"Matthew S. Whiting" wrote in message
...
John Mazor wrote:
"Matthew S. Whiting" wrote in message
...

John Mazor wrote:

If the phone company screws up, your call doesn't go through. If
Tony's ATC Service and Aluminum Siding Company gets the low bid
and then screws up, you die. If Big Jimbo's Fire Department and
Auto
Repair screws up, you die. If Slick Sammy's Police and Pet
Grooming
Station screws up, you die. There's a qualitative difference
here,
which is why historically we have tended not to privatize these
functions, at least in the sense of auctioning it off to the
lowest
bidder who wants to make a profit at it.

Within a few days, you'll be able to switch phone providers at
will
and keep your old phone number. You can't do that with ATC,
switching
contractors willy-nilly when one kills people or another comes
along
with a better price.

Sorry, if the call is 911, somebody very well could die.

True, but since I don't have the stats on 911 calls, I'll make a
WAG
here and restate it to read that if the phone company screws up,
99.999% of the time all that happens is that your call doesn't go
through.

I have no idea as I have no statistics. However, probably similar
stats
apply to ATC. You seem to think that every ATC mistake results in
guaranteed death of a pilot or airplane passenger. This is hardly
the
case at all.

Okay, it was a rhetorical overstatement, but not every 911 failure
results in deaths, either.

But you swung a two-edged sword by mentioning 911 calls. Once
your
call goes through, who do you think is at the other end of the
line?
It's not Ernestine the Operator. It's a government employee.

Not where I live. Last I knew the dispatching of emergency services
was
provided by a private contractor and all of the responders in my
area
(rural) are unpaid volunteers.

Fair enough, but I suspect that in most areas, 911 calls go to the
police or to an emergency dispatch office maintained by local
authorities.

(The contractor gets paid and the responders work for free? Now
that's a recipe for profit!)