The job of an Air Traffic Controller

[jjone20]

An alternate view point, written by someone on the inside, presented w/o comment.

Like most adult Americans, I learned long ago not to put much stock in the superficial “special reports” and “in-depth analysis” I see on the nightly news, but I never stop being fascinated with the media’s power to set the policy agenda in Washington. The ongoing saga of sleeping controllers, embellished occasionally by other catastrophes like Mrs. Obama’s plane doing a go-around (seriously, a go-around?), has given aviation more air time than it has had in years – not to mention all the one-liners from late night comedians. If only the media knew the real story.

Yesterday, as one more air traffic controller was ‘discovered’ to be sleeping on the job and as the FAA administrator and the Secretary of Transportation were promising that they “would never rest” until this problem was eliminated, I had a long, off-the-record meeting with a former FAA official who was once responsible for air traffic control at the FAA. If only he would tell the media what he told me.

The most important fact that should come out from all this media coverage is simply this: the FAA does not manage its controller workforce . They are, forgive the pun, out of control! In fact, this whole mess is a reflection of the most significant (and hazardous) reality about how the FAA operates across its entire structure: the FAA’s so-called ‘management’ does not have the tools and is effectively prohibited from managing their operational and regulatory workforce. The bosses don’t boss and most of the time the workers don’t have to work.

A visit to an ATC facility will quickly reveal that managers are almost irrelevant. They have little authority and little responsibility, and get no respect. The ‘work force,’ with the help of union leadership and their allies on the Hill, has the final say in virtually all operational decisions. They set their own schedules, in effect, so they can get the long weekends and vacation flexibility they covet. While the FAA is quick to tell pilots when they must rest, it is almost comical how derelict they’ve been about the problem of fatigue within their own ranks .

The FAA’s response to this ‘crisis’ has been equally amusing, even as it implicitly reveals their own powerlessness. Yesterday, the administrator made a tour of ATC facilities and essentially begged the controllers to do better. He appealed to “their sense of personal responsibility” to provide effective air traffic services to the public, reminding them, no doubt, that this is no way for good ‘public servants’ to behave. But next to him every step of the way was the President of NATCA, the controllers union, explicitly sending the message to the workforce that nothing drastic would really be done and none of them should be thrown overboard.

The other official action, of course, was to find a scapegoat and throw him overboard. In this case it was Hank Krakowski, the Bush-era political appointee who had the unenviable job of “managing,” without an ounce of political support from anyone in the administration, the entire air traffic organization. His acting replacement is now the recently-appointed FAA General Counsel, David Grizzle, who probably knows a little more about air traffic control than most of his classmates at Harvard Law School, but surely knows a lot more about the realities of FAA politics. In the opinion of virtually all aviation policymakers in Washington, finding a full-time replacement for Hank is about as likely as getting Charlie Sheen appointed head of CBS.

Of course, the FAA still must show that it is serious about fatigue, so controllers are now told they must have one more hour between shifts, but I doubt that their managers will actually punish anyone who ignores this new rule. Controllers have come to believe that they and they alone can establish when and how long they work. Nearly half their work schedule is devoted to “breaks” and other euphemisms for not working. They have fabricated a public image that their job is exhausting, stressful, and so demanding that only a superman-like controller-of-steel can handle the pressure. The reality is the complete opposite. They sleep, goof-off, watch videos, routinely leave their posts unattended, and collect the highest salary of any workforce within government with a schedule so generous that some of them can have full-time second careers.

Of course, the saddest truth is that our current air traffic control structure is hopelessly out-of-date. We preserve an archaic controller-centric system that uses inefficient two-way analog radios to convey information to pilots in a manner that is a million times more error-prone than virtually all modern digital communication. Our system implicitly maximizes the possibility of human error – both by sleeping or otherwise careless controllers and by pilots who misunderstand or get imprecise information.

But just as the controllers’ union has fought efforts to relinquish management authority over the ATC workforce to the FAA, Congress, or anyone outside the union itself, it has been equally effective in preventing air traffic control modernization to proceed in any form that might take power away from the union, reduce the number of controllers or even, heaven forbid, increase their productivity. For over two decades, Congress and a series of FAA administrators have held out the hope for some form of ATC modernization, always just ten to twenty years in the future, most recently under the rubric of NextGen. Despite the unending promises and big budget proposals, I’ve been skeptical that FAA management has the political will to make NextGen happen.

