When I build a tool shed in the woods in cottage/lake country, I can do things a lot more casually than someone building a skyscraper in Manhattan can. I probably don't even need a permit.

At no point did I say that the process behind NextGen is perfect.

What would you call sending people to the moon? A tool shed in the woods or something else entirely? It's not like there isn't documented historical precedent for building such complicated systems. That's what the link to Margaret Hamilton was supposed to illuminate but I guess I should have been more explicit.

> What would you call sending people to the moon?

A huge dangerous experiment. Out of 12 Apollo missions, 2 ended in disaster. The Apollo 1 fire killed 3 people, and we all know the story of Apollo 13. I wouldn't call the space program an acceptable comparison for how our commercial aviation system should work.

I suspect that the requirements for the Apollo software are significantly simpler than those needed for air traffic control.

Maybe, maybe not. The general principles should still be applicable.