Akkam’s Razor

Come 12/17, my life is going to get considerably more noisy.

It is on this date that the FAA will change flight plans allowing departing aircraft from Philadelphia International by flying west over residential Delaware County as opposed to flight plans that take flights north or south over the Delaware River and largely industrial areas.

The FAA is stating that this aerial land grab (remember, the county may own the majority of the land the airport sits on, but does not own the skies) is necessary to avert gridlock on the tarmac.

I have three problems with this hypothesis:

1. Has the right problem been diagnosed?

2. Does the solution adequately address the problem?

3. Are all the stakeholders being properly considered?

It is evident that there are schedule management issues at PHL. The FAA (and presumably airline lobbyists) have decided that this is due to restricted air traffic corridors. This solution omits PHL’s horrific scheduling problems, as well as aircraft mechanical delays, baggage problems, and labor issues. All of the above are more likely causes of delays than in-air traffic.

As far as effects are concerned, why should I sacrifice my home’s value and quality of life in the name of airline profit (and not their process improvements)?

Furthermore, I’m reminded of something from the History Channel regarding New York and traffic management. Robert Moses’ solution was more roads, which paradoxically led to more traffic, and more problems.

I hope the FAA is prepared - as I suspect their stopgap solutions in Marcus Hook will not be sufficient Delco-wide…