Air Controllers' Association Calling out the FAA

[FiveO]

Air controllers' association charges FAA doesn't train them properly

By Ken Kaye | South Florida Sun-Sentinel January 29, 2008

Six out of 10 new air traffic controllers at Miami Center, a major radar complex that guides planes in and out of South Florida, do not receive adequate training — and that jeopardizes safety, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said on Monday.

The center lacks enough experienced controllers to mentor new hires, said Steve Wallace, president of the association's Miami Center branch. Further, the Federal Aviation Administration isn't training students fast enough, leaving many waiting for months before they even enter a classroom, he said.

Combined with a 30 percent pay cut, instituted for new hires in 2006, training woes have prompted 14 student controllers to resign since July 2007, an "unprecedented" number, Wallace said.

"We have a diminishing number of people," he said. "Now it's not just experienced controllers who are leaving — it's developmental controllers who are leaving as well."

Miami Center, which sits two miles northwest of Miami International Airport, oversees about 6,800 flights per day and is the eighth busiest complex of its kind in the nation. Many of those planes land at the Miami, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Palm Beach international airports.

The FAA, which oversees controllers, disputes that the training program is inadequate or creating safety problems. The agency notes that Miami Center has 285 controllers and is designed to operate with between 220 and 255 controllers.

Of those 285, 195 are experienced controllers, while 90 are trainees, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

"Controllers are well-trained at Miami Center and at all our air traffic control facilities," she said. "No controller can be checked out until they've completed the rigorous training program we have in place."

Bergen said the FAA faces a challenge in training large numbers of controllers as thousands are approaching the mandatory retirement age of 56 or opting to retire early.

The FAA plans to hire about 16,000 controllers over the next decade, she said. Most of those already will have considerable training, either from a university or the military, she added.

"The system is safe," she said. "Neither the FAA's management nor the controllers would allow the system to be unsafe."

There have been no "operational errors," where two planes are allowed to get too close in the past year at Miami Center as a result of the training problems. But at Christmastime, a controller trainee errantly directed an airliner to fly into the airspace overseen by another controller, Wallace said.

"It could only be attributed to a lack of experience, because it was a very simple situation," he said.

The ultimate problem, Wallace said, is that the FAA doesn't permit controllers "to season" before they are put into high-pressure work situations. For that reason, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association on Monday appealed to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to audit the FAA's training program.

"It's that bad," Wallace said.

Ken Kaye can be reached at kkaye@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7911.
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Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[cime_sp]

Move along....nothing to see here. The ATC union puts out one of these press releases every other day or so about how things aren't safe. It all started when they had their contract cancelled and some pretty nasty terms imposed on them by the Fed's.

[JDMcFly]

I love the FAA

"We desperately need more controllers. So let's cut pay by 30%!"

[surreal1221]

Originally Posted by cime_sp

Move along....nothing to see here. The ATC union puts out one of these press releases every other day or so about how things aren't safe. It all started when they had their contract cancelled and some pretty nasty terms imposed on them by the Fed's.

And?

Do you have any experience directly related to the past 2 years of imposed work rules? Were you at all involved in the previous negotiations?

Doubt it, otherwise you'd realize that some people in this country don't like being bent over and raped all for the sake of an administrations hard-on for making everything labor look like ####.

But nevertheless, you're ignorance shows. NATCA has been fighting for technology improvements and staffing increases, WAY before the FAA imposed their non-tract.

Either way, this will turn into another one of those ATC should be privatized ######## threads.

[PCL_128]

Originally Posted by surreal1221

And?

Do you have any experience directly related to the past 2 years of imposed work rules? Were you at all involved in the previous negotiations?

Doubt it, otherwise you'd realize that some people in this country don't like being bent over and raped all for the sake of an administrations hard-on for making everything labor look like ####.

But nevertheless, you're ignorance shows. NATCA has been fighting for technology improvements and staffing increases, WAY before the FAA imposed their non-tract.

Either way, this will turn into another one of those ATC should be privatized ######## threads.

[FiveO]

Originally Posted by JDMcFly

I love the FAA

"We desperately need more controllers. So let's cut pay by 30%!"

I thought the same thing.

[E6BAV8R]

"Neither the FAA's management nor the controllers would allow the system to be unsafe."

I laughed...

[trafficinsight]

All this and my friend has been on a waiting list for 2 years.

It's funny, there are controllers out there, most will even take the pay cut since they don't know any better, and it's still not minimum wage... and the FAA seems to not want them.

[cime_sp]

Originally Posted by surreal1221

And?

Do you have any experience directly related to the past 2 years of imposed work rules? Were you at all involved in the previous negotiations?

Doubt it, otherwise you'd realize that some people in this country don't like being bent over and raped all for the sake of an administrations hard-on for making everything labor look like ####.

But nevertheless, you're ignorance shows. NATCA has been fighting for technology improvements and staffing increases, WAY before the FAA imposed their non-tract.

Either way, this will turn into another one of those ATC should be privatized ######## threads.

Whoa there....settle down. I think you misunderstood. I'm on the controllers side here. As somebody who has worked for ASA I know all about being bent over and raped over some imposed/reinterpreted contract terms.

My point was simply that this article....like the ones that come out every other day or so are public relation attempts to apply public pressure on the other side. The union comes out with one saying how they are short, the very next day the FAA comes out with one saying how safe the system is and how onerous the previous contract was. We've all read so many of them that they have lost their meaning. That's all....

I think the ATC'ers in this country are the best in the world and do a heck of a job keeping us safe. I wish them the best in ther fight.