Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. - Albert Einstein

Flying the Federal Skies

by Hal_10000

Now that our automobile industry takeover has gone so well—stop that snickering back there!—the government is setting its sights on ... the airline industry:

Prodded by labor unions, the Obama administration is taking its first step toward trying to fix the ailing airline industry, which could lead to a partial return to economic regulation.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is holding a forum with aviation stakeholders on Thursday to discuss the state of the industry and ways government can help provide economic stability for air carriers. The industry has been rocked by repeated crises in recent years, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States; the global SARS virus in 2003; skyrocketing oil prices in recent years; and the current economic downturn.

“U.S. aviation is facing severe economic uncertainty and an open and frank conversation will help begin a continuing dialogue about the industry’s future,” transportation spokeswoman Sasha Johnson said.

This has nothing to do, of course, with ridiculous baggage and food charges to passengers.  Or the customer “service” that most airlines employ that is only slightly more polite than a punch to the throat.  Or the absurd TSA security measures.  Or that the boom in air travel was itself a bubble.  Or that the old airline union-driven business model is becoming obsolete.  Nope, nothing to see there.

Oddly enough, not all of the airline industry is in trouble—just the unionized part.  But to Team Obama, that’s all that matters.  Non-unionized airlines don’t count.

The re-regulation advocates also claim that cheap airfares are putting passengers in danger because repair jobs and short-haul flights are being farmed out (note how the Defenders of the Common Man always want to make everything more expensive or him).  Look, I’m all in favor of making sure repair jobs are done right and pilots know how to fly.  I recently read Clemente, which documented the absurd circumstances leading up to his tragic death.  But if those trends are a danger, they’re an awfully subtle one.  The US airline industry is still extremely safe (not that this keeps me from being white-knuckled on a bumpy approach to LAX).  Experts have been predicting a sudden upturn in crashes due to aging airplanes, small carriers and farmed-out maintenance ever since the industry was “deregulated”.  I’m not sure why we should be paying attention to them now.

Sorry, forgot.  Union jobs are at stake.  Carry on.

Comments

Posted by on 11/12/09 at 09:39 AM from

As someone that works in the aerospace industry, i can tell you that the airlines are essentially in the same boat they’ve always been in - only now they provide flights so cheap that anybody and everybody can fly to Mexico and back for less than $500.

Try to imagine that ever happening prior to de-regulation when a trip to NY from LA cost about $10K in today’s dollars…

Posted by FPrefect on 11/12/09 at 10:31 AM from

Hell, the company I work for now makes approaches and landings easier for the pilots.  We make Heads Up guidance systems for them.  As a matter of fact, one of the “cheap” carriers is 100% equipped with the system and is required to use it for takeoff and landings.  Here’s a video on youtube of one of our systems on an Embraer ERJ-195.  This is actually the first LCD HUD that was ceritified for flight.  You can see the display starting around 4:18.

Posted by Miguelito on 11/12/09 at 01:35 PM from

FPrefect, it actually kinda surprises me that it’s taken this long to even get this far with HUD systems for commercial aircraft when they’ve been in combat planes for years.  They do a hell of a lot more then just weapons data on there… having it all right there in your line of sight without hurting visibility and such seems like a no brainer.

Posted by Miguelito on 11/12/09 at 01:38 PM from

SO, next up… free air travel for everyone anytime they want it too, per the other thread. :-/

I’m only 1/2 joking. 

I remember when growing up that we could only go back east to visit family in NH/MA every 4 years or so because it was so expensive.  It was basically the same dollar cost per person then as today.. but when you factor in inflation, that means it was a LOT more expensive then.

Last summer when a bunch of us went back again, I splurged for 1st class, and it really didn’t cost that much more then coach at all.  I was actually pretty surprised.  That used to be super expensive.

Posted by on 11/12/09 at 09:13 PM from

This paragraph should make everyone all warm-n-tingly too.

LaHood’s invitation to stakeholders says the forum, closed to the public and the media, was organized at the request of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department. The AFL-CIO is the largest U.S. labor union confederation.

Posted by FPrefect on 11/13/09 at 06:37 AM from

Miguelito, we started placing the system about 15-20 years ago on the 727’s that UPS was using for cargo and some commercial ones.  Luckily I was not at the company for that, those systems were a pain in the arse to work on, but I’ve been with the company for 10 years now and we have now gotten the 1st AMLCD HUD certified as well.  There’s a few other things I can’t really talk about now that are coming out for smaller jets which are pretty awesome.

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