Aviation Lawyer & Attorney : Chevalier Allen & Lichman Law Firm : Airport Development, Environmental Law

Yesterday, June, 11, 2008, the House Aviation Subcommittee heard testimony (click on link for video the hearing) on a situation that is becoming more dire as every day passes - Air Traffic Controllers are retiring, leaving a dearth of qualified, trained controllers to take their places.  The House Aviation Subcommittee convened the hearing to find out what can be done about the situation.

First up in Panel 1, were the bureaucrats.  Hank Krakowski from the FAA, Patrick Forrey from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, along with Dr. Gerald Dillingham from the GAO, Calvin Scovey from the Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General and David Conley of the FAA Managers Association.  Predictably, Mr. Krakowski downplayed any crisis, stating in his prepared remarks that the FAA was on top of the situation:  hiring 2000 controllers this year, seeking ways to retain retirement-eligible controllers, and working on a contract with NATCA.  

Mr. Forrey, had a different view.  He stated that “this country is facing an air traffic control staffing crisis” leading to “an unacceptable compromise in safety.”  First and foremost, to him, the FAA needs to return to the bargaining table with the NATCA to work on a contract.  That will lead to a higher retention rate of both experienced controllers and new hires.

Subcommittee members in their questioning sought to resolve the differences between the FAA and NATCA and implored the GAO and DOT-IG to assist in that effort.  Both the FAA and NATCA say they want a contract, but how they are going to get there is the open question.

The second panel was where the rubber hit the road.  Three air traffic controllers, Don Chapman from Philadelphia, Steven Wallace from Miami and Melvin S. Davis from Los Angeles testified about the problems they are facing at each of their facilities.  Although each mentioned specific challenges their facilities faced, they all came back to three major issues:  inadequate staffing (which raises safety concerns); inadequate training of new hires (which also raises safety concerns); and controller fatigue because the first two issues.  The Subcommittee seemed to take to these men and their "view from the front line."

(It should be mentioned that the Blog, "The Potomac Current and Undertow," offered an e-mail sent to FAA Air Traffic District Managers to find Air Traffic Controllers who would support the FAA's position that things are headed in the right direction.  Since only Messrs. Chapman, Wallace and Davis were the only controllers who appeared as witnesses, their effort seemed to fall short.)

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The Government Accountability Office published the testimony that Dr. Gerald Dilllingham gave to the  House Subcommittee on Aviation regarding the FAA's efforts to hire and train more air traffic controllers. 

The Dr. Dillingham's testimony, entitled "FAA's Efforts to Hire, Staff and Train More Air Traffic Controllers Are Generally on Track, but Challenges Remain" addresses the FAA's efforts to hire and train nearly 17,000 controllers over the next decade to replace over 15,000 current controllers, most of whom will be retiring. The challenge to the FAA is assuring that the Air Traffic Control facilities are adequately staffed with a proper mix of new trainees and fully certified controllers.  Dr. Dillingham, as well as the NTSB, strongly believe that having controllers work more overtime will lead to serious consequences.

Moreover, this massive hiring effort will occur as FAA begins to implement the next generation air transportation system (NextGen), which will integrate new technologies and procedures into air traffic operations and fundamentally change the role of air traffic controllers from controlling individual aircraft to managing air traffic flow. Hence, FAA will need to train experienced controllers to use the new technologies at the same time that it hires and trains new controllers to operate both the current and the new technologies.

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Here are quick takes on recent news items concerning aviation and airport development during the past week.

• FAA Bans Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers From Using the Anti-Smoking Drug Chantix.  Apparently, the smoking cessation drug may cause serious side effects, including psychiatric disorders, including suicide.  FAA felt that they were serious enough to ban pilots and air traffic controllers from using the drug.  Many bloggers picked up the story.  Here are just a sample of the many blogs that picked up this story:
  • Airline Pilot Forum
  • InjuryBoard.com
  • BernieHund:  The Political Watchdog
• FAA Tests New Systems For Detecting Ground Debris.  The FAA has begun to test several different systems around the country to ensure that the runways are debris-free.  Debris, if sucked into jet engines can cause severe damage.  Whether this is separate and apart from the NextGen technology, remains to be seen.
  
• In the Good News/Bad News department:  Flight Delays Cost $41billion in 2007 to the industry and to passengers; and New Air Traffic Software is proven to save $27 million in delays. The disparity between the two numbers is astounding!  Granted, the new software is only one portion of the "new technology" effort to cut down on delays.  Blogs:
  
  • chisblassternardone
  • iTravelnet Travel Directory
  • Aircraft Maintenance Technology
• Citing lessons learned from reports submitted by the Federal Aviation Administration and American Airlines in response to last month’s grounding of hundreds of MD-80 aircraft, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation called on the FAA and airlines to better ensure mutual understanding of what constitutes compliance with an Aviation Directive.  Blogs:
  • Aviation Safety Network
  • ATW Daily News
• American Airlines and FAA differ about April groundings.  The finger-pointing has begun.  American claims that although the maintenance shortcomings did not justify canceling all of the flights, they were told by a FAA inspector to keep the planes on the ground.  FAA says the decision to cancel the flights was solely American's.  Interesting story to watch as the FAA and the airlines develop a new relationship post-MD80 Wiring debacle.  Blogs:
  • New York Times
    
  • US News - Videos
• FAA declares proposed Boston Tower too tall.  FAA declares that 1000 foot tower in downtown Boston might be an obstruction, possibly in the flight path of a plane aborting a landing at Logan and unexpectedly veering off over downtown Boston at low altitude.  As property near airports becomes more and more desirable, this sort of problem will only increase.  Blogs:
  • WBZ Radio Boston. 
    
  • ansoncfit - Anson Stewart's Website. 
    
  • Eco-Friendly Housing. 
    
• FAA Misses Deadline in Mechanic's Probe.  The FAA has failed for the third time to provide records to federal investigators conducting a probe into how the agency tracked falsely certified airplane mechanics.  This comes at a time when the FAA has little or no political capital to spend on Capitol Hill to straighten things out.  Blogs:
  • Crosswalk.com.
  • azzblog - airline info.

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