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NATCA: FAA Ignores Runway Safety Improvements |
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has shown a “lack of meaningful attention” addressing the serious safety problem of runway incursions, Patrick Forrey, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), told the House Subcommittee on Aviation yesterday. Those safety problems include commercial and private planes coming dangerously close to each other on takeoffs, landings and other runway operations.
As of Sept. 4, Forrey said despite the FAA’s claims of runway safety improvement, the 921 recorded 2008 incursions were 106 more than in all of fiscal year 2007.
Many of the incursions involve fully loaded airliners at critical landing and takeoff points. Air Line Pilots (ALPA) President Capt. John Prater told the committee about one incident just last week.
Less than a week ago, two ALPA pilots rejected a high-speed takeoff when they saw a small Cessna still on the runway, swerving their airliner to avoid a collision in Allentown, Pa. According to the [National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)], the crew estimated that they missed the Cessna by as little as 10 feet. Going that speed, that’s just a blink of an eye.
A 2007 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report points to overworked and fatigued controllers as one reason air travelers face a high risk of a catastrophic runway collision. An April 2007 report by the NTSB also found controller fatigue affects runway safety.
Since 2006, when the FAA walked away from negotiations with NATCA, record numbers of controllers have left the towers and retired, rather than endure the FAA’s unilaterally imposed work rules. Meanwhile, the remaining controllers are forced to work mandatory overtime to make up for the staff shortages. Said Forrey
The FAA has taken no meaningful steps toward returning to the bargaining table to bargain with air traffic controllers. As a result, job dissatisfaction remains high and controllers continue to flee the profession at alarming rates through retirement (less than 2 percent of those who left had reached their mandatory retirement age), resignations and promotions to management.
Understaffing forces many controllers to work frequent overtime shifts, contributing to fatigue in the workforce. Even with many controllers working extra hours, shifts remain short-staffed—forcing controllers to work combined positions and affording them fewer opportunities for rest and recovery during the shift itself, exacerbating problems with workload and fatigue.
Further, the outflow of experienced personnel from the air traffic controller ranks has created an unmanageable ratio of trainees, forced trainees into busy facilities and contributed to an unacceptable lack of experience in the workforce at large.
Prater challenged both the government and the airline industry to join the union in setting a goal of zero incursions. But he added:
When it comes to airline safety, the bottom line is that demanding schedules, inadequate rest periods and insufficient or inaccurate information can degrade the performance of even the most seasoned pilot or controller.
Prater pointed to ALPA’s “Hold Short for Runway Safety” campaign launched in February as one of the union’s tools to improve runway safety. The campaign, including an interactive website, has
Encouraged our pilots to increase their vigilance when they are sitting at the controls of their airliner—on the ground and in the air.
He said many new technologies are available that can help improve runway safety, but there are funding challenges to bring those on line, especially for the cash-strapped airline industry.
In the near term, he said solutions include improved cockpit, tower and runway procedures and training, as well as new technologies, better markings and signage at the nation’s airports, standardized operating procedures.
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