On Thu, 31 Dec 2015 14:26:46 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Sunday, December 27, 2015 at 4:48:50 AM UTC-6, Larry Dighera wrote:
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/NASA-Seeks-New-Ideas-For-Airspace-Design-225402-1.html
NASA Seeks New Ideas For Airspace Design
By Mary Grady

Enuff already from the space cadets, how about upgrading the Interstate lanes in urban areas to handle the traffic load ?? Let the Hindus handle the moonbeam dreams.

We can expect the world's population of 6.5 billion to become 13 billion by
2067 http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbsum.html, so expecting to solve the
nation's highway system is futile. More runways, on the other hand, could
significantly reduce airline delays.

The way I see it, if the US government doesn't create an alternate ATC system
to that satellite-based currently marketed, and operating in other countries,
by Boeing, we will be forced to capitulate controls of US skies to
corporations, sworn to put profit above all else. It is my current
understanding that that system's feeble satellite radio signals can be easily
disrupted or worse, commandeered by sufficiently powerful terrestrial-based
transmitters. Additionally, it promotes decommissioning RADARs, in favor of a
GPS (satellite)-based position reporting system that introduces the possibility
of being spoofed by nefarious false coordinates. Further, it promises closer
spaced aircraft than are deemed safe today, and the anticipated increase of the
ATC system's capacity as justification for the switch; how will the ATC system
recover in the event of a sudden technology outage with all that aluminum in
close proximity?

It is likely adoption of such an ATC system will usher in the specter of
use-fees, and all that portends; at least an increase in the cost of air
travel. So, the public pays more, and the corporations have a new revenue
stream cash-cow...

I've been flying over forty years; I am unable to conceive of a single ATC
improvement, system enhancement, or new concept.

Ultimately, I see large hypersonic rocket-planes taking over intercontinental
air travel, with a network of drones hauling freight. Prognostication seems
appropriate for this New Year's Day. :-)