Musk says DOGE will make 'rapid safety upgrades' to air traffic control system

[babylonsister]

NOT inspiring confidence...


Musk says DOGE will make ‘rapid safety upgrades’ to air traffic control system
by Miranda Nazzaro - 02/05/25 6:26 PM ET


Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will make “rapid safety upgrades” to the air traffic control systems with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“With the support of President @realDonaldTrump, the @DOGE team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system,” Musk wrote Wednesday on the social platform X, which he owns.

“Just a few days ago, the FAA’s primary aircraft safety notification system failed for several hours!” he added, likely referring to an outage of the FAA’s Notice to Air Mission system over the weekend.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CNN over the weekend that the system allows pilots to download flight details ahead of a trip and is required for planes to fly.

more...
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5129134-el-musk-urges-quick-safety-upgrades-faa/

[Walleye]

1. Well, we'll see if it's another 15 years between crashes

Why does everything have to be rapidly and quickly. Impatient little boys. And the question I keep asking. What is Elon Musk getting out of this?

[Ocelot II]

2. ATC systems are antiquated and do need upgrading - but I wouldn't trust Musk's minions

to fix them as far as I can throw a grand piano.

[unblock]

3. Because the most important thing about safety initiatives is to be very rapid about it

[LizBeth]

5. That is what I am thinking. No background knowledge research or planning....rapid change. !

[Johnny2X2X]

4. Musk knows nothing about any of this

The America culture of thinking that rich means good at everything is destroying us. These people will destroy ATC. There are experts in the field working to improve it every day.

[LAS14]

6. Isn't his philosophy of space travel to tolerate a few....

... crashes in favor of rapid development (i.e., money making?)

[RainCaster]

10. That's why he wants to destroy the FAA

They have been investigating SpaceX and the various explosions.

[Blues Heron]

7. Think I'll drive

[multigraincracker]

8. His words are the kiss of death.

[Arazi]

9. It's a totally overdue overhaul - decades overdue

I’ve heard theyre using FORTRAN ffs… it’s really ridiculous. (This was the language in the Hidden Figures movie that the African American women’s computing group was learning - so it’s THAT ancient)

That said, many many MANY IT firms have been hired to look at the system and upgrade it over the years.

Nobody’s taken up the offer

[unblock]

11. Probably every system in the federal government could use an upgrade. That's not the issue.

It's that this is the worst way to go about it for any system, and aviation safety especially is one area you don't want do this way -- rushed, with unauthorized people with no subject matter experience, just generic coding abilities.

[Arazi]

13. Oh definitely. My understanding is the undertaking would be massive

And take a long time to build and test before putting into live use. Tech friends say that by the time a new system was built it would already be pretty outdated.

Hence the reason nobody takes it on

[Ocelot II]

12. Musk will take it up because it's part of the plan to privatize everything.

He'll "buy" ATC, half-ass upgrade the systems so they work about as well as a cybertruck, and charge all users for all ATC services. Need a landing clearance? That'll be $100, we'll put it on your tab. Oh, I see your bill for last month hasn't been paid yet, so hold as published and await further clearance after you enter your credit card number.

[stopdiggin]

14. by laying people off? buy outs and retirements?

or by freezes and cuts in funding? because that's the MO for this crowd.

Have to remember - this is the government brought to you by the "don't believe in government" crowd.
Expect more of the same. ('improvement' are not part of the game plan)

[dalton99a]

15. NEXT: Musk says DOGE will make rapid cancer cure to obsolete NIH research

NIH: National Institutes of Health

[Mountainguy]

16. Isnt DOGE supposed to be

Looking at efficiency in government?

How does this apply?

[bif]

17. DUPE!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219997172

[tanyev]

18. OK, then I'll be staying the hell away from any airport and the surrounding area for quite some time.