There was certainly a time when a flaky controller could cause a mid-air collision over U.S. soil—a time before modern transponders and warning systems, before civil and military radio communications were unified, and before strict rules were adopted separating small planes operating under “visual flight rules” from big ones.
Basically, that time ended 40 years ago.
As I’ve been saying all along:
Bloomberg columnist Megan McArdle pointed out that the whole series is founded on the highly amusing idea that a public school teacher and a cop—a federal agent injured on duty, no less—both just happen to have really terrible health insurance.
