That Was The Week That Was 22-26 March 2021
What is it about aviation and roadmaps?
You remember roadmaps? Those things that once unfolded could never go back to the same neat flat state. The things where your destination or the major turning point was inevitably on a crease. When was the last time you got out a paper map, unfolded it, orientated it so you could see where you were, and where you needed to go? Give yourself extra marks if you also had to do that in the dark, or the rain, or on a windy day.
I am prepared to guess that it was some time ago, but yet, the aviation industry is forever demanding a roadmap – out of the Covid crisis, and again, in case you somehow got lost getting out of the Covid crisis; towards carbon neutrality; in the general direction of sustainable tourism; pretty-close-but-you-will-have-to-take-the-shuttle-bus to get to a Digital Green Vaccine Certificate. And that is in the last month alone.
ICAO is a huge fan of roadmaps too, so it must only be a matter of time before we seek still more roadmaps. Consequently, today, Aviation Advocacy is calling for a roadmap for our call for roadmaps.
But note, we almost never produce a roadmap – such work is clearly beneath us – we just keep demanding one. Maybe, if we made them too, it would be less pathetic; but instead, we are forever asking for them to be magic-ed up out of nowhere, or in any event, out of somewhere else. By someone else.
It is not like we use roadmaps to do our jobs. Some of us use charts, and a few use GPS coordinates and many more use radar, but a roadmap? Really? A few years ago, Terri Bristol, the head of the ATO at the FAA asked for a roadmap for space flight. She needed this so that the FAA could organise its ATM more effectively.
Does the navy need roadmaps? Does the International Maritime Organisation – ICAO for ships – constantly call for roadmaps? Is there a steady call for roadmaps amongst balloonists?
Perhaps, now more than ever, what we actually need is a plan.