Spike in near misses?

[Baradium]

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=86732

NBC -- Airports, air traffic controllers and airlines are struggling with a spike in delays, cancellations and near-misses, when planes come within 500 feet or less of one another.

At Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said a Delta Airlines flight that had just touched down, had to quickly take-off again to avoid a United Airlines plane instructed to taxi on the same runway.

"Our information now is that they passed about 100 feet vertically from each other," said Robert Sumwalt, Vice Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

In the northeast alone since may, there have been more than five near misses.

Thursday night at Newark’s Liberty International, Rich Domich, a sports news executive, said the Continental commuter jet he was on had just landed when it experienced a close call with a 747 taking off.

"We slam on the breaks, we roll, we take a right and then there's another jar that he's applying the breaks and we look up and you just see that plane right in front of you," said Domich.

So far, Continental Express is calling it a non-incident and the FAA says it is reviewing the air traffic control tape.

The FAA admits a shortage of air traffic controllers and an increase in air travel are taxing an already strained system.

"You are flying in some of the most congested airspace we have with airports that do not have an adequate air traffic control system until we go to the next generation," said FAA administrator Marion Blakey.

But lawmakers said something needs to be done now.

New York Senator Charles Schumer said, "How could the FAA let this happen? How can the FAA say that it's the guardian of our skies when things have deteriorated so dramatically?"

Questions. Frustrations and challenges as America takes to the skies in record numbers.

[undatc]

I love it,

"You are flying in some of the most congested airspace we have with airports that do not have an adequate air traffic control system until we go to the next generation," said FAA administrator Marion Blakey.

There is no such thing Ms. Blakey.  What you speak of is a lie.  Keep telling yourself that, as well as congress and dump your mess on the next administrator as well as put the blame on the ATCer's when in reality its you and your imposed sanctions that is putting more stress on the system.  Good job. (insert golf clap smiley here)

[Rooster Cruiser]

I'm no fan of "Chuck" Schumer, but I think he got it right this time.  I have seen a great deal of delays and re-routes in my flights of late when there isn't any extra traffic to speak of.  FAA appears to be taking a system that wasn't broke and are doing their damnedest to break it so they can claim a crises and roll out user fees as the "FIX".

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                    CONTACT:   Andrew Koneschusky

July 17, 2007                                                                                                                           202-224-7433

 

WITH NEW REPORTS OF NEAR MISSES, FLIGHT DELAYS SKYROCKETING, AND GENERAL CHAOS AT AIRPORTS, SCHUMER CALLS FOR FAA CHIEF RESIGNATION

 

FAA Has Failed to Address Growing Crisis in Skies that Has Crippled Air Travel for This Summer

 

Schumer: FAA Must Address Problems at Airports, Not Ignore Them

 

Delays and Cancellations Have Jumped Under Current FAA Regime

 

After years of neglect and a total inability to address the serious problems facing the aviation system, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today called for FAA Administrator Marion Blakey to resign effective immediately. For years, despite a surge in air traffic since Blakey became FAA chief, her administration has done next to nothing to relieve congestion and prevent potentially disastrous collisions by leaving control towers severely understaffed and not replacing antiquated equipment. Schumer will say that despite repeated calls for action and a comprehensive overhaul of the airspace over New York City, the FAA’s modernization programs are years delayed and significantly over budget. When questioned by Schumer during a Senate hearing last week, Blakey failed to provide any answers as to why the system has become so clogged or acknowledge that near misses at airports were even a real problem.

 

“The leadership at the FAA time and again has failed,” Schumer said. “So now it is time for that leadership to change. The FAA has single-handedly created a crisis in the skies and done next to nothing to correct it. Not only are the skies more congested and tangled than ever, but the number of near misses on the runways has raised serious questions about overall safety. We need an FAA that works to fix these problems, not ignore them.”

 

Schumer has repeatedly called on the FAA to upgrade technology at New York ’s airports, come to the table with the air traffic controller union to settle their differences, and fast track their airspace redesign plan that is years delays.  None of these goals have been accomplished with the FAA reporting far too little progress on any of them.  The bitterness between controllers and the FAA has spiked creating tension and distractions in the control towers. The towers and control centers are dangerously understaffed. Controllers are still using 1970’s technology with FAA unwilling and unable to undertake a comprehensive overhaul of the systems in New York .

 

Schumer said that the fact that more roughly 1 out of every three flights in and out of the New York area airports are delayed or cancelled threatens to cut off the economic artery of the entire city.  More than 100 million travelers pass through the airports every year and New York simply cannot afford to have these airports not function properly.  In addition to growing congestion and skyrocketing flight delays, Schumer said that recent near misses at La Guardia and Newark airports show that the FAA’s efforts to manage the traffic in New York safely has been totally ineffective.

Does anyone else smell a Ratfink airline association at work behind the scenes?

[undatc]

We talked about this in my airport planning and admin class.  The reason she is doing so poorly is that she has no idea what she is doing.  If you look at her credentials, she came from the highway branch of the NTSB, and up until the time she took office, she had virtually no experience in aviation.  She is trying to run one of the largest federal agency's like a trucking business.  It just doesn't work.  From NATCA, even thou they say they are trying to get back to the tables, in all reality, they are waiting for her term to end in 2008, and then they will try again...