"Now we are better known for our congested highways, second-rate ports, third-rate passenger trains and a primitive air traffic control system"

1)We may have a third-rate passenger train system, but our freight rail system is superior to that in most countries--specifically, most countries in Europe, which gets so much positive PR for pax rail. And freight rail is arguably much more important from an economic standpoint, especially in a very large country.

2)I don't agree that our ATC system is "primitive." Collisons between airplanes under ATC control are almost nonexistent, and preventing such collisons is the major purpose of ATC. And much of the blame for delays which is laid at ATCs door is in fact due to physical limitations like runway capacity.

I've seem many articles referring to the FAA's alleged failure to take advantage of GPS, while in fact GPS approaches are available at hundreds of airports. I have also seen many articles referring to the FAA's imaginary vacuum-tube computers, whereas all ATC computers have actually been solid-state since computer-based control was established in the late 1960s.
david foster | Homepage | 08.04.07 - 10:51 am | #