This article continues the comments on the FAA Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT). See prior articles #309 and #310.
The County uses the AEDT to spot McClellan-Palomar Airport (Palomar) noise and pollution problems. Relying on the AEDT analysis, the Board of Supervisors then makes multi-million Palomar development decisions.
But do we know how reliably the AEDT spits out data? Can the county results be easily verified?
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A Thimble of Government Screwups
Even well trained governmental professionals screw up. Consider a few eye openers listed in “Most Expensive Mistakes of All Time” by Prachi Swami in Wonderlist at wonderlist.com.
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France ordered 1800 new trains at a $20.5 billion cost. Engineers relied on 30-year old train track widths rather than 50-year old widths. Oops. $68.4 million loss.
Designers of the 18.2 million pound London Millennium Footbridge miscalculated forces. The bridge began to sway as opening day crowds celebrated. Oops. $ 6.3 million USD to repair.
Alitalia Airlines lost $7.7 million when it misprinted ticket costs. Other costly mistakes not in the article above include. Oops.
Between 2016 and 2021 – when undertaking a massive New York subway upgrade – NY first said X but then did not-X. NY first said – quoting global transportation experts – that it had to shut down the L line for 18 months to perform the work – massively killing businesses daily relying for their livelihood on an open L-line. But NY – again citing global experts – later said all work could be done without shutting down the line. Oops.
Any mistakes closer to San Diego? Oh yes. Recall the 2020 $1.2 billon fire loss of the USS Bonhomme in port. Why? In part because the crew was not properly trained in emergency fire suppression equipment on the ship. Oops.
And a decade ago, the FAA and county spent millions to build a new Palomar passenger terminal that has been a ghost town since 2016 as are the passenger parking areas that are rented to Carlsbad car dealerships to store autos. Oops.
Relying on and Verifying the County-FAA AEDT Data
In July 2022, the FAA finally answered 37 AEDT questions I asked in October 2021. Question 5(b) and Answer 5b said:
Q5(b): Do FAA instructions require or suggest a way to preserve data inputted into the AEDT? For instance is there a handwritten or typed sheet that the inputter uses to put data into the AEDT – separate and apart from AEDT reports that can be printed out?
A5b – There is no required or suggested approach to collecting and preserving the data to be input in AEDT.
The FAA may want to chat with the French, English, and Italians about the importance of checking FAA/county work and having records available to check. Possibly the New Yorkers also.
