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FAA Fails to Reach Performance Goals for 2008 |
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With a record number of air traffic controllers retiring early or simply leaving the towers and radar facilities after the Federal Aviation Administration unilaterally imposed new work rules and pay cuts in 2006, trainees make up more than one-quarter of the controller workforce.
That, says the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), is at the heart of critical safety shortcomings in the FAA.
Burdened by an increasingly inexperienced workforce and a continuation of failed staffing and labor relations policies, the FAA has admitted that not only did it fail in fiscal year 2008 to meet its own performance goals for one of its most critical safety issues—incidents involving planes getting too close—but the agency is off to a poor start to the new fiscal year as well.
NATCA points to two FAA reports that show the agency has failed to meet its goals in reducing serious operational errors that allowed aircraft to fly too closely to each other. In fiscal year 2008, the FAA recorded 239 category A and B operational errors, far more than its goal of 193. Category A and B errors are the most serious and pose the greatest risk of aircraft colliding.
For the first three months of fiscal 2009, begining in October, 80 category A and B errors were logged, and the FAA’s performance limit was 70.
Although the FAA doesn’t admit publicly that the trainee-heavy workforce is a safety issue, NATCA says:
The FAA, in several internal documents this year, has stated that trainees and the increasing inexperience level of its controller workforce are two of the biggest reasons for the rise in operational errors
The exodus of experienced controllers began in September 2006, when the FAA walked away from the bargaining table and imposed new work rules that cut pay, eliminated certain rest periods and forced controllers to work overtime and six-day weeks. Because of the deplorable work environment, more than 2,600 controllers have left the agency.
NATCA made several offers to resume bargaining, and legislation requiring a resumption of talks won congressional approval. But President Bush said he would veto any bill to reopen the talks.
President-elect Barack Obama has not announced his choice for FAA administrator, but he has nominated Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) to be transportation secretary. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told Aviation Week that he stated to LaHood, who served on the committee for six years:
One of his first tasks should be to resolve the contract dispute that still exists between FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
NATCA President Patrick Forrey says he is
looking forward to sitting down with Secretary-designee LaHood as soon as possible to discuss the issues that are of critical importance to the air traffic controller and FAA aviation safety professional workforces.
At the top of the list is the urgency to resolve our contract dispute with the FAA, followed by the disastrous state of labor relations and declining margin of safety that has defined the outgoing FAA leadership’s legacy as a total failure.
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The “Failure”, was Failed FAA Acting Administrator Robert Allan (”Bobby”) Sturgell, a man who among many other acts of malfeasance, sat idly by as 3,500+ civilians were killed in aviation disasters on HIS FAA “watch” since 2003.
www[dot]BobbySturgell[dot]org
Newly certified controllers are now required to have a veteran work with them no matter what the traffic volume is for the first three months. They are basically being given learners permits to work traffic. The FAA knows it a problem but will deny it in public.
Safety is critical in all aspects of work, whether it be air traffic, foundaries, communications, manufacturing, municipal work etc etc, the list goes on. We need our new President and Congress to be diligent with workplace safety initiatives. OSHA who agency was procured to be an enforcement agency hads turned soft and has been instructed to help big business not helping the worker. OSHA and the OSHA standard was promulgated to protect worker rights not business rights. OSHA need to return to the enforcement agency it once was and begin rigourous efforts to protect the American worker not the employer as the last administration has directed them to do. I have been in safety for over 20 years ans still there are very little rights when it comes to employee safety. There are still over 5,000 worker killed annually, and hundred of thousands maimed and diabled due to employer neglect regarding safety. boy if I could run OSHA the big business forcing your employee to do unsafe acts would end in a heartbeat! The penalties woule be swift, large enough to leverage and people would go to jail for intentionally ignoring the safety rules put forth to protect the workers. i am asking that everyone write letters to their local Congress demanding oSHA reverse their role of helper to enforcer. oSHA also needs to hire n more inspectors that are qualified and have degrees in safety. Did you know anyone at your local OSHA office that has a degree in safety from a college, NOT! in WNY they do not. How can OSHA be effective when their oSHA enforcement inspectors are non educated in safety/ This has gone on too long. Stop the abuse of worker safety and begin fighting for that right the unions fought so hard for back in the late seventies. Make profit over safety a game that big business will losse everytime they intentionally place safety on the back burner. mrsafetyman@roadrunner.com
We all found out this summer how Federal, state and local inspectors in the safety field are intimidated and threatened with their jobs for doing their jobs. Putting big business bucks before safety has been the concept of the bush Administration that has caused thousands of people their lives and hundreds of thousands a permanant disability. Talk about expediency and destroying our nations most important resource, its workers. The FAA is a serious safety organization again placed their to protect Americans from risky events. Riding a plane that has not been serviced in months or having FAA controllers work multiple shifts is down right dangerous to people and our government is willing to take the risk. So next time an event occurs that involves lack of maintenance or an FFA worker being threatened for identfying a safety problem, i ask those start suing the federal government for intentionally putting US in harms way. The only thing I can think of why the government would take such risks is that that really do not care about itsd people, just the few, the rich and the priveldged! Boy i would love to see the presdient go without secret service protection! its a risk, but what the heck, we can always vote in another president! Come tale the risk like you are forcing millions of Americans to take everytime they fly!