Slashdot Mirror
Senate Votes To Replace Aviation Radar With GPS
plover writes "The US Senate on Monday passed by a 93-0 margin a bill that would implement the FAA's NextGen plan to replace aviation radar with GPS units. It will help pay for the upgrade by increasing aviation fuel taxes on private aircraft. It will require two inspections per year on foreign repair stations that work on US planes. And it will ban pilots from using personal electronics in the cockpit. This just needs to be reconciled with the House version and is expected to become law soon. This was discussed on Slashdot a few years ago."
Of course there is a huge problem with any massive upgrade.
That is simply cost.
There are thousands of small Mom and Pop airports and FBOs that are just barley staying in business as it is. They can not afford spending thousands of dollars to get new radios.
Then you have all the private pilots that also really can not afford the cost of upgrading. It is a myth that all private pilots are rich. A lot of them just have a passion for flying.
Maybe the problem is that Americans just fly too damn much. Americans already drive amazingly fuel-inefficient cars, use commercial airlines for small distances, and have the largest ecological footprint of any country in the world (apart from some small oil states like the U.A.E. and Qatar). The U.S. has much lower taxes on all kinds of fuel than any European country I've ever visited, which probably makes flying a cheaper hobby than watching out the window. This may be an indirect way to put some people off flying, and although there might be better ways to accomplish that, I think it might be a step in the right direction.
Bring on the flamebait mods for treading on the American way of life, call me a tree-loving hippie communist global warming conspirator, I don't care.
I'd rather you rationally disagree than irrationally agree.
You assume you know the scooter guy's thought process.
He paid his Medicare taxes because he was forced to. Of course he is going to use the system to the max after being forced to pay in.
I purposely use tax funded services to the max even though I am against them.
Do you think because the government steals from me that I won't take that money back??
Foolish Socialist. You have much to learn.
You assume you know the scooter guy's thought process.
He paid his Medicare taxes because he was forced to. Of course he is going to use the system to the max after being forced to pay in.
I purposely use tax funded services to the max even though I am against them. Do you think because the government steals from me that I won't take that money back??
Foolish Socialist. You have much to learn.