FAA: Crisis? WHAT Crisis?

Nobody doubts air traffic controllers have a legitimate labor dispute with the FAA. In 2006, after contract negotiations reached an impasse, the FAA used the authority granted it by Congress to simply impose what it called its "last, best offer," and the union is prohibited by law from striking.

So...what do you do if you're the union? The National Air Traffic Controllers Association fell back on a strategy of attempting to make the FAA look buffoonish whenever possible -- something the agency seemed to take every advantage of doing --  and scaring the public and Congress into believing safety is compromised by controllers who are deprived of needed rest and retiring as soon as they're eligible.

And throughout 2007, there were signs it was working. In Congress, House Resolution 2881 funded the FAA for another five years, but included a requirement that the FAA submit to binding arbitration. It was killed by lack of Senate action and a promise of a veto from the Whie House.

NATCA may have carried its rhetoric just a little over the top earlier this month, when it declared a "staffing emergency" at busy facilities in Atlanta, New York, Chicago and California. At a union press conference Thursday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, NATCA Regional VP Darrell Meachum told reporters that 23 of the 65 controllers there are eligible to retire right now, and that number will reach 32 by year's end.

He said this "staffing emergency" means up to half of the flights landing at DFW might have to be cut if the FAA didn't negotiate better starting pay for new recruits. This final hyperbole appears to have pushed the mainstream press too far.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram went to the FAA for comment. The FAA said, yes, 32 controllers will be eligible to retire this year, but the agency believes only 13 actually will, and 13 transfers and 33 new trainees from Oklahoma City will follow. And, the FAA pointed out, controllers at the Dallas-Fort Worth TRACON are earning annual salaries ranging from $140,000 to $160,000.

The union tells the paper between half and three-quarters of its members at the facility are working overtime. The FAA notes that overtime pay is on top of the aforementioned salaries.

Have the union's hysterical headlines finally managed to make the FAA sound like the reasonable party in this dispute? One has to ask -- if controllers are really tripping over each other heading for the retirement door as soon as they reach eligibility, why have 23 guys at DFW, who are already eligible for retirement, stuck around?

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.natca.org, www.dfwairport.com