Bush Wants To Cut FAA Budget

"C J Campbell" wrote:
They build architecturally monstrous ATC facilities that don't work
right
from the day they are opened, have leaky roofs, cracks in the walls
and
floors, substandard plumbing, inadequate parking, and poor security.
The
moldy LA facility that they are complaining about is moldy because of
managerial negligence, not age.

The FAA budget should not only be cut, but much of the management
should be
brought up on charges for criminal dereliction of duty.

You could substitute "U. S. Military" for "FAA" in those statements with
perfect accuracy. I have plenty of experience as a contractor for both
and have found the military as bad a steward of public funds as the
FAA - and they have a lot more to spend. My favorite example is a big
pallet-load of new-in-the-box dot matrix printers still gathering dust
in a mechanical room at an Army base: it has overnight shipping labels
on it.

In case you don't find that depressing enough, let me tell you that NASA
is worse than both of them.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

Tom Fleischman wrote:

In article , H.P.
wrote:


Jimmy Carter is looking forward to a Kerry presidency; then Carter's would
be only next to worst.



I never knew until reading the responses to this thread that prescience
was a by-product of being brainwashed by the neoconservative death
cult.

Typical liberal. I don't agree with you then I must be brainwashed.
Too little too late. This election is already over. Kerry is in for a
pretty big ass whuppin'.

C J Campbell wrote:



They build architecturally monstrous ATC facilities that don't work right
from the day they are opened,

No ****. We are getting a new tower here in Billings, opening August
2006. Took a tour of the 75% complete building for the first time
yesterday. Helluva building. But the TRACON, holy crap Batman. We
only ever have one scope open at a time right now. We have two scopes
in the current TRACON in a room approx 15X15. Our new TRACON is about
100x100. There is talk about running the Bozeman radar from here when
they get it installed but the room is still 40 times bigger than it has
to be.

"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...

"C J Campbell" wrote:
They build architecturally monstrous ATC facilities that don't work
right
from the day they are opened, have leaky roofs, cracks in the walls
and
floors, substandard plumbing, inadequate parking, and poor security.
The
moldy LA facility that they are complaining about is moldy because of
managerial negligence, not age.

The FAA budget should not only be cut, but much of the management
should be
brought up on charges for criminal dereliction of duty.

You could substitute "U. S. Military" for "FAA" in those statements with
perfect accuracy. I have plenty of experience as a contractor for both
and have found the military as bad a steward of public funds as the
FAA - and they have a lot more to spend. My favorite example is a big
pallet-load of new-in-the-box dot matrix printers still gathering dust
in a mechanical room at an Army base: it has overnight shipping labels
on it.

In case you don't find that depressing enough, let me tell you that NASA
is worse than both of them.

It amazes me what the government spends to furnish a single office. Most
businesses make do with second hand furniture or sale items, or they get
discount furniture from the big box stores. Few businesses can afford to
furnish their offices as if they were sets for big budget Hollywood films
about high powered law firms. Yet the feds manage to spend far more than the
Hollywood standard on stuff that I wouldn't impose on my dog.

If they were private employers, they would have been sued out of business
years ago for the way they treat their employees. The only federal employees
I have ever met that seemed to be happy with their working conditions were,
oddly enough, from the IRS. But then, I haven't dealt with the IRS in
several years, so things may be different now.

The FAA wastes most of its budget. The Wall Street Journal makes a
favorite
target of air traffic control systems that cost ten times what off the
shelf
equipment could do better. The FAA spends decades and millions of dollars
developing new technologies and programs which were obsolete before they
even began studying them and then cancels them at the last minute.

They build architecturally monstrous ATC facilities that don't work right
from the day they are opened, have leaky roofs, cracks in the walls and
floors, substandard plumbing, inadequate parking, and poor security. The
moldy LA facility that they are complaining about is moldy because of
managerial negligence, not age.

The FAA budget should not only be cut, but much of the management should
be
brought up on charges for criminal dereliction of duty.

I did my Master's Thesis on the first 10years of FAA after the 1981 PATCO
affair so I really don't want to get started on it again. But the above
statements are correct about the FAA studies for equipment and cancellations
and the comparison to COS (Commercial Off the Shelf) implementation costs.

Getting the ATC system up and running after 1981 took more than 10yrs and
more than 10 times the original estimated cost than originally promised to
President Regain in 1981.

Let's just go look at what happened last week to LAX ARTCC. A computer that
controls the communication switching has a built in self test (BIT) that
needs to be reset every 30days, a "reset" of the computer so the computer
knows it's still a computer. Some "maintenance" was not accomplished in time
so the 30day bit timer ran out and rather than flag a warning on day 29 the
system just shuts down at the end of day 30.

The poor computer maintainer will be fired.. not the FAA higher ups that
bought the POS and approved it in the beginning.

Think about this, manpower studies have told the FAA leadership that more
than 1000 new controllers need to be hired and trained every year to try and
make it through the future controller retirements. Right now they are
getting less than 1/2 that number.

Most of the current ATC manpower were hired after 1981 and were younger than
30-35 yrs in age. The work force now has at least 20 yrs (Civil Service
Retirement eligible?) and the FAA MANDATES retirement at age 56.

If they were hired in 1982 at age 30, they will turn 56 twenty-six years
later. That is 2008, current information shows that 75% of the controller
workforce is eligible to retire in the NEXT 4 YEARS !!!

Hang on to your hats boys, we are in for a rough ride.

BT

"misled"? I think not.

I'm not "led" into believing any of my political stances. This is going to
come as earth-shattering news, but *MOST* conservatives tend to know WHY
they are conservative. Every I talk to a liberal or lefty leaning person,
its because of all the "bad" things that are happening and how they're gonna
fix it by giving my tax dollars to my 14 yr old daughter for an abortion
without my knowledge.

