Union, FAA collide on air safety

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-airsafety4sep04,1,4080596.story

From the Los Angeles Times

Union, FAA collide on air safety
Some say contract and controller staffing disputes pose dangers. The agency calls this a safe period in aviation.
From the Associated Press

September 4, 2007

WASHINGTON — The next time you board an airliner and buckle your seat belt, you will be about to fly through a bitter labor dispute between some of the people most responsible for your safety in the skies. The nation's air traffic controllers and the Federal Aviation Administration, which employs them, cannot agree whether enough qualified people are guiding air traffic or how safe the air space is today.

With airline travel rebounding almost to the volume before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, delays on U.S. flights have reached a record high. Nearly one-third of domestic flights on major carriers were late in June. At the same time, the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. have been unable to agree on a contract. A year ago, the FAA declared an impasse and imposed a contract. Since then, the retirement of experienced controllers has soared beyond the agency's forecasts.

(snip)

FAA figures show the number of fully certified controllers dropped to 11,467 in May -- the lowest in a decade, the union says. Beside them in control centers are 3,300 so-called developmental controllers who are being trained on the job. "They are pushing the envelope and somebody is going to snap," Forrey warned. "Unless the agency slows down the traffic, someone may make a mistake, and then are they going to blame it on the controller?"

(snip)

Some of the union's examples:

* At the Cleveland en route center, the nation's fourth-busiest facility, 29 fully certified controllers have retired since the contract was imposed. Nineteen others have been promoted to management and seven have transferred, leaving 366 certified controllers. Operational errors -- in which planes fly closer than they are supposed to -- soared to 34 this fiscal year, with a month left, compared with 16 in fiscal 2006.
* The Chicago en route center, the fifth-busiest facility, has lost 40 certified controllers because of retirement and other reasons, leaving 360. So far, the center has recorded 21 operation errors for the fiscal year, compared with 12 the previous year.
* In New York, Southern California and Charlotte, N.C., on-the-job training of controllers was temporarily suspended to evaluate a rash of errors.
* At New York's LaGuardia Airport on July 5, a trainee mistakenly cleared a 50-seat Comair jet to cross a runway on which a Delta 737 was landing at 150 mph. They missed each other by a few hundred feet. The trainee, supervised by a trainer, was handling more than 24 planes on the ground. A previous controller had complained that the heavy load should be divided into two separate positions.

(snip)

The FAA-imposed contract cut starting pay by 30%, eliminated incentive pay for experienced controllers and gave managers more authority over staffing. Since last September, controllers have filed 220,000 grievances. The FAA expects 800 retirements this fiscal year, Brown said. The figure has been revised upward twice from 643.

Preventable accidents thanks to union busting and pure greed.

There are a whole lot more near-wrecks than they ever tell us about.

I REFUSE to call them near-misses, because if it was a near miss it would be a CRASH

:banghead:


The pilots who fly the little regional jets (Embrauers made in Brazil) have starting salaries at poverty wages like 17K or so. I believe Michael Moore once did a story on that.


Every time I have to fly I am THANKFUL that I am petite and not very wide so I can fit into those seats with room to spare. There are advantages to being short in spite of what this size/shape mold society wants us all to fit into.

big spending has been "the war on terror."

Well, since that war started with attack on American aviation, one would think that adding funds to strengthen the controllers should be on top of someone's list.

i know an air traffic controller and he says the retirement announcements come daily. he himself is eligible to retire at any time and can't wait to do so. they are definitely overworked!