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Most safety experts argue that the already strained system is not able to accommodate either more stacking, closer flying or more routes to be controlled. But the FAA seems ready to bow to some of the airline pressure. The agency's regional traffic managers expect to meet in February, and may consider a ten-mile interval in time for the summer season...
When a small plane strayed into restricted airspace over Los Angeles Airport and slammed into an Aeromexico jetliner last August, killing more than 80 people, the Federal Aviation Administration decided to make the skies less friendly for private-plane operators. Last week the FAA issued recommendations that include a minimum 60-day license suspension for any pilot violating the boundaries of the terminal control area above the nation's 23 busiest airports...
...FAA, which is required by law to be neutral on the subject of an employees' union, has refrained from commenting on the NATCA organizing effort...
Controllers, even more than passengers, are feeling the effects of a record summer for domestic travel. NATCA claims that only about 62% of current controllers are fully qualified for all situations compared with about 80% of those employed before the strike. The FAA says 72% of the current controllers are fully qualified. NATCA also complains that many controllers regularly work six-day weeks without relief. Says Thornton: "They also put in too much time on a position without relief. Before the strike a controller typically worked a position two hours, then got either a break or a transfer...
...FAA insists that technical reasons are to blame for the snail-paced progress. But the bigger obstacle may be political. Some $8 billion has accumulated in an aviation trust fund dedicated to improving air safety; the money has been piling up from an 8% tax on every airline passenger's ticket. Many in the aviation industry contend that Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole, who is FAA Administrator Donald Engen's boss, has been cowed by the White House Office of Management and Budget into holding these assigned funds in reserve against the federal deficit. "Hogwash!" says OMB Director James Miller...