Secundum saeculum artificium
Posted by Paul Cox on November 19th, 2009
Concrete and cement are some of humanity’s oldest building materials. Examples of both are found as far back as the Egyptians using mortars of gypsum and lime in the pyramids 5000 years ago. We see concrete from the Assyrians and Babylonians, 3500 to 4000 years ago. They used clay as the bonding material, and of course structures built by all three of these civilizations are still in existence today.
Over 2,000 years ago, the Romans put concrete construction to excellent use; they constructed aqueducts, roads, and buildings. Some of these are still IN USE today.
Modern concrete was developed in 1756 by John Smeaton when he started using hydraulic lime, and improved by the development of Portland cement in 1824; Portland cement is still widely used today.
I mention all this, not because I’m going soft in the head, but to point something out: Concrete isn’t new. It’s not even old. It’s ancient. It’s technology, and it can be used effectively today for all kinds of things. Buildings, sidewalks, roads, and… runways.
Yes, runways. Perhaps the single most important bit of infrastructure in aviation would be the runway, and even today- after 3,000 years- the best way to build a runway is to use cement and concrete.
This bears pointing out, because on this blog I’ve questioned the FAA’s push for spending dozens of billions of dollars on “NextGen” technology that isn’t yet developed or tested or proven at all. We need to continue to develop technology, yes, but the reality is that if we want a proven way to increase our nation’s capacity for aircraft flights (and to reduce flight delays) we have a 3,000 year old technology that’s been tried, tested, and proven millions of times over. We can lay more concrete runways down.
Why bring it up at all? Because here at ZSE, and I suspect at many other facilities in the FAA, we recently received a fancy, glossy booklet from the agency all about NextGen. It is the NextGen Implementation Plan, 2009 edition, and there’s a fairly significant change to the discussion of NextGen that I haven’t seen in previous FAA communications and discussions of NextGen.
Namely, concrete. This booklet now includes “Airfield Improvements” as part of NextGen. For example, on page 18, it mentions new runways that are going to be put in to Dulles, Houston, and Denver airports; runway extensions at Ft Lauderdale, Portland, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City; and airfield reconfigurations at Philadelphia, phase 2 of the project at Chicago O’Hare, and Los Angeles’s north runway complex.
Appendix B to the plan lays out airfield development projects such as the new runways at Sea-Tac, Dulles, and Chicago O’Hare, along with new taxiways and other improvements at several other airports.
Why am I going on about this? Because it’s important for people to understand that new runways and taxiways and improvements to airfield configurations is absolutely NOT “NextGen”.
No matter how much the FAA tries to pretend that it is, this is not any kind of next-generation technology. This is technology- concrete and cement- that’s thousands of years old.
It’s incredibly dishonest for the FAA to now change course and start lumping runway/airfield improvements in with NextGen. The reason is simple- nothing provides as much immediate benefit and improvement to flight delays and airport capacity issues as a new runway does. Airfield reconfigurations and improvements (such as better high-speed taxiways, end-around taxiways, etc) can vastly improve capacity and reduce flight delays- and what’s more, they do so at lesser cost than these proposed NextGen programs.
NextGen’s planning is getting to the point where people want to know exactly what kind of benefit will be provided by all this money we’re going to throw into the program. The reality is that when you look, you have a pretty hard time finding actual numbers- but building a new runway? That provides firm numbers… concrete numbers, if you will.
And that’s why airfield reconfiguration is suddenly being lumped in as “NextGen”, even though it’s based on 3,000 year old technology. It dummies up the numbers and makes it look at though NextGen-type improvements have already had benefit.
Welcome to the FAA, folks. In our world, plain old concrete- something that the Romans used to build stuff a couple thousand years ago- is passed off as secundum saeculum artificium- “next generation technology”.
New boss, same modus operandi- lying to make things look better than they really are. That’s your FAA.
(Apologies to anyone who thinks the Latin translation stinks; it probably does, as I don’t speak or read Latin and just got the very loose translation from the internet.)
