In article ,
says...

G,

If Europeans could see past their pride,


like Americans?


Well, if Americans could see past their pride a lot of things might change . .
But in matters specific to general aviation, I think you'll agree, being based
at EDDH, that there is a big problem in Europe with a heavy-handed
administration that fails to take personal and small business aviation into
consideration. By lumping these ops in with the bigger fish, they are
subjected to regulations and costs that cannot be supported by their mission,
and thus a whole sector of practical and profitable aviation is disappearing
(and at this writing, almost completely gone) in Europe.

No matter how you cut the cake, Galileo is an initiative that is going to cost
a lot, and because of the way fees are apportioned in Europe, it will be users
who have to pick up much of the ticket. While LAAS and WAAS approaches with
RAIM are coming on line in the US, and free to use, Europeans will have to
wait many more years, then pay high user fees and equipment costs for
something that in any case cannot be better than the GPS system.

Sometimes good management is just a matter of knowing a good thing when you
see one. By making diplomatic agreements to tap in to the GPS system, Europe
could not only benefit directly from a system that's already in an advanced
state of development, but also profit from the scale economies of the US
market for GPS navigation equipment. By building an entirely parallel system,
they have to support the costs of development, deployment and maintenance of
the system, as well as highest possible costs for a niche market in compatible
NAV equipment. To me that smacks of blind pride.

G Faris