Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Friday, January 27, 2012

Short-Sighted Governmental Stupidity; FAA Edition

The FAA wants to effectively scrap the VOR network. I wrote about it here.

Make no mistake about it, the FAA's excuse for wanting to shut down the VOR network, which is "the stations are beyond their economic service life", translates into "we haven't bothered to maintain it for the last fifteen years". The FAA's proposal to scrap the VOR network is beyond stupid, it is criminally short-sighted.

If you think that the FAA is displaying classic bureaucratic moronosity, then go here and post a comment against the proposed rule. Not a lot of people have done so, so you guys need to step up to the plate.

5 comments:

Vannevar said...

It's incredibly negligent. They've decided (regardless of the positioning of this proposal) to do away with the existing system, without any firm plan for the Next system.

They're not maintaining the roofs or the buildings at navaid sites, and so the desired future state becomes cost effective through intentional neglect.

The truth is, you can't cost-justify the NextGen gizmos without junking the entire present infrastructure.

It's insane.

Comrade Misfit said...

Vannevar, we need to get the word out.

OldRetiredDude said...

Right about the time I retired the FAA was preparing to implement what we in NATCA were calling the stupidest policy ever imagined. It is called "Fix on Fail" and it was going to save all kinds of Money spent wastefully on PMI's (periodic maintenance inspections) and instead just wait for things to break and then fix them. Kind if like not changing the oil in your car to save money. What could go wrong? Remember, the former head of the FAA, (Marion Blakey) responsible for letting the contracts on next-gen, now works for the same companies. Sweet deal.

BadTux said...

What is 2020?
2020 is a portfolio of contracts with a ceiling of approximately $7.3 billion; the largest procurement in the FAA's history. SE-2020 is designed to be the primary vehicle to help meet the business needs of NextGen and other key initiatives.


Note that they don't tell you shit about what 2020 is supposed to do, the FAA web site just goes on to list who got a piece of that money, not what they're supposed to actually deliver in exchange for the dough. I swear, they aren't even bothering to pretend that this NexGen stuff is anything other than a blatant looting raid on taxpayer money.

- Badtux the "WTF?!" Penguin

Comrade Misfit said...

I swear, they aren't even bothering to pretend that this NexGen stuff is anything other than a blatant looting raid on taxpayer money.

You done broke the code, BadTux.