FAA: New Management Controls Save Taxpayers $1.4 million
The FAA tells ANN that,
"just six months after eliminating artificially inflated overtime
schedules at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, the FAA
has saved $1.4 million and air traffic controller errors are down
75 percent. Separately, an independent analysis of the
facility’s staffing level confirmed that the New York TRACON
has more controllers than current regional air traffic volumes
require."
“The New York TRACON needed a course correction,”
said FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey (pictured below,
right).
“We’re working hard to maintain the highest levels
of safety while making sure tax payer dollars are spent
responsibly. That push—achieving greater safety performance
while operating more like a business—is what’s driving
the changes we are making at the New York TRACON.”
Last June, Blakey directed that new management controls at the
New York TRACON be implemented after the agency completed a 60-day
on-site investigation of the facility. The investigation was
conducted after receiving anonymous reports of operational errors
at the facility. These errors were reported within days after
management at the facility began taking actions to curtail abuses
identified by the Department of Transportation’s Inspector
General. The investigation found that local union-controlled
scheduling practices artificially inflated overtime. At the time of
the investigation, overtime costs at the TRACON were more than
double any other air traffic control facility in the country. The
investigation also found that safety was never jeopardized.
As a result of the
investigation, the FAA canceled previous local agreements that lead
to excessive overtime and implemented a more efficient schedule
that evenly distributes days off and available staff to match
aircraft traffic. To reduce the number of operational errors, the
agency implemented stronger quality assurance programs, supervision
and training. The FAA also took steps to ensure a professional
environment in the control room and to immediately address threats
and intimidation that thwarted previous management attempts to
correct wasteful practices.
More efficient scheduling at the TRACON has produced six month
taxpayer savings of over $1.4 million. Overtime costs at the
facility dropped from $360,000 in June 2005 to just $73,000 in
December. Additionally, “time-on-position”—the
time air traffic controllers spend on the radar scopes actually
guiding airplanes—increased from just over 3 ½ hours
to 5 hours, placing the facility almost at the top of large TRACON
facilities.
To reduce operational errors, the FAA required that both New
York TRACON management and controllers undergo extensive training,
including back-to-basics training and mandatory refresher training
on aircraft separation standards. The FAA has also conducted
frequent, random audits at the New York TRACON to ensure reporting
of operational errors at the facility. Since these measures have
been put in place, operational errors at the facility have
decreased nearly 75 percent from 197 controller errors reported
between January and June 2005, to 54 errors reported between July
and December.
Also during the last year, the FAA sought independent
confirmation of its investigation team’s conclusion that the
facility was not understaffed—as the local union
contended—but rather overstaffed.
In late 2005, the FAA commissioned MITRE, the government’s
federally funded research group, to study staffing levels at the
facility. MITRE reviewed staffing methodology, time-on-position,
and traffic loads and complexity data. As a result, MITRE
determined that the facility is overstaffed and that the
appropriate staffing level should be between 163 controllers and
180 controllers. Currently, the facility has 206 fully certified
controllers and 11 developmental controllers. Based on these
findings, the FAA also will be analyzing staffing numbers at its
other major facilities across the country.
The FAA plans to keep in place for an indefinite period of time
a special team of safety and human resource specialists to assist
facility management to monitor the facility’s ongoing
performance and to ensure safety while stronger management controls
continue to be implemented. The Department of
Transportation’s Inspector General’s office also plans
to maintain its presence at the facility.