Union Believes It’s Evidence Of Understaffing, Agency Says Not

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association engaged in a strange war of words last week following an incident Monday when a veteran radar controller at Reno-Tahoe International Airport was transported to an emergency room after reporting chest pains. Each side is accusing the other for using the unfortunate incident to promote their political agenda in the media.

In a press release issued late Tuesday, NATCA said the controller suffered a heart attack after being forced Monday afternoon to work alone in the radar room at the airport. According to the release, the controller started to experience chest pains at approximately 1740 local time and contacted the controllers in the control tower. The controllers contacted paramedics and took measures to accommodate the traffic he was handling at the time.

Airport spokesman Brian Kulpin said safety was maintained during the incident and there was no disruption of service.

NATCA said normal staffing for the shift in the radar room is three controllers, or two controllers plus one supervisor. Reportedly since last fall, operations with only one controller have occurred regularly due to staffing shortages.

"The FAA has left us in a position where we cannot provide the level of service that Reno needs," said NATCA Reno Facility Representative Rich Ferris.

The FAA cried foul to those claims Wednesday. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor told The Associated Press the controller suffered a severe bout of heartburn, not a heart attack as reported by NATCA.

“It's unfortunate that the controller union's leadership didn't bother to check their facts and then used this gentleman's medical misfortune to try to further their political goals,” Gregor said Wednesday.

“They haul a guy out of here in an ambulance and it's heartburn?” Ferris said, though he later amended his description of the stricken worker's ailment to “apparent” heart attack.

“They're playing a game,” he said of the FAA. “The airport firefighters responded. He said he was having chest pains. They treated him as a heart attack victim. He went to the emergency room.”

“What struck this individual, it doesn't matter,” Ferris said. “We just don't have enough people certified.”

NATCA reported staffing at Reno dropped to just 11 fully certified controllers at the facility after one controller retired this past week; and one less than that number when taking into account the stricken controller. The association believes 27 is the safest level of staffing for Reno. Including nine trainees on staff or expected, they still calculate the facility has nine fewer employees than what is needed.

Disputing NATCA claims of understaffing at Reno, Gregor responded staffing is merely being adjusted for traffic levels.

“We normally staff only two radar positions during the busiest times. We have always staffed to traffic and if there's only enough traffic for one controller, it doesn't make sense to have two controllers working the radar room,” he said.

“There have been absolutely no delays or safety issues in or around Reno due to staffing levels,” Gregor added.

NATCA states the situation at Reno is just further evidence of the severity of the situation in the entire FAA Air Traffic Control workforce. Using Reno as an example, they say the percentage of trainees in the Reno workforce will raise to 44 percent as of this week and such a level, according to a Department of Transportation Inspector General report released just two weeks ago, is well beyond what an FAA facility can handle for effective training.

"The staffing here is to the point where we cannot train anybody effectively because there is nobody left to train them - they're all working because we are so short-staffed," Ferris said.

In response to the staffing shortage Ferris said the FAA has decided it will soon close the radar room from 0000 to 0500 and airspace will be transferred to Oakland Center, which would not have the radar capability to "see" aircraft below 11,000 feet in the mountainous terrain around Reno. Ferris said Oakland Center is also critically understaffed in the association’s view.

Ian Gregor still believes NATCA is merely using the incident and the resulting claims to promote its position in the ongoing political battle over controller staffing nationwide.

 “The controller union leadership is very good at making dramatic, alarmist pronouncements, but not so good at providing evidence to support their claims” he said.

FMI: www.faa.org, www.natca.org, www.renoairport.com