Oh man - what a career! And you were in Anchorage at one point!
The constant "rediscovery" that the FAA has staffing issues drives me nuts. I wish we could just acknowledge it has always been a problem (or at least since the 1980s) and get down to solving the funding issues that have made it such a perennial issue.
You worked on Capstone! And yes, the fatality rate in AK was too high then (In 1999 I wrote my graduate thesis on Part 135 pilot error accidents in AK) and though it is better, is still too high now. The preventable accidents just keep coming. (And understaffing among inspectors in AK is ridiculous.)
Privatization has been a recurrent theme in past articles as well. I'm not sure - part of my caution is based on the fact that I don't believe the FAA has had the opportunity to succeed in the past as it should and also, I can not help but see a hot mess when it comes to private companies and oversight. (Boeing is the most obvious but it is not the only example.) Something has to change, though.
Oh man - what a career! And you were in Anchorage at one point!
The constant "rediscovery" that the FAA has staffing issues drives me nuts. I wish we could just acknowledge it has always been a problem (or at least since the 1980s) and get down to solving the funding issues that have made it such a perennial issue.
You worked on Capstone! And yes, the fatality rate in AK was too high then (In 1999 I wrote my graduate thesis on Part 135 pilot error accidents in AK) and though it is better, is still too high now. The preventable accidents just keep coming. (And understaffing among inspectors in AK is ridiculous.)
Yes- Capstone had a huge impact on AK aviation. It was a great program.
Seems like you are making a good case for privatization. Take politics out and let industry innovate and operate more efficiently than government.
Privatization has been a recurrent theme in past articles as well. I'm not sure - part of my caution is based on the fact that I don't believe the FAA has had the opportunity to succeed in the past as it should and also, I can not help but see a hot mess when it comes to private companies and oversight. (Boeing is the most obvious but it is not the only example.) Something has to change, though.