A Pilot Opposes Privatization of Air Traffic Control

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/opinion/a-pilot-opposes-privatization-of-air-traffic-control.html

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To the Editor:

“Trump Backs Private Air Traffic Control in a Nonbinding Plan” (news article, June 6) states that privatization has the support of pilots. Some pilots perhaps, but hardly all.

As a general aviation pilot who flies a twin Cessna coast to coast, I can tell you that the United States has an incredible air traffic control system. Yes, it needs modernization, but the program to shift from radar to satellite-based technology was begun by the Federal Aviation Administration several years ago.

You state that Britain, France and Germany have adopted privatized systems. What those countries do not have is a robust general aviation community.

General aviation is a dynamic part of the American economy, providing needed services to countless rural communities. There is fear that privatization will price us out of the skies.

Privatization will affect small-town America and general aviation the most. Once again, President Trump ignores the very people who put him in power.

DOUG JONES, NEW YORK