Heavy handed actions such as we are already seeing in the FAA in the final days of the December and January are not going to prevent mistakes, either on pilots’ side or ATC side. Decades ago I was cleared to position and hold while traffic was crossing down field. Then landing traffic was cleared to land while we were waiting in full view of the tower. The landing traffic reported us on the runway and the controller said there was no traffic on the runway. I reported Oh yes we are! the landing traffic did a go around and we were cleared for takeoff with instruction to call the tower later. The tapes were clear. We all talked about it and what could be done in the future, and it was all on the controller. What would happen if the new Admin’s policy goes into effect? Would the controller have his ticket pulled too? I cannot see how this is going to be helpful unless there is a pattern of problems with an individual pilot or controller or for that matter airport layout.
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