November 19th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Worse, to me, is that a principal argument for NextGen is that it’s necessary to modernize air traffic control which is based on WWII technology. Hello! If 3,500 year old technology is good enough for planes to land on, then 70 year old technology ought to be good enough to keep ‘em apart.
LRod
ZJX, ORD, ZAU retired
November 19th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Could it be that the powers that be actually got this idea from controller comments??? I almost quake in my headset at the thought.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Picked up on the PASS BBS:
The outage thismorning was tied to FTI- turns out the Harris Contractor is on a 5 day a week, 8 hour a day schedule, and when FTI blew out this morning, FAA Management had to wait until the normal day contractor arrived to get the keys.
It used to be that reduntant systems existed, and were maintained by PASS people. Now, however, the contractor Harris (FTI), has the ability to knock down half the nation, simply because it’s been contracted out, and the contractor has the keys to the system in his pocket.
Welcome to the new world order.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Until such time that the FAA uses them to pour concrete for new runways, satellites will have very little to do with enhancing the capacity of the busiest airports in the world.
November 21st, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I saw the same pamphlet… make for a good hoot.
Actually, the move to add airport improvements into the NexGen “brand” doesn’t surprise me at all. It’s a classic political/bureaucratic move.
Allow me to wax cynical here for a minute, but here’s my brief guide to getting Congress to give you extra money for whatever you need it for.
Step 1) Create a “pie-in-the-sky” program. Call it something “unfocused” that doesn’t identify the program. Vision 21. Just Say Maybe. Modernization and Reutilization. Next Generation. Whatever.
Step 2) Go to your funding sources (i.e. pocket Congressmen/Senators) and sell the program. Include lots of graphs with great curves and high-level “visionary” statements, but few details. Get them to back you and vote it.
Step 3) Once you got a pot of money, either A) look around at your agency and figure out what REALLY needs to have money spent on it, or B) call your cronies and say “woo hoo, the gates are open, how do you guys want to embezzle-i-mean-spend this money?”
(I should interject here and make it clear that the FAA appears to have chosen (A) rather than (B)… just sayin’.)
Step 4) Add goals to your overall program covering the completion of the projects/tasks set in step 3. Then throw in some goals dealing with the “pie-in-the-sky” project.
Step 5) Let the pie stay in the sky. After all, who cares – the point was to get money for what’s needed, not some silly space thing. Since you’ve set up your goals to include “support” projects outlined in step 3, you can honestly say that the project was an overall success, Mister Oberstar, yes indeedy.
(Reminds me of when I was peripherally working for the National Missile Defense effort. After missing an intercept, HQ cheerfully reported that the test was a MASSIVE success – they had achieved 15 of the 16 goals of the test…)
I honestly was happy to see they had added the airport stuff in to the NexGen effort. It’s a LOT more likely to get funded that way, and it really does need to happen.
November 21st, 2009 at 7:52 pm
PASS Member,
I like your ideas so far. Step 6 is to say that regardless of what the facts are, you’re under budget and on target for implementation.
November 21st, 2009 at 10:38 pm
I mentioned this in an FFA feedback forum “My two cents” in Nov. of 2007. (https://employees.faa.gov/news/focusfaa/story/?newsId=54072 ) The powers that be, laugh at such a rediculously simple sollution. We will be ignored, just as we always have. Get used to it.
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:46 am
Listening to the 180 that Snakey is doing now on spending for “Nextgen” is also a hoot. To hear her tell it during her reign of terror at FAA, she didn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out. Why ? The NATCA green book contract was “too rich”.
What’s rich, is listeing to that political/money whore now, her path to AIA riches assured by screwing over the FSS employees and handing Rayjtheon the training contract (Lochmart and Raytheon are AIA companies, WCG isn’t), pimping for dollars for the Nextgen panacea.
Don Brown summed it up very well a few months back. He did a shout out to the newly hired controllers and told them they’d be working with the same ground based radar sysytem in 25 years, when they become eligible to retire, as they are today.
November 25th, 2009 at 5:26 am
AS@SCT, not trying to argue but what have you heard or read about the snake’s 180?
