Don't Press The Red Button!

Members of the Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS) told Aero-News recently of a disturbing error made last week, when a contractor working for Lockheed Martin -- the new operators of the Leesburg (VA) Flight Service Station -- knocked the power out for all the station's National Airspace System (NAS) equipment.

The contractor in question -- an air traffic supervisor -- was in the process of performing security sweeps around 2:00 am when he walked in the critical power room and heard an audible alarm. The alarm was sounding to indicate a switch over to secondary power after a loss of primary power had taken place.

Not sure of what the alarm meant, however, the contractor attempted to silence the alarm by hitting the emergency stop button. While that's not the recommended procedure, it DID silence the alarm... as well as everything else, when the action killed all power to the FSS for four-hours.

That meant pilots were literally flying in the dark over the east coast.

"Luckily, an FAA systems specialist was able to correct this rookie mistake,” said Tom Brantley, national president of PASS. "The FAA really needs to make sure that the contractors it is using to replace highly trained federal workers are at the very least competent in these vital systems."

Granted, PASS isn't known for its glowing endorsements of FAA procedures, especially the agency's decision to privatize the FSS network. Considering the flight service station provides weather briefings, pilot reports and flight information that pilots rely on to travel safely to and from their destinations, however.. the contractor's error was a significant no-no.

As Aero-News reported last October, Lockheed was awarded a $1.9 billion, 10-year contract to run the FSS system in hopes a private outfit could handle operations more efficiently than the government. Currently, Lockheed is consolidating a network of 58 flight service stations around the country into 20 stations.

ANN understands child-proof guards are being installed on light and power switches at all consolidated facilities.

FMI: www.passnational.org, www.lockheedmartin.com