US Becoming a No-Fly Zone?
With four fatal plane crashes in the United States, the Trump administration has been cutting critical staffing in the Federal Aviation Administration. While the administration is saying they will be keeping the flight controllers, the people that are being cut are the computer maintenance people, the programmers and electricians and the like. The flight controllers and the flying public are in a world of hurt when the computers go down. There have been instances when the FAA computers have malfunctioned in the past. Not a pretty picture.
One critical agency in the FAA that is being completely gutted is the FAA National Defense Program out of Hawaii. This is in partnership with the Department of Defense. It is set up to detect incoming missiles from North Korea or China. Just a few years ago, the system detected a missile fired from North Korea that looked as if it was headed to the islands. Fortunately, the missile splashed down in the middle of ocean"" It seems the DOGE people did not know what the NDP did, so they shut it down. Good thing the North Koreans did not take advantage of the hole in the sky over this past weekend.
Another aviation related board, the Aviation Safety Administration, was terminated by Trump. This small agency was tasked with making sure American planes and American Airports are safe. When a panel came off an Alaskan Airline plane over Portland a couple of years ago, it was the ASA which stepped in to investigate the incident and set up remedial programs with Boeing to make sure it did not happen again.
Remember that fatal crash in Mexico, where a plane lost control as it landed and slammed into a fixed wall, killing all on board. If the airport had been in the US that wall would not have been approved. Without the ASA panels can continue to fly off, engines can drop off, wings can get detached, and obstacles can be placed near runways that should not be there.
My advice to international travelers? It is not safe to fly through US air space. Fly around, Go north into Canada. My advice to domestic travelers? Find alternative modes of transportation.
AP story here
One critical agency in the FAA that is being completely gutted is the FAA National Defense Program out of Hawaii. This is in partnership with the Department of Defense. It is set up to detect incoming missiles from North Korea or China. Just a few years ago, the system detected a missile fired from North Korea that looked as if it was headed to the islands. Fortunately, the missile splashed down in the middle of ocean"" It seems the DOGE people did not know what the NDP did, so they shut it down. Good thing the North Koreans did not take advantage of the hole in the sky over this past weekend.
Another aviation related board, the Aviation Safety Administration, was terminated by Trump. This small agency was tasked with making sure American planes and American Airports are safe. When a panel came off an Alaskan Airline plane over Portland a couple of years ago, it was the ASA which stepped in to investigate the incident and set up remedial programs with Boeing to make sure it did not happen again.
Remember that fatal crash in Mexico, where a plane lost control as it landed and slammed into a fixed wall, killing all on board. If the airport had been in the US that wall would not have been approved. Without the ASA panels can continue to fly off, engines can drop off, wings can get detached, and obstacles can be placed near runways that should not be there.
My advice to international travelers? It is not safe to fly through US air space. Fly around, Go north into Canada. My advice to domestic travelers? Find alternative modes of transportation.
AP story here
Comments
https://spacenews.com/spacex-invited-to-provide-input-on-faa-air-traffic-control-modernization/
Now I'm not an expert on this, but as the article says, this appears to raise conflicts of interests that impinge on aviation safety?
Because of safety considerations or out of a wish to boycott US-based things? Or both? (Both seem reasonable to me.)
My partner and I are planning to fly a couple of times this summer. I figure a. Flying is still much safer than driving, and b. If one of the planes goes down with us in it, there are worse ways to die.
Most accidental (i.e. non-suicidal) deaths on the railway (and they are few) are of workers on the tracks, at pedestrian crossings of the line, or dragging by closing train doors. See: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/hizn3q3n/rail-safety-2023-24.pdf
/Tangent ends
Pretty sure Gramps49 was talking about train crashes in the US, as compared to aviation safety here, given the thread title and OP.
A train derailment in Texas killed two Union Pacific workers in December, but I didn't know about it till I went looking for train derailments. The last one I remember hearing about was the big one in Ohio a couple of years ago -- no one died in the accident itself, but the train was carrying highly toxic materials so the derailment created an environmental disaster, and it is claimed people have died as a result of that. The last big passenger train derailment I remember hearing about was in Missouri in 2022; I remember this one because my partner and I had taken this train, the Southwest Chief, to Chicago on our first trip together. Four people died when the train hit a dump truck stalled at a crossing.
Train travel seems very safe in the US, but how many of us use it? And how long before the stupid and ridiculous cuts in the federal government affect the rail system? It was fun taking the train to Chicago, but two nights on the train is my limit. I'm not taking the train across the country to New Jersey this summer, and oddly enough Amtrak doesn't go to Europe. So flying it is.
It’s all right. Elon Musk has got that sorted- just as soon as he’s tidied up the Federal Government!
The question of what is and is not safe in the US is only going to become more fraught. The federal government touches so many aspects of life. Air travel is a big, obvious one, but there's also food safety. Worker safety. Doubtless many other things that I won't even think of till Musk screws them up.
I heard of a train crashing in to a car at a grade crossing last week. A train derailed yesterday. I don't think there were injuries in either of these incidents.
Train travel won't get any better under the current administration, and it could easily get worse. And less safe.
What's notable is that Musk's hyperloop company, as well as the Boring Company, only tended to show up when some municipality was considering large mass transit projects and, if the project was awarded to them, would massively under-deliver on the scope, providing something that (if completed) wouldn't perform as well as an ordinary subway or bus line. In a lot of ways these companies could be considered "loss leaders" for Musk's car business.
Disease tracking?
Those of us whose memories extend back five years remember that Trump's preferred method of "dealing with" COVID was to simply not report cases. That still seems to be his preferred method of handling disease outbreaks.
There was a train fire recently that start because of something under the train. No deaths but a big mess to clean up.
But yeah, I think trains are exponentially safer. Biggest issue is that you have to budget a lot of time to be on them and they often have scheduling hiccups. And it's rather expensive for longer trips, not much cheaper than flying if you're not comfortable sleeping in coach.
This as someone who has used Amtrak a lot and actually enjoys the experience.
Would that we could develop more highspeed rail lines in North America.
Many people may have a desire to not be on the same continent as Trump and the Muskrats, but I'd hazard a guess that the regime's hatred and wickedness towards brown people will soon trigger a severe shortage of labour in the hospitality sector - or is this, maybe, already happening?
Thank you. I can appreciate that a great many people are indeed scared, though I hadn't thought about the potential problems with agricultural labour.
I wouldn't come here if I weren't already here. Stay away. The world has many beautiful places for your holiday. Don't risk it.
My thoughts exactly.
(My sister-in-law is in San Francisco at the moment, on work-related business, and is very much looking forward to coming home to the dystopian socialist hell-hole known as *England*...)
I was talking about political concerns.