Does This Apply to NextGen ?

My former, sort-of boss Paul Bertorelli writes a blog for AVweb. This entry is about VLJs and the disaster they have become. I like the very last line.

”For if Eclipse taught us anything, it's that in commercial aviation, progress comes in periodic increments, not giant leaps. When you hear things like "revolutionary" or "game changer," just let them flow into one ear and out the other. “


Let’s see...where have I heard those words before ? Well, that certainly wasn’t hard to find.

”Marion C. Blakey , President & Chief Executive Officer, Aerospace Industries Association

There is widespread agreement that NextGen is a game-changer when it comes to air travel. “ (Emphasis added)

Neither was this:

”Statement of Marion C. Blakey, Administrator
Before the the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Subcommittee on Aviation on the Joint Planning and Development Office (Oral Testimony as Prepared for Delivery)

ADS- B is a revolutionary technology that uses GPS to transmit real-time surveillance data to controllers and pilots, substantially improving situational awareness and allowing smaller separation distances between aircraft while maintaining the highest levels of safety “ (Emphasis added)


Nor this:

Don Brown, Ex-controller and current nobody

”No one is going to reinvent air traffic control. ATC evolves. Slowly. The FAA may get their ADS-B system but it won’t replace radar. NextGen is just another sales job like URET. URET saved the airlines so much money they went broke. Did I mention it won’t replace radar ? “

I wonder if I can get people to pay attention to that last bit before Bertorelli has to write the same piece -- about NextGen -- in 10 years ?

Don Brown
October 23, 2009

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