starting to die.

you may have heard about the private aircraft in the keys that flew into a warning area and cliped the cable of a blimp. it sliced through its wing and sent the plane spiraling into the ocean killing all 3 people aboard, screaming into the air traffic controllers head set all the way down.

what you didnt hear.....

that very aircraft contacted flight service to request assistance to go to key west. flight service told them they were closing shortly, blew them off and suggested they contant air traffic controll.

what flight service SHOULD have done is get the air crafts position, infor them about any hazards to flying in their area, like a WARNING AREA, given them the local weather and filed their flight plan information. that would have given the pilot an indication he was heading in the wrong direction BEFORE he hit the wire.

but, as it would have it, flight service was contracted out to lockheed martin a couple years ago, and well, there is just no profit in staffing the radios pasta certin hour, and they dont pay overtime just because some pilot needs assistance in the evening.

dead. screaming all the way down.

dead because this addministraition farmed out a safety orientated service to a for profit organization.

BTW, its not saving the government a single dime. we have to PAY lockheed martin to provide the service, and we have to still maintain the equipment. the only thing that has changed is now that most of the money that used to go to staff the stations 24/7 now goes into a middle mans pocket while they find ways to further redice service to increase their profit.

many many instances, this is just the first one that caused a death as this organization continues to spiral out of controll into total incompetance.

you will never hear a word of this anywhere. why? because lockheed martin did nothing wrong. the plane called right at closing, they went home and shut out the lights. not their problem. taking the money thatused to go to working professionals that used to monitor the skies 24/7 with them, and hiring people at half the pay, with half the training, and a whole lot of "dont give a sheit" attitude to replace them.

the moral majority working hard for you.......

by the way, the controller is off the boards, taking anti depressants, and seeing a shrink. she may never come back.

Why can I still see this cnut's posts?


Slackers.

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn
The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now, they don't mean a thing
Every place I go, I'll think of you
Every song I sing, I'll sing for you
When I come back, I'll bring your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Close your eyes I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times, I won't have to say

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Shadowrelm, I bet you're a huge John Denver fan.

It's always the administration's fault. No matter what it is.

Someone crashed an airplane? Bush's fault.

Gas prices too high? Bush's fault.

A bunch of people in the US still homeless? Bush's fault.

That test I failed my freshman year in college 7 years ago? Bush's fault.

Gas prices too high? Bush's fault.

A bunch of people in the US still homeless? Bush's fault.

In fairness. Those two really are Bush's fault.

Haha! I don't have to fly to AllaNois! Suckers!!

I didn't realize air traffic control was a federally regulated position. What does the administration have to do with this?

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air traffic controll is the F.A.A. FEDERAL Aviation Addministraition. owned and operated by the federal government. they dont regulate it, they OWN it. well, YOU own it anyway.

2 years ago, this addministraition contracted out the flight service function to a private, for profit company. an insider corperation, lockheed martin. in the deal, YOU still pay the same amount of money, only instead of the government owning and opeerating it, the money is given to a private corperation to run.

the republican theory is, that a private company would to a better job, and more effeciant job of providing this service. in the long run, it SHOULD cost taxpayers less money, because the private company would have to bid for the job again when the contract was up, and congress could then decide to up the money for it, or entertain competitive bids for the service.

the reality is, the repubs found a way to take a big chunk of your tax dollars out of the budget and hand it to a major contributor of the republican party. this is the mainb reason behind the push to privatize. not to introduce competition and drive costs down, but to controll who gets the big hunking chunks of federal tax dollars you pay every year. republican insiders or democrat insiders.

the big differance between the dems and repubs is, the dems try to keep vital services within the government, where the repubs want to farm out EVERYTHING, from health care, to air traffic controll, to even home security.

well, the first thing lockheed martin did was FIRE all of the flight service specialists. the ones within a year of retirement got their retiremnet, the rest got a small severance check and a boot in the ***** then they hired some of them back, the ones not close to retirment age, and the rest from the public at large for half the money.

but they didnt replace them all. instead, they reduced the operating hours, closing at night, and automated flight plan services and weather information. they then closed over half the stations permantly, and consolodated the rest in a hand full of places.

the net result is, not only are their less flight service specialist, but the ones that are left have to service a larger area and are no longer trained or familiar with any one spacific geographical area. they type the info into a data base, and if its not their, you dont get anything from them.

as a result, this pilot called them asking for info, they said, were closing, tough cookies, call the controllers. the pilot hit the wire within minutes of talking to the controllers. and controllers are aware of a warning area, but not of the spacific threat to air craft within it. flight service would have had the spacific threat info to give to the pilot. mabe even in time to save their lives. atleast in time to make them start looking for a thin wire or a small blimp, or in time to make them turn around to get out of the warning area.

that is the net result of selling off vital services to the private sector. dead people.

they want to sell off air traffic controll too.

think about what that would have ment during 911. we grounded all the aircraft within minutes. you think a private company would have grounded them if it ment they do not get paid if the planes are not in the air? no flying means no user fees. or you think they would have kept them flying baring a presidential order to ground the planes then sued the government in court for lost revenue claiming they are not responsible for security?

you get what you pay for. they handed a heavy republican contributor a huge chunk of YOUR money, and three people died because saving them was not their job or their concern. no profit in going the extra mile to offer service. something the flight specialist did on a dailey basis. something air traffic controllers do every day.

FFA

Edited, Apr 26th 2007 10:04am by Rimesume

People wouldn't have been stranded in Deluth for a week?

You're right, terrifying.
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yes, and the fifth plane that didnt get off the ground would have.

people, you can take what you want from what happened. really, after what i have seen in the last 6 years in this agency has left me jaded to the point, i dont really care about anything other than making it to retirement in another 4 years, 10 months befor a sell out and without putting two planes togehter. the later BTW, which is becoming more and more difficult due to the sheer stupidity and incompetance running rampid through this agency.

it did happen.

these people are dead.

flight service could have/should have prevented it.

they are certifying controllers who have deals in checkrides as opposed to firing them. i sat on the radar side when a tainee put two planes togehter, non-radar, on two seperate ocasions, and he is fully certified now. something that would have put them on the street 5 years ago.

another newly certified controller sent a plane at another plane opposte direction into another controllers airspace at the same altitude just because the recieving controller didnt look and said ok. then did nothing about it when i pointed it out to him.

they have lowered the bar.

all i can do, or any of the rest of the experienced controllers can do, is count the days till retirement and prey when something bad happens, and it will, that it doesnt happen to us.

personlly? its more your problem than mine.

but take from it what you will. im good enough to ensure it wont be me when it happens. and i could probably give you the name of the 3 most likely people it will happen to. its like watching a train comming down the tracks and no one will believe you that the tracks are torn up on the bridge.

4 years, 10 months, and im jumping off. good luck to the rest of you.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

I know everyone hates Shadowrelm. But assuming he really is an ATC, he knows whereof he speaks. For decades we have had the safest skies and the busiest airports in the world. Perhaps we grow complacent. At least when I drive to the grocery store, I have some measure of control; I can watch other drivers, step on the brakes if I see someone who looks like they will run a red light. In a plane, I am trusting in the pilot and the controllers to get me where I'm going alive and in one piece.

You're just now starting to figure this out? With the exception of a few of the people that post here, and people I know personally, I'd say that this whole damned country is complacent, and forgets everything but what's in front of them, five minutes after they've seen it.

Oh I dunno about that, depends on who your options are for driver.

Well, I admit that some people are lucky enough to have vast right wing telephone pole conspiracy arrayed against them.