Yep, and the FAA is working on automating and improving all the time. Being tied up by funding seems to be the main issue. I'm a developer working on flight dat

Yep, and the FAA is working on automating and improving all the time. Being tied up by funding seems to be the main issue. I'm a developer working on flight data input/output, and it amazes me how old so much of the tech we use is. It's not that we are unwilling or unable to upgrade, it's a lack of resources. I get to listen to managers talking about how they are finagling multiple funding sources just to try getting 'simple' things like ethernet equipment into the towers so we can get off of serial interfaces, and which group is responsible for what and how much. I know very little about the financial end of things, or what would or would not solve the problem, but it does seem like a saner funding system would go a long way. Most people I've spoken to here seem skeptical at best about suggestions of breaking us off from the FAA.