THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, August 17, 1995              TAG: 9508170004
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   38 lines

DON'T PRIVATIZE AIR-TRAFFIC CONTROL

Regarding ``Air-traffic update needed'' (editorial, July 31): What the editorial advocates is a mistake and indicates a lack of understanding of the matter. While improved air safety is a laudable and necessary goal, the plan suggested to achieve it is plainly wrong.

Your editorial stated that air-traffic control (ATC) is buried under the bureaucracy of the FAA. The fact is that ATC is an integral part of the FAA and it is the FAA, formerly an independent government agency, that is mired in the bureaucracy of the Department of Transportation. True, the FAA needs to be reformed, but public safety should not be placed in the hands of a corporation whose primary concern will be profit rather than safety. ATC is now, and always should be, in the business of safety, not profit.

The FAA Reform Act of 1995, introduced by Senators Imhofe (R-Okla.), Burns (R-Mont.) and Kassenbaum (R-Kan.), and a similar bill introduced in the House by Representative Lightfoot (R-Iowa) will reform the FAA within government. It would re-establish the FAA as an independent agency, grant significant relief from cumbersome procurement and personnel procedures, set a fixed term for the FAA administrator, and mandate regulatory reform. This plan would serve the public need much more effectively than a private corporation ever could. One need only look at the stellar success of the previous experiments in privatization of government service to see the best path.

The above is based on 18 years of experience as an instrument-rated commercial pilot flying general aviation aircraft in the current air-traffic-control system.

JOSEPH J. TROMBINO

Virginia Beach, Aug. 1, 1995 by CNB