Says Tired Controllers Forced To Work O/T, Six-Day Weeks
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association states a
worsening air traffic controller staffing crisis at major tower and
radar control facilities in Southern California is shrinking the
margin of safety to dangerously low levels, due to tired
controllers forced to work overtime and even six-day work
weeks.
The union also tells ANN a high number of retirement-eligible
controllers are either leaving -- or are about to leave -- due to
the Federal Aviation Administration's imposed work rules and
reduced pay bands, and a high number of new hires that are taxing
the FAA's ability to train them efficiently and successfully in
some of the world’s busiest and most demanding airspace.
Below is a rundown of the situation at many of the busiest FAA
facilities in Southern California:
LOS ANGELES TOWER (LAX): The FAA has only 35
certified controllers on staff, 10 of which are eligible to retire
this year. Four others have been selected to other facilities and
are scheduled to leave soon. The FAA says it will hire nine
trainees, but even if six certify by this time next year -- an
accurate predictor based on past training failure rates -- LAX
Tower staffing could be as low as 27 certified controllers. "A
number that low would cause massive delays, no matter how much the
FAA forces controllers to work overtime," said Mike Foote, the LAX
facility representative for the National Air Traffic Controllers
Association.
Historically at LAX, low staffing equals higher numbers of
runway incursions and controller errors. The year 2000 saw a
frightening 25 combined runway incursions and surface incidents. At
the time, the tower had only 34 certified controllers. In 2004, LAX
was fully staffed with 47 controllers and the combined total of
runway incursions and surface incidents dropped to nine.
"The FAA has given numbers for shifts that it believes is
required to maintain safety," Foote said. "Currently, LAX Tower,
even using overtime, never has the required numbers present on
these shifts."
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TERMINAL RADAR APPROACH CONTROL
(TRACON): The San Diego-based facility is currently
staffed with only 187 certified controllers, plus 33 trainees who
are mostly in the early stages of their on-the-job training
process. By Oct. 1, the FAA says 30 more new hires will arrive. But
56 of the fully certified controllers are eligible to retire by
year’s end, and it is highly unlikely that enough of the new
hires will successfully complete the incredibly demanding training
process at the nation’s busiest TRACON to come close to
keeping up with the rate of attrition.
Making matters worse, says SoCal TRACON NATCA Facility
Representative Tony Vella, mandatory overtime is just now starting
in the facility, which is likely to drive up the already high
number of operational errors (seven) this year due to rising
fatigue levels. Operational errors are instances when two planes
get closer than FAA rules allow for safe separation.
Vella said there is a direct correlation between staffing and
errors and pointed to facts from the past few years. In fiscal year
2002, with 270 controllers, the facility had five errors. In FY
2006, with staffing having dropped to a low of 200 controllers, the
facility had 21 errors.
LOS ANGELES AIR ROUTE TRAFFIC CONTROL CENTER:
The Palmdale, CA facility, one of 20 en route centers in the
continental United States, continues on a pace to have the most
operational errors of any center this fiscal year. "We are
averaging one operational error per week," said ZLA NATCA Facility
Representative Garth Koleszar. "I believe we are currently second
in the country in total en route errors. Our errors increased from
11 to 19 for the first four months of the fiscal year versus last
year. This is an increase of over 70% for the same time period. Our
people are tired. They consistently are forced to work two hours on
position, a goal the agency has stated it tries to achieve because
of safety."
Fatigue is a big issue, Koleszar said. "Nearly 30 percent of our
controllers are trainees and not fully certified," he said. "That
high number of on-the-job-trainees is putting added pressure on the
limited number of veteran controllers doing the training and
increasing their fatigue."
Koleszar said the continued attrition of experienced, seasoned
controllers is placing the system in jeopardy. "Those seasoned
controllers will continue to leave because they have no incentive
to stay," he added. "By the FAA’s own estimate, we will lose
nearly 100 controllers by 2010 due to retirements alone.
Unfortunately, I don't see the Agency taking any steps to properly
address the issue in any way that would have an impact on the
increasing numbers of errors we are having."
LONG BEACH TOWER: Every controller on staff is
now scheduled for mandatory overtime, resulting in six-day weeks
and 10-hour days and reducing the margin of safety by forcing tired
controllers to do more work. "One regular day off a week, with two
or three days a week of scheduled 10-hour days does not give us
enough rest," Long Beach NATCA Facility Representative Pat Hunt
said.
"With the FAA instituting new rules on TIPH (taxi into position
and hold for departing flights) and all the closures due to
construction going on for the next three-to-four years, we do not
have the required staffing even with six-day weeks and 10-hour
days," Hunt said. TIPH is a procedure used by controllers to safely
and efficiently move traffic on the airport surface and keep the
system moving but the FAA has mandated that staffing must be at a
sufficiently high level in order for controllers to use the
procedure. But that is not the case at Long Beach and without TIPH,
the airport’s efficiency -- and margin of safety -- will
suffer.
SANTA ANA JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT (SNA): Of the 26
controllers on staff (20 are fully certified), 12 are eligible to
retire. In addition, three supervisors are set to retire, which
will mean their replacements are likely to come from the certified
controller ranks, reducing staffing even further. Currently, the
FAA managers at the facility are short-staffing certain shifts due
to the low numbers but there have also been a few weeks where the
FAA has forced controllers to work six-day weeks.