Here's a thought. re-read the First Amendment. Seriously. Read it. Now
think about this when your reading it a third time....

The right to free speech is for EVERYONE, not just lefties. If I speak for
myself as a conservative, suddenly I'm labeled a fascist, racist heathen
homophobe. The 1st amendment doesn't just apply to people you agree with.
Stop being "led" yourself by the BS put out there by the left. You CAN help
yourself and you CAN make your life better without the government.

jf

"Tom Fleischman" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
In article , C J Campbell
wrote:

"Tom Fleischman" wrote in
message
rthlink.net...

Cambell, Kraus, HP...

Keep drinkin that KoolAid...

What a witty retort! Look, if you don't like the truth, don't come
around
here with your off topic political crap. Or, just kill file me like some
of
the other liberal weenies around here who can't bear the thought that
somebody actually knows more than they do. I will still reply to your
posts,
but at least you won't have to read them and risk being exposed to
anything
like clear thinking.


All you guys on the right, you're so pathetic. All you know how to do
is project.

I'm not going to killfile you. Why should I deprive myself of the fun
of reading your inane, barely coherent posts.

It's sad. You are so misled.

"Jeff Franks" wrote in message
...
"misled"? I think not.

I'm not "led" into believing any of my political stances. This is going
to
come as earth-shattering news, but *MOST* conservatives tend to know WHY
they are conservative. Every I talk to a liberal or lefty leaning person,
its because of all the "bad" things that are happening and how they're
gonna
fix it by giving my tax dollars to my 14 yr old daughter for an abortion
without my knowledge.

Here's a thought. re-read the First Amendment. Seriously. Read it. Now
think about this when your reading it a third time....

The right to free speech is for EVERYONE, not just lefties. If I speak
for
myself as a conservative, suddenly I'm labeled a fascist, racist heathen
homophobe. The 1st amendment doesn't just apply to people you agree with.
Stop being "led" yourself by the BS put out there by the left. You CAN
help
yourself and you CAN make your life better without the government.


As Sideshow Bob said:
"Your guilty conscience makes you vote Democrat. But deep down you want a
Republican to cut your taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a
king."

"BTIZ" wrote in message
news:jD83d.99902$yh.97342@fed1read05...

The FAA wastes most of its budget. The Wall Street Journal makes a
favorite
target of air traffic control systems that cost ten times what off the
shelf
equipment could do better. The FAA spends decades and millions of
dollars
developing new technologies and programs which were obsolete before they
even began studying them and then cancels them at the last minute.

They build architecturally monstrous ATC facilities that don't work
right
from the day they are opened, have leaky roofs, cracks in the walls and
floors, substandard plumbing, inadequate parking, and poor security. The
moldy LA facility that they are complaining about is moldy because of
managerial negligence, not age.

The FAA budget should not only be cut, but much of the management should
be
brought up on charges for criminal dereliction of duty.

I did my Master's Thesis on the first 10years of FAA after the 1981 PATCO
affair so I really don't want to get started on it again. But the above
statements are correct about the FAA studies for equipment and
cancellations
and the comparison to COS (Commercial Off the Shelf) implementation costs.

Getting the ATC system up and running after 1981 took more than 10yrs and
more than 10 times the original estimated cost than originally promised to
President Regain in 1981.

Let's just go look at what happened last week to LAX ARTCC. A computer
that
controls the communication switching has a built in self test (BIT) that
needs to be reset every 30days, a "reset" of the computer so the computer
knows it's still a computer. Some "maintenance" was not accomplished in
time
so the 30day bit timer ran out and rather than flag a warning on day 29
the
system just shuts down at the end of day 30.

The poor computer maintainer will be fired.. not the FAA higher ups that
bought the POS and approved it in the beginning.

Think about this, manpower studies have told the FAA leadership that more
than 1000 new controllers need to be hired and trained every year to try
and
make it through the future controller retirements. Right now they are
getting less than 1/2 that number.

Most of the current ATC manpower were hired after 1981 and were younger
than
30-35 yrs in age. The work force now has at least 20 yrs (Civil Service
Retirement eligible?) and the FAA MANDATES retirement at age 56.

If they were hired in 1982 at age 30, they will turn 56 twenty-six years
later. That is 2008, current information shows that 75% of the controller
workforce is eligible to retire in the NEXT 4 YEARS !!!

Hang on to your hats boys, we are in for a rough ride.

I don't see them hanging around, either. I do see more and more people
hanging around the flight schools talking to students about a career in ATC.

Newps wrote:

Typical liberal. I don't agree with you then I must be brainwashed. Too
little too late. This election is already over. Kerry is in for a
pretty big ass whuppin'.

I see you've been paying good money to your cable company for the Fox
network.

Get used to it: Kerry is gonna landslide into the whitehouse and Bush is
not going to be elected even a first time.

Antonio

"dancingstar" wrote in
message ...


Newps wrote:

Typical liberal. I don't agree with you then I must be brainwashed. Too
little too late. This election is already over. Kerry is in for a
pretty big ass whuppin'.

I see you've been paying good money to your cable company for the Fox
network.

Get used to it: Kerry is gonna landslide into the whitehouse and Bush is
not going to be elected even a first time.

You know, Bush was elected the first time. Get over it. Nearly every recount
of Florida's ballots showed Bush winning by a wider margin than the original
count. The only way the Dems could claim a 'victory' was by throwing out the
results in all but two Florida counties and by disenfranchising members of
the military.

BTW, the military will vote overwhelmingly for Bush again, too. Apparently
they don't trust a man who thinks they are all war criminals and who has
stated repeatedly that he will not defend the country from attack unless he
has the permission of France, Germany, and Russia.