He Doesn't Want Anything to Go Wrong Near His
Hotel Room
Add to the present flap
over the possible contracting-out of 71 control towers, some really
stupid remarks, and you can stir it all up again. The FAA, the
DoT's Inspector General, even NATCA's own records, point to the
fact that 'private' control towers aren't any more accident-prone
than 'federal' control towers. The union has been saying, loudly,
that 'privatization' will lead to catastrophes, and that the FAA's
funding bill (current official funding ceases next Wednesday) will
destroy the safety of aviation in the USA.
Alaska's only Representative, Don Young (R-AK, pictured), poured
fuel on the fire in a recent interview (sent us by an ANN
News-Spy who surfs the web all day at work), when he said,
"We were able to protect 94 percent of the control tower's
positions. 94 percent will still be under FAA." Just what kind of
"protection" he was talking about, seems to have been "protection"
from competition, from the private sector's finding some kind of
better way to do things.
It's all up for grabs, under the present system.
The man from the House said that the present Bill, under fire
from the union, is a heckuva lot better deal than the union has
right now: "The present law is you can contract out all of the
control towers. That's present law. I said to the administration
(that's what they wanted), I said to the administration, 'no we're
not going to do that. We're going to, in fact, have, 94 percent of
the control towers protected.' The VHS towers were not protected.
That's all we're talking about, those that were recommended for
possible contracting out. And there were 71 of those."
So far, so good. Then he loses what's left of his
credibility:
"Of course the criticism of myself is that I exempted the state
of Alaska, and there's a reason for that," he added. "One is the
Juneau Field itself is going to be under Capstone next year so it
wouldn't be eligible to be contracted out anyway."
Then we get to the crux of the matter: "The Merrill Field is a
real complex issue. That's within the city of Anchorage and it
really is in direct conflict with the military base which is about
a half-mile away. [Merrill Field] has the F-15s, F-16s and the
AWACS planes." So? "And we have the main International Airport
which is in direct route of the Merrill Field and then we have Lake
Hood, all in that mixing bowl. We decided at that time to leave it
as it is until we can find out, there's a better way to do it."
...and finally, the real reason:
"Lastly, my hotel room is on the top floor [16] of the Sheraton
and the airplanes take right off towards my hotel room every
morning I look out -- and there's one coming right at me. It's an
interesting experience, and I want to make sure everything is done
right in that field."
[Didn't he just spend all this time telling us that there was no
safety concern? --ed.]
Bolen Gives Congress a Rare Thumbs-Up
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