Greatest aviation disaster in history narrowly averted

[rubato]

Looks like sensible steps are being taken or considered. That seems out of place anymore.

Not for the FAA. They have a stunning record of continuous improvement of air travel safety.

A complete refutation of the ignorant meme that government always does things badly.

yrs,
rubato

[dales]

A complete refutation of the ignorant meme that government always does things badly.

yrs,
rubato

They don't always to things badly but when they screw up, they screw up.

Tell that to the poor people waiting in line at the California DMV for 6+ hours to renew their driver licenses.

Something to do with another gubmint mandate of "real ID".

[liberty]

No, it is intentional it is all part of the plan. It is a conspiracy. Damn shame it didn’t this time. Well better luck next time. Death to
Canada.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I think it's a shame that DMV always has a reputation for inefficiency. I can't speak about CA: never used DMV there. But in the last 30-some years with DMV in three states (NY KY and MO) I have never had a problem, never found an uncooperative clerk, and never had an unreasonable wait.

[Big RR]

I've had both in NJ, especially recently as more people are forced to go into the offices for license renewal, as most of that was handled by mail before. This real ID BS is pointless; a driver's license should be a license to drive, nothing more; as it is now it is far easier to get a passport which lasts for 10 years, than to renew a NJ license for 4 (hell, I got a global access card in far less time). It's not entirely the DMV's fault, I blame the feds for all the Homenland Security BS.

[Bicycle Bill]

A complete refutation of the ignorant meme that government always does things badly.

yrs,
rubato

They don't always to things badly but when they screw up, they screw up.

Tell that to the poor people waiting in line at the California DMV for 6+ hours to renew their driver licenses.

Something to do with another gubmint mandate of "real ID".

I think the real reason DMVs are generally perceived as inefficient is because they are swamped by the massive numbers of people who must avail themselves of their services. Think about it for a minute. How many people get married? How many people own or purchase property? How many people even exercise their right to vote?
(and just as an aside, imagine how much people would piss and moan if they had to wait 15 - 20 minutes or so to vote — an act which I feel is far more important than being granted the privilege of sliding behind the wheel. Personally I think it would be awesome, finding so many people wanting to be involved in their own governance that I'd have to wait my turn....)

Yet virtually every man, woman, or adolescent over the age if 15 gets, holds, and maintains (i.e., renews) a driver's license, and a vast majority of those also own and maintain one or more registered vehicles — choices these people have made which necessitates an interaction with the DMV at least once a year. And that's just in California. Now multiply that by the other 49 states.

When I got my first official guv'mint ID with my picture on it to prove I was 18 and was old enough to legally smoke, drink, vote, get drafted, or get sent to a real jail if I busted any laws (this was back in '72) I got it from the county clerk down at the courthouse — and I had to provide my own picture! But my point is that it was handled by a different, separate state entity than now, when short-sighted legislators are forcing the motor vehicle people to handle things they shouldn't have to be messing with ... like issuing state ID cards or doing 'motor-voter' registrations.

As they might have said on 'Mythbusters', "Well, there's your problem..."

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

I think you're right BB, but I do notice that when government cares enough, there is plenty of support. I never heard of people waiting in giant lines to get a draft card, and if you left college they were pretty quick on tracking you down.

And as for forcing the DMV to do things, the feds are shoving this real ID crap down their throats. And the states would provide the support they need, despite the ever increasing taxes and fees they get.

[Crackpot]

Throu the first portion of my lif the Secretary of State (MI equivalent of the DMV was a complete mess only open one day a week outside of normal working hours staffed by only one teller at a time with instructions written by a drunk dyslexic. Then we Got Candice Miller in and she got better funding for extended hours more tellers and more locations. It became a model of efficiency. Rumor has it that things have slipped in recent years but things have still not gone back to the bad old days.

[Long Run]

I think you're right BB, but I do notice that when government cares enough, there is plenty of support.

It is not just governmental entities. Same can apply to any insulated company or even people. If you want to see slow, check out things on my home project list I want to avoid!

[rubato]

The FAA has the best record for continuous improvement of any agency public or private.


http://fortune.com/2018/04/18/southwest ... ty-record/

" Almost 100 million U.S.-operated airline flights, carrying several billion people, had taken off and landed safely in this country over a nine-year span since the last time a passenger died in an accident.

That record for avoiding fatalities — which had never been approached in the history of modern aviation — was splintered in an instant Tuesday when an engine on a Southwest Airlines (luv, +0.46%) plane exploded mid-air, spewing shrapnel into a window and killing a passenger.

“This is a tragedy, but it has now reached a state where it’s a one off, a fluke, an extraordinary event,” Stuart Matthews, who worked on reducing accidents for more than a decade as president of the nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation, said of the Southwest accident. “We shouldn’t stop flying or have other hysterical reactions.”

yrs,
rubato