[libreplanet-discuss] Free Software as potential solution to Aircraft Management Systems

[Marc D Ronell]

Disclaimer:  The opinions  expressed in  this paper/presentation/email
  are the views  of the author and do not  reflect the official policy
  or position of any agency of the U.S.  government.


Hi,

For  the  last  couple   of  Libre-Planet  conferences,  I  have  been
submitting proposals  to give a  presentation on concerns  with Flight
Critical Software oversight at  the US Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA).  The  presentation proposals are consistently  rejected.  I see
the free software approach as  a potentially good solution to aircraft
management software.   In my opinion,  if there were public  access to
some  of the  aircraft management  software, there  would be  a strong
drive and incentive to  increase software quality, require much higher
standards for software developers  and engineers who develop and write
safety  critical systems and  force US  regulatory agencies  to better
protect  the flying  public and  not primarily  serve  large corporate
interests.   Our agency  needs to  hire more  regulators  with strong,
legitimate  academic credentials, especially  related to  software and
programmable hardware.

In my opinion, our most  significant problem at the FAA is corruption.
We have a vast  amount of nepotism, discrimination, gender harassment,
inappropriate  hiring practices,  lack of  public and  law enforcement
oversight,  and a  key failing  to serve  the public  which  funds our
agency.  As Kade  Crockford tried to explain in  her keynote address -
our biggest  problem is  not technology, but  more a problem  with our
people, specifically  our leadership.   Sure we have  token minorities
and  Uncle Tom  characters who  can be  paraded before  the  public to
support management claims, but finding those individuals is one talent
our agency does possess.  The discrimination directly impacts my work.

It  is  really  surreal  to  hear our  president  complain  about  the
corruption  in places  like Haiti  and  wonder why  so few  in the  US
complain about  US civil  service corruption?  We  also just  took our
kids to visit Ellis Island National Park in NYC to learn how proud the
US recently was of its previously accommodating immigration policy.

I feel like I owe people  an apology for failing to bring attention to
the problems of which they may not even be aware.

I need help with two problems:

1. Can someone who has  a riseup.net email account and standing please
   send me an "Invite Code" so that I can get an account and access to
   use that SMTP server?

2.   Although I  do not  see  myself as  a whistle-blower,  I am  very
   sympathetic to individuals who may  have tried to inform the public
   of problems they face.  Please consider sending a letter of support
   to:

     *Reality L Winner
     Lincolnton County Jail
     PO Box 970
     Lincolnton GA 30817*

    She  has   been  writing   back.   You  can   find  out   more  at
    https://standwithreality.org/donate/.   Understand  that the  Jail
    reads everything sent its way, and  that in my opinion, we need to
    be really concerned.

Thanks for listening,

Marc
mronell@member.fsf.org


--

Marc Ronell, PhD CSE, PE EE
https://ronells.org
gpg pub key 4860EDB8 on http://pgp.mit.edu/
https://pgp.mit.edu/pks/lookup?op=vindex&search=0x813CC9B94860EDB8