The current airway system relies on a huge network of VCR stations that was and is, I think, a logical method to direct aircraft around the country, but the advent of modem navigation technology, such as the GPS and the Inertial Navigation System, now permit aircraft to operate completely independent of ground-based VCR stations.

More importantly, these technologies allow aircraft to operate point to point instead of relying on the current maze of airways, saving both time and fuel.

While the term free flight suggests point-to-point service, the term embraces a series of technological and procedural changes that, if we take them all together, fundamentally affect the current proven method of safely separating and guiding aircraft across the system. It really does represent a rather dramatic change in current practice.

In my mind, the question of the hour is how and if FAA should shift from the current air traffic control regime to an advanced and more efficient system without undermining safety, and that, I think, has to be the bottom line in any conclusion in this area. The implications of free flight are undeniably attractive, but implementing these changes requires extraordinary changes in the management of air traffic and an exhaustive validation of the technologies upon which free flight reUes.

We have seen the airline business lose billions of dollars over the last few years. We have seen various estimates from $3.5 to $5 billion in excess annual costs to the airline industry every year due to the current air traffic control approach.

The problem is that this is a major controllable cost, and what the major airlines have talked about in the last 2 years is basically only one controllable cost: labor. And what we have had is labor unions and other employees giving up hard-earned wages and work rules in exchange for keeping their companies alive. If we had a free flight system, they would not have had to do that.

Free flight is just one of the topics that Peter likes to write about. Check out his other articles about Fuel Cell Cars, HHO Gas and DUI charges.

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