Crude
November 25th, 2009 at 6:06 am
Heard or read ? Well lets see, every statement Snakey made when she was administrator, blaming the NATCA contract for her alleged inability to hire any controller trainees or buy any new equipment.
Snakey imposes her union busting “contract” and they flies off on her broomstick to the AIA job.
Fast forward to today. The Obama WH fixed the IWRs and the pay, and Snakey is shilling (still) for dollars for Nextgen like the money whore that she is. The point is, the 1998 NATCA contract was NEVER an impediment to hiring or buying new equipment. Therein lies the 180.
Controllers, myself included, got screwed on three years of base pay raises (and CIP in my case) based on the rationale (phony) that our salaries (but not management’s of course) we’re precluding FAA from hiring or modernizing. It was phony then and it’s phony now.
November 26th, 2009 at 8:01 am
1st:
>Listening to the 180 that Snakey is doing now on spending for “Nextgen” is also a hoot.
then:
>and Snakey is shilling (still) for dollars for Nextgen like the money whore that she is.
She has not done a 180 regarding spending on NextHen … she was a money whore before, during and after the IWR on that subject.
Finally:
>The point is, the 1998 NATCA contract was NEVER an impediment to hiring or buying new equipment.
I agree, she just used it as an excuse during her pimp duties of whoring herself and NextHen.
>Therein lies the 180.
She has not done a 180 on this …. we’ll have to agree to disagree this point.
November 27th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Next hen ? LOL I like it.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
“got screwed on three years of base pay raises (and CIP in my case)”
In addition, I lost over thirteen thousand dollars in CIC pay. Multiply that by the number of CIC’s nationwide, and you should see some cost savings. Where’d that money go??
November 28th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Where ? More management positions/promotions within. Like I said, Snakey’s jive about controller pay was just that.
More “managers” to ride herd over fewer controllers working generally less traffic.
November 28th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Here, at SCT ,there are only about 12 people who actually care about NATCA and try to make it a Union. The rest, for the most part, don’t care who bids supe jobs. They continue to hang out, golf, think of them as friends and generally just don’t care about anything but themselves. This will result in air traffic getting contracted out sooner rather than later. These same selfish people will then blame NATCA.
November 28th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
And how does the person someone plays golf with lead to air traffic privatization? I’m a member,but I still have friends that are in management. I had enough of the “those who are not with us are against us” attitude during the last administration.
November 28th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Bill,
I see what you are saying.
I can’t say I have any real friends in management at all, never have. If you do then good for you, it doesn’t make you a bad person the same as me not having any management friends does not make me a bad person either. I am not sure how it is in your neck of the woods but our management types are told straight up that THEY have to choose which side they want to be on and there is only one side, THEY are told to not have outside contacts with the peons and so on.
If you are talking about being civil and discussing work stuff with management as being “friends” then I guess can say there are a few I can say I have that type of relationship, if you are talking having our kids play with theirs or meeting one of them anywhere outside of work or help them move stuff type of friend then of course not. They are not the type of people I care to discuss anything personal and could care less what happens to them, worse yet spend any time outside of work with any of them. Christmas crew get togethers? Not with a FLM there, no way. They chose this not me, they chose to crap on me for 3 solid years, nothing will repair that before I retire.
For all of you BOZOS that want to quickly forget what has happened under the white book and kiss management’s rear, I hope you remember when the next republican gets in the white house.
November 28th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Well,I don’t have drinks with them or help them move,but I will ask them about their family or how their kids are doing in school. If I see them outside work, I will probably say hello and make conversation. I believe labor has given the same choice to it’s members. I believe NATCA wants my undying loyalty,which is just as bad as management wanting unwavering obedience. Either way,it’s extreme and it just needs to stop.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Zabnut you are NUTS ! You must be a real miserable person to work next to ? I’ll bet you don’t have wholesome friends and the ones you do have realize your a prick andstop calling you.
My god,……….GROW UP !! Reading your post all the time is just miserable.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:53 am
<>,
Yeah speaking of such Posts “Stop Whining”, I copied yours in full. I do not know Zabnut, but I would be proud to call him a friend from what I read. It is so easy to tell the management, or management suck-ups out there.
