Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: air headaches
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2007 04:31:24 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: "Jones, James-P63667" <James.Jones2 () gdc4s com> Date: August 31, 2007 11:59:52 AM EDT To: "James J. O'Donnell" <jod () georgetown edu> Cc: <dave () farber net> Subject: RE: [IP] air headaches Jim, Regarding satellite navigation and U.S. aircraft: While I don't have numbers to back this statement up, I'll wager that most aircraft flying today in the U.S. use some sort of GPS navigation system. While I haven't been a pilot very long, every airworthy aircraft I've even looked inside -- including World War 2-era P-51 Mustangs -- have had at least one GPS unit, whether it be a simple portable aviation system or something wired into the autopilot. They're just too useful for pilots to have ignored. Despite the near universal use of GPS in our aircraft, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey stated just a few months ago that "GPS is the law of the land in virtually every other business and logistic situation that we have. Even hikers on a mountain use GPS. We are not using it in the aviation system. We've got to transition." The airlines are also publicly promoting the 'adoption' of GPS. In in-flight magazines this summer, the airlines printed editorials to show how with the next generation aircraft tracking technology (ADS-B) pilots will 'finally' be able to use GPS to go straight from one airport to another without following inefficient radio-navigation airways. Comments like this make it sound like the U.S. air traffic control system is fundamentally outdated. The reality is that I can file so-called "direct" flight plans right now. Things are a little different for the airlines, but from what I've heard that's mostly due to human resistance to change, not technological limitations. GPS-based ADS-B is the future, and air traffic control must be modernized away from 30-second refresh radars; however, that modernization will do nothing to address the two main causes of airline delays: Weather and too many aircraft using too few runways. That's not air traffic control's fault, it's not that Learjet's owner's fault (though his one plane may be contributing). It's the airlines' fault. The hub-and-spoke system that the airlines created won't scale without more runways, and the airlines can't force the airport owners to build new ones fast enough. -- James 'J.C.' Jones Software Engineer, General Dynamics C4 Systems This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain GDC4S confidential or privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not an intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. -----Original Message----- From: "James J. O'Donnell" <jod () georgetown edu> Date: August 31, 2007 9:20:27 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: air headaches Dave, a good article on the challenges of getting here to there: http://www.businessweek.com//magazine/content/07_37/b4049001.htm I was struck this time by the mention of using satellite-based navigation. Hit me that when I was just in Zambia flying with bush pilots from dirt strip to dirt strip, that *they* have solved the problem of navigation once and for all -- they let their GPS fly them. I sat next to a couple of the pilots and as soon as they took off, they hit three buttons for a pre-programmed destination and we flew on a direct level flight to that location with no further thinking about routing -- no more looking around for airstrips, and not even any more flying by traditional radio beacon. Similar pilots I had met in Australia a couple of years ago had two GPS -- on in the plane and a personally-owned one on their belt. If they go down someplace sketchy, they don't want to ask people to do zig-zag flying patterns looking for them, they want to call in their exact location and get the heck out of there in a couple of hours. Jim O'Donnell Georgetown ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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