Comments on: KTVU on Air Traffic Control: We're All Going to Die!!!!!! http://boardingarea.com/blogs/waapblog/2009/03/12/ktvu-on-air-traffic-control-were-all-going-to-die/ one plebe's journey Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:57:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: ktvu | LVITE - LINKS INVITATION http://boardingarea.com/blogs/waapblog/2009/03/12/ktvu-on-air-traffic-control-were-all-going-to-die/comment-page-1/#comment-146 ktvu | LVITE - LINKS INVITATION Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:57:20 +0000 http://waapblog.com/?p=396#comment-146 [...] KTVU on Air Traffic Control Were All Going to Die [...] [...] KTVU on Air Traffic Control Were All Going to Die [...]

]]> By: Gary http://boardingarea.com/blogs/waapblog/2009/03/12/ktvu-on-air-traffic-control-were-all-going-to-die/comment-page-1/#comment-150 Gary Mon, 16 Mar 2009 06:57:55 +0000 http://waapblog.com/?p=396#comment-150 Gray, I've lived in the Bay Area 30+ years (grew up in NYC). I stopped watching local TV news at least a decade ago. Although I agree with your perspective ("news is news..."), they're actually in the entertainment business, pretending to be superior because of all their Emmys, blah, blah, blah. KTVU has always had the approach that good news is no news. If you watch their nightly promos, you'd be convinced that the world (i.e. the Bay Area), has come to an end at least 50K times or so. At least John Stewart and Stephen Colbert are honest about what they do for a living. If you think KTVU's desecration of the news is bad, you should see what's going on in the SF Chronicle, and other local papers. They have all apparently decided that editing, fact-checking, etc., are all obsolete. In other "news", I was in London when the blizzard of the century hit, and knocked the city on its rear. I must say that the BBC's 24 hour news channel was quite hysterical and not much better than ours tend to be, although with the British overlay and a few other features, it was quite entertaining (unintentionally, of course). BTW, I found your blog as a result of learning of UA FT1 from a link in the FT e-letter. Sounds like it was great fun, and I wish I had known about it sooner, especially since SFO is home base. Of course my MR wouldn't have been as exciting as some. Good luck with Russia and the exam...being 30+ years ahead of you, I agree with the sentiment expressed of 1) take the trip, it'll be a more important memory, 2) work on the prof. Cheers, Gary Gray,
I’ve lived in the Bay Area 30+ years (grew up in NYC). I stopped watching local TV news at least a decade ago. Although I agree with your perspective (“news is news…”), they’re actually in the entertainment business, pretending to be superior because of all their Emmys, blah, blah, blah. KTVU has always had the approach that good news is no news. If you watch their nightly promos, you’d be convinced that the world (i.e. the Bay Area), has come to an end at least 50K times or so. At least John Stewart and Stephen Colbert are honest about what they do for a living.
If you think KTVU’s desecration of the news is bad, you should see what’s going on in the SF Chronicle, and other local papers. They have all apparently decided that editing, fact-checking, etc., are all obsolete.
In other “news”, I was in London when the blizzard of the century hit, and knocked the city on its rear. I must say that the BBC’s 24 hour news channel was quite hysterical and not much better than ours tend to be, although with the British overlay and a few other features, it was quite entertaining (unintentionally, of course).
BTW, I found your blog as a result of learning of UA FT1 from a link in the FT e-letter. Sounds like it was great fun, and I wish I had known about it sooner, especially since SFO is home base. Of course my MR wouldn’t have been as exciting as some.
Good luck with Russia and the exam…being 30+ years ahead of you, I agree with the sentiment expressed of 1) take the trip, it’ll be a more important memory, 2) work on the prof.
Cheers,
Gary

