News and notes from around the interweb:
- This is what special interest capture looks like I explained what New York City was preparing to do in May.
- Plaza Premium will operate Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses outside the U.K.
- Canadian airline turns off its phones, in order to… improve customer service.
- “Just 33 foreigners have booked flights” to Samui, Thailand. (HT: Drew J)
- The FAA Office Of Inspector General says the agency stocks over $700 million in parts but doesn’t know where many of them are. They are stockpiling 30 year old parts, some of which haven’t been used in 20 years. There’s a lot more in the scathing report.
- Robert Hays (Airplane!) has a new TV show on A&E called “Fasten Your Seatbelt” with “true stories behind the most incredible moments from airports and flights.” Here’s a preview.
- The Four Seasons New York may lose its flag in a dispute with the creator of Beanie Babies
Who’s surprised that the FAA uses 30 year old equipment? Were they ever given modernization funding for a forklift upgrade and ongoing funds for opex?
I genuinely thought this was one of the arguments for privatizing control towers, which I assume is what this equipment is for.
The NY subway uses signaling equipment from the 1930s.
I have seen people shocked with dismay that the us nuclear weapons infrastructure uses 8″ floppies.
Why?
If it isn’t broke – don’t fix it! You do r need to be able to play solitaire on an mx missile and you don’t need to play solitaire on an faa radar screen.
These old legacy systems are used because they work and they are well understood. You don’t want blue screens on a machine that controls nuclear weapons.
Unless there is a specific deficiency that needs to be corrected there is zero reason to upgrade
re: The Four Seasons New York may lose its flag in a dispute with the creator of Beanie Babies
What is a Four Seasons flag? There’s not a pic of one at the linked article or in a google search.