Traffic Controllers Declare Staffing Emergency at Four Airports

by Mike Hall, Jan 10, 2008

The staffing crisis in the nation’s air traffic control system is so severe and the potential for a serious accident climbing so rapidly that the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) today declared a staffing emergency covering airspace surrounding Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Southern California, four areas of the country with some the busiest airspace in the world.

NATCA says the emergency declaration means that controllers do not have sufficient numbers of trained and experienced personnel on the ground to safely handle the volume of traffic in the air and at major airports.

Last year, 10 percent of controller workforce left the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the union says by Feb. 3, 500 controllers will have retired already this fiscal year, with 2,200 more controllers able to retire by year’s end.

Says NATCA President Pat Forrey:

An already dangerous situation is about to get worse. An additional 2,200 experienced controllers will be able to retire by the end of this year, thinning the already-depleted ranks of the workforce at a time when the skies have never been more congested. The GAO [Government Accountability Office] has already stated that the risk of a catastrophic accident on our runways around the nation is high. Without an adequate amount of rested, well-trained controllers in towers and radar facilities, the risk of an aviation accident now includes the airspace as well as the ground.

The controller exodus and resulting staffing shortfall is directly tied to FAA’s unilaterally imposed work rules. The agency imposed the rules in 2006, after it walked away from the bargaining table during negotiations with NATCA.

Along with its failure to negotiate a contract, the FAA repeatedly has cut staffing at control towers over the past few years and decreased the amount of time between work shifts, forcing controllers to work even when they have not had sufficient rest.

Forrey is calling on the FAA and the U.S. Department of Transportation to act immediately to stem the loss of veteran controllers and bolster the workforce in the four areas where there has been a disturbing rash of runway and airspace incidents in recent weeks and months.

He says the best tool to help retain controllers would be for the FAA to agree to negotiate a contract. The House-passed FAA reauthorization bill contained provisions requiring the agency to resume talks, but the Senate has yet to act.

Here’s a look at some of the staffing and safety problems.

• In Atlanta, the GAO released a study last month that cited 30 runway incursions at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in the past four years, the fifth most of any U.S. airport. There were 11 controller errors in 2007, including one involving a Delta flight that blew out its tires in aborting a takeoff into incoming traffic headed to an adjacent, parallel runway. Both controllers involved in the incident had recently worked overtime shifts.
• The GAO said 52 percent of controllers at Hartsfield Tower regularly work six-day weeks, and at the Atlanta Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) controllers have been working mandatory overtime for two years.
• At the Atlanta Center, the nation’s busiest facility, there are 279 fully certified controllers on staff, down from more than 400 five years ago.
• In Chicago, there are only 46 fully certified controllers at O’Hare Tower. That’s 25 short of what is needed, and far short of what will be needed to staff a second tower as part of the O’Hare modernization.
• At Chicago Center in Aurora, Ill., from October 2007 through December 2007, serious close call incidents caused by controller errors more than doubled the FAA’s mandated limit for the entire fiscal year. Controller positions have been combined while some of these errors have happened as a result of short-staffing. Additionally, the number of errors that occurred during training have risen.
• The Transportation  Department Inspector General announced this week it will formally investigate the controller working conditions at Chicago O’Hare Tower, Chicago TRACON and Chicago Center, which handles all flights in airspace from Iowa to Indiana. The National Transportation Safety Board has cited fatigue as a potential contributing factor to the recent errors.
• In New York, the number of fully trained and certified controllers at JFK Tower has dropped 42 percent since 2001 while traffic has increased 40 percent. There are now just 22 fully certified controllers on staff. Of those, eight must retire this year and another four will reach retirement eligibility.
• Controller errors at the New York TRACON in Westbury, N.Y., rose 27 percent last year from fiscal year 2006.
• The number of fully certified and experienced controllers at Southern California TRACON (SCT), which handles all flights going in and out of the major airports in the entire region, has dropped 40 percent since 2004 and now stands at 159.
• FAA management officials last week were forced to slow down traffic heading into Orange County, Long Beach and Ontario, Calif., airports due to short staffing at SCT.

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