Fly the Fracked Up Skies

This is not why I went nearly ten years without flying.

But it doesn’t exactly make me happy that I’m now at least an occasional flyer again either.

In the past few years, the FAA repeatedly has cut staffing at air traffic control towers. The FAA employed 15,606 controllers in 2002, according the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), but now that number has shrunk to 14,305 while air traffic continues to grow.

May I just say that that’s absurd?

Further, the FAA has decreased the amount of time between work shifts, forcing controllers to work even when they have not had sufficient rest. Never mind that controller fatigue may have contributed to the Comair crash that killed 49 people in Lexington, Ky., last year. The lone air traffic controller on duty had only nine hours between two work shifts—and only two hours of sleep before going back on duty, according to the Associated Press. For years before the crash, Lexington controllers and their supervisors repeatedly had voiced concern about staffing issues at the airport.

You think? Fewer people doing more work? That might be a problem? I mean, jeez, they’re only responsible for keeping thousands (tens of thousands?) of people safe every day. Sheesh. It’s not like anything untoward would happen if two planes were to, say, gently brush against each other in mid-air. Worrywarts.

The new rules cut pay for current and future traffic controllers by as much as 30 percent, reduce pensions and, according to some aviation experts, could prompt more than 4,000 of the current 14,000 controller workforce to retire, exacerbating an already critical controller shortage.

Controllers who do not feel they have gotten enough rest before a shift would be forced to work anyway. Controllers also can no longer take a break after two hours on the job, a longstanding practice that controllers say was a major way to fight fatigue.

Oh, for pete’s sake. Editors get to take a damn coffee break every two hours. Admittedly, editors have a tougher job than air traffic controllers. Also, there are far more lives at stake.

What do you want to bet Air Force One gets its own air traffic controller, who’s always fresh as a damn daisy?

Comments

[MidNiteSk8r]

Well, the FAAH 7210.65 (Air Traffic Controller's Handbook) specifies special handling for Air Force One.

I've been a little out of the loop for awhile (haven't been on the boards in over 10 years), but it probably still goes like this:

First, understand that at an Enroute ATC facility, an airspace sector is normally manned by one or two controllers - as workload demands. However, when Air Force One is flying through a sector, it is manned by two controllers AND the the area supervisor.

Of Course sectors can also get manned by controllers just in from break for this situation - (I guarantee, you Don't want to have an issue with the big guy).