If it’s reported in the media or on the web, it’s all there is to know.
Don’t dare try to pursue any different perspectives, or else yo’ll be considered out of step and uninformed. Even when any semi-literate high school kid could see that it’s nonsense.
One of those situations is unfolding at the moment.
The FAA is capping operations at ORD, forcing American and United to “pause” additional frequencies intended to provide a range of smaller markets with global access. (That’s the new airline term that translates into “probably cancel.”)
More flights at ORD? Can’t allow this, according to the FAA, or else O’Hare will degenerate into delay chaos.
Naturally, the “experts” and the occasional academic professors who are safely ensconced in their intellectual mushroom gardens are thrilled. We cannot allow airlines to dare threaten the smooth operations at this critical international airport.
Funny, but airport operations have two general components. One is the airlines who use the airport, and the other is the FAA, which is in charge of air traffic control.
Bold and unwelcome observation: how come nobody – like, nobody – ever investigates both sides of this operational equation? In short, like good little obedient sheep the media and the consumer gadflies and the occasional academic kibitzers all assume that the FAA is the last word. The ultimate and sacred not-to-be-questioned Final Word.
Has any of these supposed “experts” ever bothered to check out the FAA? Has any of them ever considered the economic impact and value that AA or UA ORD access brings to communities like Kalamazoo and other points?
Have these folks ever bothered to investigate and explore the performance of the ATC system? The decades of “new” programs – virtually all of which have been failures? How about the decades of equipment acquisition that has left the ATC system – you know, the one that is limiting ORD operations – unable to handle the demands of the air transportation system?
Nope.
The issue here is that the FAA’s ATC program has for years been a gigantic financial cesspool, squandering tax dollars, and operating within a cocoon they know protects them of any media scrutiny.
This is the core reason the FAA is “capping” O’Hare. They can’t do their job. And all us out here in the provinces are supposed to just take it.
So, as of today, at least half a dozen communities – more, actually – are being economically damaged by the fact that the FAA has mismanaged the ATC system.
But, for goodness sake, the mayors of these towns and the airport directors and the local civic leaders won’t dare say a word.
Sort of the aviation version of the Stockholm Syndrome. (Google it, if you must.)