What Ails Our Air-Traffic-Control System?
In 'A Washington Air Crash and the 30 Years War' (Business World, Feb. 8), Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. reminds us of Al Gore's 1993 declaration of 'a much-needed overhaul of the nation's air traffic control system to permit better management and install modern technology.' This is exactly what Canada did in 1996 and the results are significantly better than forecast. Nav Canada's safety record has excelled, its cost of operation has declined over time and its technical leadership is stellar.
The central reason the U.S. hasn't abandoned its dysfunctional Federal Aviation Administration air-traffic-control structure is that the primary stakeholders don't trust Congress to guide the process wisely. The airlines want complete control over the new entity. The unions believe their controllers' interests are paramount. The taxpayers want to be protected from industry profiteering. The military wants veto power over everything. And the small guys in the room, broadly known as general and business aviation, can't risk getting lost in the shuffle.
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