NATCA says the emergency declaration means 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 takeoffs and landings at major airports.

Late last week, air traffic controllers at both the Northern California Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) and the Oakland Traffic Control Center declared a staffing emergency and called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Transportation to act immediately to stem the loss of veteran controllers.

In the past two weeks, NATCA highlighted serious staffing and safety concerns in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York and Southern California.

Nationwide, 10 percent of the air traffic control workforce left in fiscal year 2007, and fiscal year 2008 is already shaping up to be even worse for attrition as a result of the continuing lack of a negotiated and ratified labor agreement.

Since October, controllers—both veterans and trainees—have been leaving at the rate of more than six per day, a 41 percent rise in the rate of attrition from a year ago, according to NATCA. The net loss of total air traffic control staff has left the country with just 11,077 fully certified and trained controllers, the lowest level in 15 years.

The union says that by Feb. 3, some 500 controllers will have retired already this fiscal year, with 2,200 more controllers able to retire by year’s end.

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.

NATCA President Pat Forrey 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. Says Forrey:

There is only one possible solution to this crisis: We must have a contract. Make no mistake about it. Our system is on the brink of a total breakdown because of the careless and reckless actions of the FAA, which failed to get ahead of a staffing crisis years in the making. Flight delays are at an all-time high and will get worse.

Here’s a look at the safety situation in Miami and California:

• In Miami, six of every 10 new hires are not receiving adequate training because the FAA does not have enough fully certified controllers to train them. That has led to an unprecedented number of new hires quitting the FAA, which just exacerbates the shortage of qualified controllers, the union says. Students have reported their training materials and books are outdated and incomplete and have been told by management to obtain the current information themselves. 
• In Oakland, veteran controllers have no incentive to stay on the job, and the most experienced and seasoned controllers are leaving to escape poor working conditions marked by extreme stress and fatigue. Trainees are leaving as well, either through resignations or not successfully completing the demanding training program that lasts from three to five years.

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