Huckabee sees air control tech crisis

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- A Republican presidential candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, says the U.S. air traffic control system is in trouble.

Huckabee used an analogy to old TV cartoon shows to characterize the problem.

He told Fox News’ the reason for the crisis is that "the airplanes themselves have the technology of the 'Jetsons,' but the air traffic control system has the technology of the 'Flintstones.' And the result is, when you take 1950s technology trying to control airplanes, we have a situation where there are 200 percent more commercial aircraft in the skies, 900 percent more general aviation aircraft and yet we're still using a ground-based technology rather than a satellite-based technology."

For passengers that means "sitting on the tarmac for hours, hours, unnecessarily," Huckabee said.