Keep at it “Stop Whining”. I’ll sign mt name and facility when you do. Anyone seen ’68 Camaro lately? I hear he is in Europe, after his latest boondoggle.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:54 am
ROFL Stop whining,
Who gives a rats A$$ what you F’ing think? Your post is MATURE? You don’t come off sounding like a prick? You don’t sound like a miserable person?
Good lord, LOOK IN THE MIRROR BOY.
I could care less if you THINK I don’t have friends, what would make you think you are important enough to matter to anyone on the internet? Self righteous and pompous A-Hole you must be in real life.
Stop whining, go back to your management circle jerk, my short tooled friend. this is the last reply to you, you idiot as you don’t deserve any attention from me, just like your wife probably is not giving you any attention except to the delivery boy. I am smarter than you, MUCH smarter than you, accept it, life gets easier when you learn your place in life, son.
Back to reality and now a response to Bill.
Bill,
Again, I see exactly what you are saying. I see self serving Union people in every facility in the nation. You sound like a sensible person, again all I am saying is you chose to be a person to let the IWR flow under the bridge, I can not. I suppose after I retire I will forget about things and the FAA, for now I don’t care to associate with any member of management, I don’t care to know about their kids or personal life. I will make it very clear the facilities I have worked at REQUIRED the management folks to stay on their side of the fence. They where told, once you put on the management “Hat” you need to decide right then what side you are to be on. This rift seems to be the greatest in the enroute and large tracon facilities and not the towers. If you are in a tower facility then, please understand that all is not well in other places in the FAA. While I see your point about NATCA asking for loyalty I don’t see it as undying. If you stop for just one minute and understand that if had stood together more collectively then we might had avoided many of the ills that the IWR brought to us. I can’t tell you how many people complained about the 4 and 6 hour Overtimes, yet still worked them and then played nice with management after being sent home early on OT and then helped them by working for free (Credit) on another shift instead of them having to assign OT to another coworker. I saw several union members play golf ect with members of management then see that they bid for FLM positions. These are the types of FAKE people I rather not associate with. Additionally this is what many required to get the positions they are in. I don’t have time in my life for worthless people such as this it is as simple as that.
November 29th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Say Wha???
Appreciate the kudos, I know I get unhinged from time to time. The IWR and the white book was the worst time in my life. I am still angry that I need to work a few more years to recover from the 3 years of 0 raises and 0 QSI or what ever the individual thing was called. I don’t show it at all at work, I am usually too busy there to sweat the petty stuff. I do fight WITH the union brothers and sisters to make the FAA a better place for the newest people though. I will keep up the good fight until the day I leave.
One day I will forgive and forget like I know I am suppose to, but for now I can’t let it out of my mind the ignorance I saw during the IWR. Canceling leave slots during mid bidding for NATPRO then force us in the 2 and 3 hour sessions on slow then busy then slow sectors was putting the flying public as serious risk. I can’t look that same person that blindly followed those orders while we begged to get more rest and ask him/her how their kids are doing. I could go on for hours on the evil they did, to me that is the most blatant example of how they failed all of us at ZAB and did not do their part to provide the safest environment for the flights going through our airspace. It was wrong, they even admitted to it and they still did it anyways. How can you care about someone’s personal matters when they don’t even care about their employees OR their primary task, they flying public?
November 29th, 2009 at 7:13 am
I will NEVER forget what has happened the past 3 years nor the people who went to the dark side for whatever reason.
They are selfish cowards ! When I see my fellow controllers talking to them about anything but ATC stuff I want to puke.
Trust me, these are the very same people who will be bidding supe jobs and putting their boots on the throats of the controllers when the next republican President gets elected.
Stop Whining…..you are one of them.
Zabnut, I am proud to call you a union brother.
November 29th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Anybody know anything about SCT being 1 of 3 facilities that will be getting 20% CIP ?
November 29th, 2009 at 8:49 am
ZABnut, I understand your position and your right to say how you feel. I agree that a lot of our coworkers added to the misery. Like you said,I’ve chosen to move on and try to make the best of today.Good luck to you and yours.
