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by n_ermosh 677 days ago
In the 70s when a lot of this system was designed, the industry was selling 10x the number of GA planes it does today, so I imagine 10x more were flying as well. So we have the capability for an order of magnitude increase. We'll need more controllers, sure.

But, you are totally right, we need to move away from voice based ATC to more digital systems that allow a management of more aircraft, and allow the GA aircraft to manage themselves through a "peer to peer" type ATC system, but like we have with our cars.
1 comments
FabHK 676 days ago
> the industry was selling 10x the number of GA planes it does today, so I imagine 10x more were flying as well.

I'm pretty sure most of these planes from the 1970s are still merrily flying around!

The wikipedia article on the 1994 General Aviation Revitalization Act has a graph showing the astonishing drop in shipped aircraft (and the rise in unit cost!) since around 1980:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Aviation_Revitalizatio...

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n_ermosh 676 days ago
yep--we want to reverse that trend. And you are probably right, a lot of those 70s planes still fly today. hopefully we can replace them with better alternatives
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