FCC vs FAA Story

Tue Jun 7 15:45:05 UTC 2022

[replying to both to reduce the number of mails]

----- On Jun 6, 2022, at 5:31 PM, Stephen Sprunk stephen at sprunk.org wrote:

>> On Jun 6, 2022, at 09:55, John R. Levine <johnl at iecc.com> wrote:

>> Instead the FAA stuck their fingers in their ears and said no, nothing can ever
>> change, we can't hear you.  Are you surprised the telecom industry is fed up?

Of course, I'm not surprised. But, remember one thing: this is the government
messing up. One branch pitted against the other. As an innocent citizen, I could
not care less: the government effed up.

> Exactly.  The FAA wants more delays while they do the work they should have done
> five years ago, but sorry, that’s not how politics works.  The number of daily
> 5G users is orders of magnitude larger than the number of daily airline users,
> so the FCC *will* win this battle.

The FCC might win a battle, or even a lot of battles. All it takes is one downed
aircraft with crying families all over CNN, followed by an NTSB investigation
which only needs to mention 5G interference with RAs, and I will bet you $50 that
ambulance chasing lawyers will sue everything and everyone connected to the 5G
debate that even remotely advocated rolling out 5G over concerns for passenger
safety.

Or, of course, the FAA will really play dirty politics and ground aircraft fitted
with certain RAs during a holiday weekend. Watch how quick public and political 
opinions can shift. Remember, most privacy invading laws usually pass with the 
"for the children" and "against the terrorists" arguments.

Sorry, this aircraft is fitted with an altimeter which may be subject to 5G
interference, thus we have to cancel your flight. You know, for the children.

Thanks,

Sabri