]]> By: Baku http://boardingarea.com/blogs/waapblog/2009/03/12/ktvu-on-air-traffic-control-were-all-going-to-die/comment-page-1/#comment-149 Baku Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:57:49 +0000 http://waapblog.com/?p=396#comment-149 Sir, A few items to consider: 1. In your 'article', you state that 1 of the 50 passengers survived the Comair191 crash. He was not a passenger, he was the co-pilot. 2. You describe the system in use for aircraft to navigate using radio beacons and aircraft going point-to-point as being antiquated and at times inefficient. This makes the planes fly non-direct routes. Perhaps you obtained your information from articles like the posted in POPULAR SCIENCE where it described the planes flying zigzag routes across the sky. It may be preferable for you to actually take a tour to your local ATC facility and see how it really works. In most cases, the majority of planes DO fly direct when we can allow it. There are times when, at either the right altitude or in the right area, I can allow flights to proceed direct to ... However, if I allowed all planes to fly direct to where they want to go, what exactly should we do with them when they get there if they aren't lined up in a sequence to land? The system that is being called the ATC of the future is NEXGEN. This is supposed to be able to reduce congestion, delays, NMACs and controller ranks. Good luck with that. Picture yourself driving down an interstate, six lanes, a fair amount of traffic, but not too bad. You now want to leave the interstate and go into Big City. You realise that you're not alone. Fifty other cars and a few trucks want to go there as well. Will you all make it if allowed to just go direct, fastest car wins, or should you line up on an off ramp, creating a sequence, everyone getting in line and waiting their turn, allowing enough room for the vehicle in front of you, and hoping that the others are doing the same behind you? If you are flying through my airspace and want to go direct, I'll work it out as much as possible, but understand that eventually, you may have to get in line. Sensationalism? No doubt. FAA grounding planes due to low staffing? Very funny! Staffing low? Definetly. Want proof? Training departments at most ATC facilities are inundated with trainees. Some trainees not being able to actually train because there are too many trainees and not enough controllers. It takes about 2-3 years to reach CPC (certified professional controller) status. Is there a shortage of other professions like doctors, nurses, police, etc? I'm sure there are. We, however are run by the govt. The agency was reminded about the impending shortage and did nothing about it. Who's fault was that? Sir,
A few items to consider:
1. In your ‘article’, you state that 1 of the 50 passengers survived the Comair191 crash. He was not a passenger, he was the co-pilot.
2. You describe the system in use for aircraft to navigate using radio beacons and aircraft going point-to-point as being antiquated and at times inefficient.
This makes the planes fly non-direct routes.
Perhaps you obtained your information from articles like the posted in POPULAR SCIENCE where it described the planes flying zigzag routes across the sky. It may be preferable for you to actually take a tour to your local ATC facility and see how it really works.
In most cases, the majority of planes DO fly direct when we can allow it. There are times when, at either the right altitude or in the right area, I can allow flights to proceed direct to … However, if I allowed all planes to fly direct to where they want to go, what exactly should we do with them when they get there if they aren’t lined up in a sequence to land? The system that is being called the ATC of the future is NEXGEN. This is supposed to be able to reduce congestion, delays, NMACs and controller ranks. Good luck with that.
Picture yourself driving down an interstate, six lanes, a fair amount of traffic, but not too bad. You now want to leave the interstate and go into Big City. You realise that you’re not alone. Fifty other cars and a few trucks want to go there as well. Will you all make it if allowed to just go direct, fastest car wins, or should you line up on an off ramp, creating a sequence, everyone getting in line and waiting their turn, allowing enough room for the vehicle in front of you, and hoping that the others are doing the same behind you?
If you are flying through my airspace and want to go direct, I’ll work it out as much as possible, but understand that eventually, you may have to get in line.
Sensationalism? No doubt. FAA grounding planes due to low staffing? Very funny! Staffing low? Definetly. Want proof? Training departments at most ATC facilities are inundated with trainees. Some trainees not being able to actually train because there are too many trainees and not enough controllers. It takes about 2-3 years to reach CPC (certified professional controller) status.
Is there a shortage of other professions like doctors, nurses, police, etc? I’m sure there are. We, however are run by the govt. The agency was reminded about the impending shortage and did nothing about it. Who’s fault was that?

