Does This Look Like 21st Century Technology to You?
Barack Obama himself said that the Economic Stimulus bill wasn't perfect. But like anything, when you get in a rush to push through legislation, and you don't include all voices to put their two cents in, you miss stuff. So, while the new bill has a lot of pork and upgrading every Federal office building, here's an idea that they didn't think of - one that probably could have saved lives this week.
Now, I can't take credit for this. I don't have time to read every page of every bill, but other people do. From all places, I saw this on Fox News Business yesterday morning. They had a very good suggestion - why not use some of this stimulus to upgrade the nation's air traffic control radar system from SONAR to GPS. In case you didn't know it, the system still runs on SONAR technology. Yes, the little Tom-Tom unit on your dashboard is more advanced than the 70's era technology that the FAA uses. Fox Business can't ever find a topic that at least two of them disagree on, but this was the one - every panelist said goin go GPS was a winner...
There would be both safety and economic benefits from it. First the safety aspects. We all heard about the plane crash outside of Buffalo this week. It appears that the plane suddenly went out of control due to ice buildup, probably on the lift or rudders, which control the direction the plane goes. Almost all planes have to wait in line before they can make approach to land. That is when the ice builds up on the wings. GPS would allow the planes to be packed in half the distance from each other, thus leaving them in limbo for half the time, and making holding patterns safer...
Hey, guess what? It also saves money! Planes that fly shorter trips use less gas, and that saves the airlines money in their biggest expenditure. We've bailed out the airlines before, so making infrastructure improvements that will make them more profitable as well sounds like a winner.
How much would all this cost? I have no idea, but I'm sure it's in the billions. Still, when you consider the necessity of upgrading it, and the benefits overall, I think that DC would agree. But maybe they didn't think of it, or they just ignored it. I hope Nancy Pelosi thinks about that the next time she's on a plane. Hopefully, she won't have this guy manning the radar for her. Click on it, and forward it to about 2:15 into the clip.....
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6 comments:
the only plane nancy gets on is the one we furnish her
You are correct, Sir. Nanner complained that she needed a bigger plane to fly on because she was too important to make stopovers.
Come on. It was recommended by the security folks that the speaker have a plane that did not require stops flying cross-country for securtiy reasons.
She did not "complain." Then again, Gore never actually said he invented the internet either, but that didn't stop people from pushing that one...
Someone's worrying too much.. No one's gunning for Pelosi. Let her stop in KC or Omaha...
Radar and sonar are two completely different things. For example Sonar (used underwater) relies on sound waves, whereas radar relies on Electromagnetic waves.
There are ,100% without a doubt, no airports utilizing sonar to track your flight.
You are correct, Anon... In fact, I didn't even remember this post when your comment came up. Gives you an idea of how much I know about the subject, but substituting SONAR with RADAR does still give you the right idea.. Thanks!
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