Controllers Say Bizjet Failed To Clear Runway

The Federal Aviation Administration is reopening its investigation into a January 16 runway incursion at San Diego's Lindbergh Field, an incident the agency originally dismissed as posing no safety hazard, but which the controllers' union described as very serious.

A British-made Hawker Siddeley corporate jet had landed about 1800 local time, and was assumed to be taxiing off the runway. But it apparently suffered a mechanical problem, and didn't clear the runway before a controller cleared Southwest Flight 1626 to take off for Las Vegas.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says controllers routinely clear planes for takeoff as other aircraft are still exiting the runway. He says the planes were not closer than 3,000 feet apart.

Melvin Davis, a San Diego-area chapter president with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, begs to differ. "It was a mistake to do that. The runway was clearly occupied."

Davis tells the San Diego Union Tribune he believes the corporate jet did not just have its tail protruding, as reported by the FAA, but was actually still in the middle of the runway's west end.

The union has been battling the FAA for more than a year over work rules and pay imposed on it by the agency after contract talks failed. NATCA has kept up a steady stream of rhetoric about unwanted overtime, early controller retirements brought on by unfair work conditions and pay, and warnings about the safety impact of overwork and stress among controllers. The campaign escalated in the last few weeks to declarations at several air traffic control facilities of "staffing emergencies," a term coined by NATCA to underline its complaints.

The union cannot legally strike, and has resorted at times to hyperbole to discredit FAA management. NATCA has also taken an active stand against Senate confirmation of acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell, picked up some sympathetic support for that stand among other labor groups, and may, in this election year, influence enough union-friendly lawmakers to delay or reject Sturgell's confirmation.

While the FAA has apparently bowed to union pressure to take another look at the Lindbergh Field incursion, Gregor says he's surprised by the union's tactic. "I'm surprised that leadership is accusing one of its own controllers of committing an error while the FAA's safety office has yet to make any determination or ascribe any blame in this incident."

Davis told the Union Tribune that air-controller fatigue, brought on by long hours, was a contributing factor in the Lindbergh Field incident. He said the controller involved was a seasoned employee in his 50s, but has been working six days a week.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.natca.org, www.san.org