November 29th, 2009 at 10:14 am
HeavyD said that SCT has only 12 folks who care about the Union, so I guess he/she feels things suck there. Yet a post on the Potomac’s NATCA (TPCAU on 10/26/09) web site praises SCT’s ability to negotiate a Prime time leave MOU. The implication is they want PCT’s management to be like SCT’s. What’s up with that? Does Mel hang out with management now?
November 29th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Einstein, Did it ever occur to you that Mel (facrep) is one of those 12 people ? He and Ron G did the negoitiations for the leave. That is why it was done right. They also had the vision years ago, when they got in office to bring senator Diane Feinstein up to date on the BS that was happening at SCT and that is why SCT will probably be one of the facilities getting the 20% CIP. Meanwhile, The ex-facrep (Steve Merlin) is a supervisor in the BUR area.
For the record. Things do not suck at SCT because of the efforts and hard work of people like Mel, Ron, Doug V and a few more (myself included).
The majority of the membership does not care about anything but themselves…..just like PCT.
November 29th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Zab”is”nuts are you serious ? Did you just bring a wife into your angry writings. I say “a wife” because I’m not married. You really need to seek out some pyschiatric help. Your anger is making you dillusional, and trust me when I say it’s not healthy for you to be this angry. As for calling me small,…..lol wouldn’t you be surprised.
As for all the “FAKE” people around you, well guess what oh brilliant one,……it’s everyone. It’s even the ones that you think are not (in your words) “FAKE”. Everyone has an agenda. EVERYONE !
Do you find yourself responding in inappropriate ways to authorities. You may find yourself fluctuating between over-compliance and hostility. If this is you then reach out and seek help because what you have becomes a sickness and will literally suck the life out of you. Below you will find the first step to your recovery.
Sandia Psychiatric Services
2828 12th St NW, Albuquerque, NM
November 30th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Quit with the insults against other people. Clobber their opinions if you want, but I’m getting tired of the comment section degenerating into “you suck, you’re a crappy person” kinds of arguments.
And frankly it’s generally someone who wants to pretend that everything is hunky-dory with the FAA that says this, instead of actually LISTENING to the anger and hurt and frustration expressed by someone like ZABnut. The very fact that someone in the agency is that angry, and that they have a LOT of fellow people who understand and share that feeling, indicates that there’s something very, very wrong with our agency.
But mostly I’m not interested in having the comments on every post turn into an attackfest on other people. If someone’s actions deserve scorn, or ridicule, or exposure, by all means- fire away. But attacking that PERSON, themselves, with suggestions that they’re mentally ill, is just wrong.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:53 am
“Anybody know anything about SCT being 1 of 3 facilities that will be getting 20% CIP ?”
I heard that rumor. No facts to substantiate it. The teams met last week before Thanxgiving. I know NATCA hired an economist as part of our team to make whatever case we presented. Beyond that it’s a matter of wait and see. I believe there were 102 CIP facilities, with C90, GCN and one other I believe, being added during the pay mediation earlier this year. About 5000 NATCA members currently earn CIP.
One thing for sure, management will gravy train off of NATCA again and get yet another NATCA sponsored pay raise if the CIP does go up at SCT and elsewhere. And of course they’ll watch gleefully as we’re screwed on pay again when the next Republican FAAMA hero takes the WH, and their pay isn’t cut or frozen(I’ll be shocked if management doesn’t get whatever(if any)CIP increase the BU gets).
I’ll be retired and watching from the sidelines when that happens again. Sorry ZAB, I’m not hanging to make up for everything that Bush Blakey stole from us. Can’t stand the hypocrisy anymore. And I can’t stand watching SCT add one MSS 2(or higher)after another to their already swollen ranks.
November 30th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
C’mon Mark, you’ll never retire and you know it. You’re just like Marks, say one thing and do another.
November 30th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Hey SCTONTRAT, Remember when that non union KC Yen cried like a little baby because NATCA would not let him play on their Nintendo games ? Did he ever join the union ?