]]> By: G.Ro http://boardingarea.com/blogs/waapblog/2009/03/12/ktvu-on-air-traffic-control-were-all-going-to-die/comment-page-1/#comment-148 G.Ro Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:47:52 +0000 http://waapblog.com/?p=396#comment-148 Oliver - to me, news is news, is news, is news, and it must be correctly and accurately reported no matter how large or spacey your audience is, whether it's a high school newspaper or the New York Times. Plus, this news story comes from KTVU, a station with a decent sized market, in the San Francisco Bay Area, including gigantic San Jose. Sometimes, local news stations break the stories that ultimately surface nationwide, and, while rare, they are all important to analyze. Plus, the point here, too, is not the size of the market or that this story originates from a film version, it's to maybe teach readers of this blog some tools with which to read aviation articles in the future. Aviation is, yes, an esoteric subject, and many of the articles are incorrectly stated, and tend toward sensationalism. I first learned to recognize the problems with aviation article reporting from articles written by local news stations, and soon, began to recognize the same issues, discrepancies, and misreporting in some of the nation's largest papers and news outlets (CNN reporting that that Turkish Airline 737 crash was an Airbus A380 crash initially?) Local, or nationwide, I want people to be able to recognize some of the problems with aviation reporting, and, perhaps not find themselves so scared when they see a report like this one. Oliver – to me, news is news, is news, is news, and it must be correctly and accurately reported no matter how large or spacey your audience is, whether it’s a high school newspaper or the New York Times. Plus, this news story comes from KTVU, a station with a decent sized market, in the San Francisco Bay Area, including gigantic San Jose. Sometimes, local news stations break the stories that ultimately surface nationwide, and, while rare, they are all important to analyze.

Plus, the point here, too, is not the size of the market or that this story originates from a film version, it’s to maybe teach readers of this blog some tools with which to read aviation articles in the future. Aviation is, yes, an esoteric subject, and many of the articles are incorrectly stated, and tend toward sensationalism. I first learned to recognize the problems with aviation article reporting from articles written by local news stations, and soon, began to recognize the same issues, discrepancies, and misreporting in some of the nation’s largest papers and news outlets (CNN reporting that that Turkish Airline 737 crash was an Airbus A380 crash initially?) Local, or nationwide, I want people to be able to recognize some of the problems with aviation reporting, and, perhaps not find themselves so scared when they see a report like this one.

]]> By: Oliver http://boardingarea.com/blogs/waapblog/2009/03/12/ktvu-on-air-traffic-control-were-all-going-to-die/comment-page-1/#comment-147 Oliver Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:18:22 +0000 http://waapblog.com/?p=396#comment-147 Sorry, I stopped reading your post about half-way through. Not because it wasn't good or interesting, but because I am busy (I *should* be working right now). This article is actually the textual form of a story on KTVU's evening news that I happen to see a few nights ago. And it's classic local TV news reporting. Nothing unusual about it. Their reporters aren't aviation specialists/geeks. Today they report on air traffic control, tomorrow on Apple's new iPod, and next week on some new solar technology installed on eBay's office building. Oh yeah, and inbetween maybe the occasional drive-by shooting. Okay, maybe that's extreme -- they do specialize a bit. But the bottom line is that they aren't experts in anything but their audience's attention span (2-3 mins max per story... so no time for detailed backgrounds on anything) and interest. It's really not worth getting too upset about this story -- it's not any worse (or better) than all the other stuff many journalists produce. Does it sell? Apparently. But if you want indepth analysis and reporting with a chance of being good, look elsewhere. Sorry, I stopped reading your post about half-way through. Not because it wasn’t good or interesting, but because I am busy (I *should* be working right now).

This article is actually the textual form of a story on KTVU’s evening news that I happen to see a few nights ago. And it’s classic local TV news reporting. Nothing unusual about it. Their reporters aren’t aviation specialists/geeks. Today they report on air traffic control, tomorrow on Apple’s new iPod, and next week on some new solar technology installed on eBay’s office building. Oh yeah, and inbetween maybe the occasional drive-by shooting.

Okay, maybe that’s extreme — they do specialize a bit. But the bottom line is that they aren’t experts in anything but their audience’s attention span (2-3 mins max per story… so no time for detailed backgrounds on anything) and interest. It’s really not worth getting too upset about this story — it’s not any worse (or better) than all the other stuff many journalists produce. Does it sell? Apparently. But if you want indepth analysis and reporting with a chance of being good, look elsewhere.

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