Quick Response, Professionalism Can't Be Outsourced, Says Union

One week ago Tuesday, a major power outage swept across south Florida... but the loss of normal power did not impact air traffic in the area due to the work performed everyday by dedicated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, said the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO (PASS), the union that represents FAA technicians.

PASS said the work performed by FAA technicians behind the scenes helped to ensure that the FAA facilities in the area moved to backup power and the outage did not affect area air traffic. "The professionalism of these employees and their commitment to making sure systems and equipment are maintained properly is the reason that Miami air traffic did not experience significant issues," said PASS National Vice President Mike Perrone.

When the power outage was reported, FAA technicians quickly assessed the situation. While facilities had switched to backup power, technicians did notice some minor issues, which if left unattended could have resulted in a major mechanical failure. But the smooth transition to auxiliary power meant towers in the area and Miami Center were able to continue operations uninterrupted, PASS states, and there was no loss of communication with aircraft.

PASS emphasizes Miami Center is maintained by employees trained and certified by the FAA to have knowledge of the equipment and systems that make up the National Airspace System. Despite repeated examples of the expertise of these federal employees throughout the country, however, PASS claims the FAA continues to search for new ways to contract out as much of this work as possible.

"The example in Miami shows how smoothly things can run if FAA employees are on hand to attend to the issue," said Perrone. "These employees understand how everything fits together within the NAS and how their work impacts the entire system. As opposed to private contractors who focus on just one piece of equipment, FAA technicians feel a strong sense of ownership over the entire process.

"The reliability and efficiency of these systems is vital to safe air travel and cannot be compromised by turning it over to contractors," continued Perrone. "It is critical that this work remain in the hands of dedicated FAA technicians, whose number one mission is to ensure the safety of the flying public."

FMI: www.passnational.org