We Ran the Union's Side Yesterday

It's not too often that we get mail jumping to the defense of the FAA, but once in a while an FAA-er gets just about enough, and lets us have it. Though yesterday's story clearly originated with the NATCA (controllers') union, one reader thought we needed to give the FAA a chance to explain stuff. Here's a bit of what he wrote:

"You guys blew it on the Chicago TRACON (it's a money issue) this a.m... No mention that you tried to call anyone, and we are accused all over the story with nary an opportunity to participate..."

OK -- we called Tony Molinaro at the FAA's office near Chicago [their voice mail was down when we did the first installment, though we didn't know that], and he explained a bit more. He couldn't cover everything with which he disagreed, he told us, because, "They threw so much in there."

For instance, "They talked about staffing levels. We are at 96% of the agreed-upon levels (agreed-upon between FAA and NATCA). We continue to hire, and we continue to train. If it [the agreement] needs to be changed, NATCA needs to get together with the FAA."

'Retirement' Scare Overblown

Mr. Molinaro explained that the union's mention of a possible meltdown of the ATC system, as controllers reach retirement age, might have been missing some key points. "Just because a controller could retire at age 56," Tony told us, "that doesn't mean they will." He wasn't at his desk when we caught him, and didn't have the exact number in his head, but he noted, "Mandatory retirement comes at age 60 or 62," and he took an educated guess and said he thought, "about 70% of controllers stay until they hit mandatory retirement." Even though Molinaro's figures are 'back-of-envelope, we understood the point: reaching minimum retirement age isn't the same as actually retiring.

It's about the money?

The union, he seemed to be saying, is probably invoking the 'safety' card in order to get some public support for its request for more money. 'Chicago' isn't just one city -- it's huge, and the living costs vary, from one area or facility, to another. With facilities in Elgin, Aurora, and Chicago all coming up as different cost-of-living centers in the government's computers, the Elgin (TRACON) folks, who are in the 'low-rent district' feel that they need more money, to attract the controllers they know they'll need. Molinaro said, "They would like more incentives to get more controllers to go to the Chicago TRACON. That would take more money." How much are they making now? Typical-tenure controllers, Molinaro said, are, "...making on average $75-$100,000 a year," roughly the same as in, for example, "NY, Houston, and San Francisco."

Here's the deal: "You make less at the TRACON than at the tower or the control center," he explained. "It's because government (outside the FAA's control) determines that Elgin (location of the TRACON) is different from the city, proper. They're looking for more money; we're looking at that issue. We're working on the budget for the entire FAA."

About claims of 'extra work' related to LAHSO:

Land and Hold Short Operations, designed to help ease congestion at crowded airports, requires coordination among pilots and controllers. In each operation, our FAA man near Chicago explained, there's an "active" and a "passive" pilot. The "active" pilot is doing the actual holding; the "passive" pilot is the one getting the quick trip off the runway. Until recently, only the "active" pilot had to be specially-trained; the "passive" pilot, since he wasn't really doing anything special, did not require the training.

That has changed; now both pilots need the training, for the operation to commence. Here's the contention: only US-carrier pilots, with spotty exceptions, have LAHSO training. That means, for O'Hare, that, when LAHSO ops are invoked, only US-carrier pilots can be involved, as either "active" or "passive." Although that sounds like a major headache, Molinaro says it's not quite that bad: "When that could occur, we've lowered the arrival rate, so the complexity doesn't affect anything." There's one other thing he wanted us to pass along: "Of course, LAHSO is only employed in good weather."

Anyway, we hope your understanding is now more-comprehensive. Stay tuned -- this won't end here.

FMI: www.faa.gov; www.natca.org