Fri, May 19, 2017
Calls For Focus On Bipartisan Agreement In FAA Reauthorization Talks
In a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), the senior Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Aviation, took aim at glaring inconsistencies in a Republican proposal to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system and called for focus on bipartisan agreement in the upcoming FAA reauthorization.
“Inspector we heard in some comments today that the air traffic control system is safe, but it is broken… I fly 2,306 miles and back again for my commute. Can the system be safe and broken? Or should I drive? It seems to me that there is a fundamental argument here that we have to go to privatization because the system is broken that controls the air space, and if it is broken I don’t know how it can be safe,” said Larsen (pictured).
Calvin Scovel, III, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation acknowledged the contradiction in the argument put forth by privatization-backers. “I would characterize the system certainly as safe…and I would take issue with the ‘broken’ characterization,” he said.
“The main point is we are not working on a privatization bill, we are working on a FAA reauthorization bill which has many moving parts – many of which Democrats and Republicans agree upon – but they are being held up by this one debate,” Larsen said in an exchange with Joseph W. Brown, President of Hartzell Propeller.
Larsen has led Democratic opposition to the plan to privatize the Federal ATC system, and Larsen has consistently raised concerns about the challenges and unanswered questions involved in proposed privatization plans. A November 2016 Government Accountability Office report found that aviation experts are deeply divided and unable to answer serious questions about the impacts to national security and the financial stability of the ATC system if it were privatized.
Key findings of the report include that the GAO’s panel of aviation experts could not confirm that a private ATC system would be capable of protecting national security and collaborating with the military to ensure the safety of our National Airspace System. Nor could they guarantee that a private corporation would speed up technological advances and NextGen implementation. The experts confirmed that a privatized air traffic control system would be heavily and negatively impacted by an economic downturn and a decrease in air travel.
(Source: Congressman Rick Larsen news release. Image from video provided)
More News
Airbus Racer Demonstrator Makes Inaugural Flight Airbus Helicopters' ambitious Racer demonstrator has achieved its inaugural flight as part of the Clean Sky 2 initiative, a corners>[...]
A little Bit Quieter, Said Testers, But in the End it's Still a DA40 Diamond Aircraft recently completed a little pilot project with Lufthansa Aviation Training, putting a pair of >[...]
Line Up And Wait (LUAW) Used by ATC to inform a pilot to taxi onto the departure runway to line up and wait. It is not authorization for takeoff. It is used when takeoff clearance >[...]
Contributing To The Accident Was The Pilot’s Use Of Methamphetamine... Analysis: The pilot departed on a local flight to perform low-altitude maneuvers in a nearby desert val>[...]
From 2015 (YouTube Version): Overcoming Obstacles To Achieve Their Dreams… At EAA AirVenture 2015, FedEx arrived with one of their Airbus freight-hauling aircraft and placed>[...]
Airbus Racer Helicopter Demonstrator First Flight Part of Clean Sky 2 Initiative
See All