Comments on: Mr. President: Open Military “Express Lanes” EVERY Day

By: james

james — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:57:28 +0000

I’ll keep this on the front burner by stating 1 and 3s posts are right on. For this press conference to have been taken seriously is laughably absurd. This action again does NOTHING.

I posted my immediate reaction to this nonsense - which mirrors Rebeccas

http://www.futuregringo.com/index.php/2007/11/15/aviation-window-dressing/ :

This will have absolutely NO bearing on airport congestion whatsoever. The problem isnt lack of space in the sky or the availability of routes. It all comes down to the airport environment being TOO crowded, and having TOO MANY flights scheduled.

The public may not be educated in the intricacies of ATC like the posters above and myself even as a low time private pilot but they dont deserve to be lied to.

This is as dumb as nagging on the ATCs old technology as a cause for your delays:

http://www.futuregringo.com/index.php/2007/08/29/time-magazine-studies-air-travel-delays/

By: Rick Seaney

Rick Seaney — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:23:14 +0000

Great Comments CaptainJack, Freq Flyer and TLV and well taken,

Again, I will reiterate I am not advocating compromising our homeland security in the least. What I am advocating is that we address the problems in a sensible way.

I saw a segment last night on ABC News where an air traffic controller noted they had 70-80 flights per hour (1:25 seconds into the spot) using this military corridor yesterday, sounds like more than a token to me … Maybe one of the air traffic controllers can set me straight.

By: TLV

TLV — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:19:17 +0000

Rick, while I am glad you want to help with this problem, please keep in mind the reason this space is restricted to begin with. As a civilian family with the Air Force in Germany, we do a bit of flying and do not like delays any more than the next person. That said, we understand the need for this restricted space. Our security is extremely important, and the military works hard to ensure this. I support them completely and can live with some inconveniences to allow them to do their job more effectively.

By: Freq Flyer

Freq Flyer — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:43:41 +0000

Rick,
Don’t fall into the trap of headlining an idea without understanding the full implications of what you are talking about. The over water warning areas are incredibly important training spaces for our military, and as noted by another reader, they are routinely open when not in use.
CaptainJack is on target that our core problem stems from flying too many planes, and a good number of them are small commuter a/c that take the same airspace but carry far less people than a “full size” carrier.

By: CaptainJack

CaptainJack — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:20:12 +0000

As a pilot for a major airline, I would like to add that opening up military airspace will do nothing. Nada, Nix. The problem lies with too many flights, not enough runways, antiquated Air Traffic control rooms.
Solution? Cut back on flights. Update control equipment. Our skies are already TOO CROWDED AND DANGEROUS. Its short of miraculous that we have not had any serious accidents… yet.

By: Rick Seaney

Rick Seaney — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:28:42 +0000

Hello Everyone,

First I must say I bow to the experience and comments of everyone, very insightful.

1) I’ll be doing more analysis with the flight schedules in future postings (We have this nice little database with all the commercial flights in the world from OAG which I love to play with)

2) I realize what the President “did” was probably cosmetic, but the mere fact that it is a hot topic when so many other things can be “hot” is something that is encouraging

3) Linda, your comment (#4) is well taken, I certainly do not want to compromise our homeland security for a minor benefit — again the most important point is that this topic is at the front of the news cycle which is good, because all fliers are well aware of the grief we have withstood in the past half year on delays and cancellations…

Cheers to all — let’s keep this a front burner topic.

Rick

By: Linda K

Linda K — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:16:18 +0000

Rick, I applaud your suggestion to open up military airspace, but there’s one problem that must be taken into account. MA restrictions are there for one reason only. To allow rapid launch of our defense aircraft in national emergencies.
If the fighters have to weave and zig zag their way thru passenger airliners flying in their launch areas, it’s going to slow down response time to the point of ‘what’s the point’
I appreciate your concern for the airline problems, but put it in perspective. After 9/11 we spent several days being unable to fly ANYWHERE. People adjusted and life went on. We now have horrendous security processes…..I travel too, and that’s the worse part of any trip for me. We adjusted to them, and life goes on.
Life won’t go on as we know it if we give away all our defense and protection windows.
Sorry this went on so long, old military folk tend to ramble a bit.
Thanks
LK

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:33:02 +0000

As an air traffic controller let me tell you military airspace when not used IS opened almost every weekend, and each and every day. The American public has been dupped into thinking the president did something. HE DID NOTHING. The only thing that will relieve conjestion in the Northeast is more pavement to land grandma and your lovely family. It is NOT the skies that are too crowded, it is the pavement to land and take off from that is too crowded. I implore you to read up and seek more information. Another factor in the delays that occur is weather. I can promise you, it is not physically possible to go through, land, and take-off in some of this weather. I definitely agree there is a huge problem with the aviation system, but it is so much bigger than this joke of a fix. I appreciate your interest. I just am so frustrated by political games. They know their is a problem, and have refused to look at it. Then, the week before Thanksgiving they come up with a plan we use every day. I can not believe how out of touch the leaders are. Please read this blog, http://themainbang.typepad.com/blog/
it is written by an ex-air traffic controller fed up by this system. Sorry to vent. I just hate for you to be lied too.

By: Chase Parker

Chase Parker — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:52:24 +0000

Amen to that! I agree we should all send letters to our representatives and the President. This issue should also be brought up in the presidential debates.

By: vectoringfool

vectoringfool — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:54:47 +0000

Hi, I am an Air Traffic Controller. Having another route to dodge the weather is great. But the fact is the planes still land and takeoff from the same runways. The capacity of the airports runways are the real problem. More airports and more runways is the right direction, but that takes time and money, OH and someone willing to live next it of course.