Decades ago, when commercial air transportation was first, umm, getting off the ground, it soon became apparent some way to sort and separate the growing amount of traffic was necessary to keep them from swapping paint. The first steps toward a modern air traffic control system were taken before WWII, and the U.S. government quickly began spending money, erecting navigational aids, creating airways and developing procedures to ensure the steady demand for more air travel would not be impeded.
One of the fundamental premises of the ATC system was that all users would be accommodated, regardless of type, speed, size or purpose. That proved to be a fortuitous decision, one we can point to today as an underlying reason for the huge, profitable and dynamic U.S. aviation industry.
