Pilots, Controllers Must Be Part of New Air Safety System Development

by Mike Hall, Mar 26, 2009

The nation’s crowded skies—with about 50,000 flights a day—will become even more jam-packed with as many as 150,000 flights every 24 hours by 2025, making it critical for a whole new air traffic control system to be put into place.

But the controllers who staff the towers and tracking facilities and the pilots in the cockpits must play a major role in developing and implementing the new space-based air traffic control system—known as NextGen—that will replace today’s out-of-date technology, leaders from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and Air Line Pilots (ALPA) told congressional committees.

Testifying yesterday before the U.S. Senate Aviation subcommittee, Dale Wright, NATCA’s top safety and technology expert and former Atlanta and Charlotte air traffic controller, said:

Because of their current, front-line, air traffic control experience, NATCA members are uniquely qualified to provide insight into the needs of the system, as well as utility and usability of NextGen technology. Doing so on the front-end rather than during implementation will save the agency time and taxpayer money while avoiding damage to the integrity of the air traffic control system.

With air traffic expected to double or triple in the next 15 years, Capt. Rory Kay, ALPA’s Executive Air Safety chairman told a House hearing last week, there is a need for rapid action to modernize the national airspace system to benefit passengers, cargo shippers and all who depend on air transportation.

The need for action has now become critical. The latest technology, which capitalizes on space-based communications, navigation, and surveillance systems, can provide precision and efficiency never before possible.

He also emphasized the absolute necessity of fully engaging airline pilots and other stakeholders in all airspace modernization efforts.

If it doesn’t work for pilots when we fly the line, a procedure that may look great on paper will not help us capture the enormous potential of NextGen. Professional airline pilots and controllers must be involved every step of the way.

But Wright said that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), under the rule of Bush administration appointees for the past eight years, has ignored worker input into a modern air traffic control system.

The FAA has taken the opposite approach. Although NATCA has reached out many times to offer our expertise, the FAA has rejected each of our offers. They have made it abundantly clear that they do not value the professional knowledge and expertise that NATCA brings to the table.

The FAA’s attitude toward controllers is best exemplified by its imposition of harsh work rules in 2006, after the agency broke off bargaining with NATCA for a new contract. The rules 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.

It is our hope that after the imposed work rules are addressed by the Obama administration and NATCA and the FAA reach a mutually accepted collective bargaining agreement, we can again return to an era of cooperation and collaboration that will best serve the needs of the FAA, air traffic controllers, stakeholders, and the flying public.

Click here for a more detailed look at NextGen and here for witness testimony and video from the House hearing. Click here for information from the Senate hearing.

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