In Critique of the FAA In Summer of 2013

Oh, well, it must be time for all the agencies in our Federal Government to prove self-worth so they can get their 2014 FY Federal Budget monies. Of course, every agency wants "more money" than last you, yah, who'd have thought? Well, let's go ahead and pick on one of the agencies here for a moment shall we. Just to use them as an example of government waste and the shell games they play while never cutting costs to save the taxpayer's a little money shall we?

An interesting GAO Report (GAO-13-693) in August of 2013 titled; "National Airspace System - Improved Budgeting Could Help FAA Better Determine Future Operations and Maintenance Priorities," suggest that the FAA has made "some" progress in its quest to usher in the next generation (NextGen Program) but it lacks the money to upgrade current facilities and also meet its goals for the Next Generation Air Transportation. Meaning what? What do you think that means? It means they need more money in their budget like every other bloated bureaucratic agency in our Federal Government.

That's amazing nonsense, and a pathetic ploy to avoid the budget axe, even if the FAA is mismanaged to know end, top heavy in leadership and in my opinion mean-spirited and incompetent. No, this didn't happen overnight, it has been a steady decline for the last 3-4 decades or more. After WWII my grandfather was the youngest FAA head of an International Airport, and I've followed the FAA my entire life, from a young man washing planes at a local airport, to a student pilot and later as an aviation entrepreneur.

Let's look at another interesting headline in the summer of 2013, this one in Bloomberg on September 23, 2013; "Electronic Device Use May Expand on U.S. Airline Flights," by By Alan Levin & Angela Greiling Keane. Now we can open our laptops and eReaders on take-off or listen to tunes like iPods, even though I've never encounter a flight attendant asking someone to stop listening to tunes on take-off or landing, but now it will be legal apparently.

My opinion on that one, why certainly; okay so, the FAA wants us to believe it is on the ball here, yeah after what 2-decades? Give me a break if I were the FAA I wouldn't be bragging about incompetence, just as they work on the 2014 Federal Fiscal budget, ever wonder why the flurry of Federal Agency PR releases this time of year? Sheesh.

Well, I hope you can now see through the fog of budget wars in Washington DC. I ask that you please consider all this and think on it.