Oh, the plane I fly is only 2 years old... we have dual GPS, backed up by INS... we have it all. The government did not create GPS for civilian use... the military had it LONG before any of us did, it is just now a military tool that we can use as civvies. The government does not do jack to help create safe and efficient airline travel... ONE major airport in 20 years? Cmon... please... building a multimillion dollar runway in STL, where there is absolutely no traffic? They could get away with ONE runway and still be bored up there. Staffing a control tower in IND at 6am with all of the morning pushes, with ONE controller to handle CLR, GND and TWR?
We have RNAV and VNAV... the problem is that we are stuck in an airspace system that cannot utilize the efficiency of it. The problem is this, aviation is a decade behind the times... and each year it becomes a more congested and dangerous system. How many major airports have ground radar? I can only think of three that we fly into... maybe two...
Also, about the efficiency of GPS... it doesnt mean anything when you are still sequenced behind 100 other arrivals into JFK... the more "efficient" you are, the more you have to hold, or slow down, so as not to disrupt the "flow" or lack thereof. People want to fly, they want flights that leave every hour, but GOD FORBID you get delayed... because everyone else that wants a flight every hour is also on the tarmac or in the air. The public wants it all, but when you are dealing with the finite capacity of the airspace and in NYC, the airports themselves... you cannot have it. Here are your stale pretzels, be quiet, most of the flight crew makes less than 25k a year, they don't care about your problems, they cannot pay thier mortgages for pete sake.
By the way, I love my job, and I make ALOT more than 25k a year... but I do think that the public wants more than they will ever realistically recieve. Cheap tickets, excellent service, no delays, more flights... they just do not coincide.