Now, it’s even more obvious that NextGen will never happen in my lifetime. If, after all, the FAA can’t even manage a simple task like safely scheduling the controllers so they don’t fall asleep, how will they ever achieve something as complicated and ambitious as NextGen? Simply put, NATCA won’t let them.

Is there a solution? Can the FAA establish the most basic elements of management within this chaotic, inefficient, costly labor-centric public service monopoly? Is there a clearer example of the most crucial and fundamental political question of our times: Who controls public sector-provided services? Must we get only what the unions want or should the public, the taxpayers, and the users of these services, whether it’s education, public safety, healthcare, or transportation, establish and manage these programs?

On August 3, 1981, the air traffic controllers union of its day, PATCO, asserted their power and, contrary to federal law, declared a strike, demanding a 32-hour work week. On August 5, 1981, President Reagan fired them all. A generation later, they work less than 32 hours and get far more in pay and benefits than they ever dreamed of in 1981. But today, no one dares stand up to them. In fact, today’s President is using this latest crisis as a reason to hire more controllers!

Once again, it seems, the unions are in control. But now, at last, the public media has been aroused, the curtain has been drawn aside and the Wizard of Oz is exposed – pretending to be all powerful as always, but smoke and mirrors notwithstanding, he’s actually asleep on the job.

[Garp]

I didn't know there's quite a few of us around here (except for Jeff whom I pm'd with). If possible I'd like to get a pm from an area or upper area ATCO so I can get to ask a few questions concerning the differences between the job here and there.

[ted]

Originally Posted by jjone20

A visit to an ATC facility will quickly reveal that managers are almost irrelevant. They have little authority and little responsibility, and get no respect. The ‘work force,’ with the help of union leadership and their allies on the Hill, has the final say in virtually all operational decisions. They set their own schedules, in effect, so they can get the long weekends and vacation flexibility they covet. While the FAA is quick to tell pilots when they must rest, it is almost comical how derelict they’ve been about the problem of fatigue within their own ranks .

Once again, it seems, the unions are in control.

I was told a few years ago FAA management was looking closely at the controller compressed 40 hour work schedule.
To improve it for better rest between shifts.
The recent sleeping controller issues seems to support that.
But it appears you are right FAA management is powerless and incompetent to address even that.

After 30 years as an ATC I can honestly say that FAA management is a joke.
Our facility managers preferred to tela commute, call in from home to check on staffing.
Weeks would go past between their rare visits to the control room.
Most controllers don't want the job so mostly controllers trying to get out of separating airplanes bid on staff and management jobs.

Our facility suffered through countless new first line supervisors.
Maybe a few of them could separate airplanes but they had NO management experiance or skills.
NATCA the controller union is strong, (for a small Union of only 13,000 controllers.
I suggest that FAA management is mostly at fault for agreeing to any controversial Union demands.
We can bash the Union but can you really say you are inspired by FAA management.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by slodave

"Pilots don't understand us or even listen sometimes..."

Landing on 34R at VNY Monday. Female ATC voice that was not familiar to me. We need to cross 34L to get to the Aero Club. As soon as we are on the ground, she says "cross 34L at foxtrot without delay..." In the background we here a senior male controller shouting " No, No, No!". Then she comes back and tells us to hold short. We already were. Turns out she was a trainee and was going to have us cross 34L as a plane was landing. We do listen.

Its usually not difficult to tell when there is a trainee on the mic. This happens and just keep your head on a swivel and be careful.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by romad

Sec. 91.3

Responsibility and authority of the pilot in command.

(a) The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft.(b) In an in-flight emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot in command may deviate from any rule of this part to the extent required to meet that emergency.
(c) Each pilot in command who deviates from a rule under paragraph (b) of this section shall, upon the request of the Administrator, send a written report of that deviation to the Administrator.

Far too many pilots do not realize this and instead are ready to do anything the ATC says. This is WRONG and has lead to deaths or accidents in the past. The PIC needs to realize that in the end THEY are the one responsible and that they need do to what THEY feel is needed to take care of the situation.

[jjone20]

[QUOTE=ted;6003801]II suggest that FAA management is mostly at fault for agreeing to any controversial Union demands.
We can bash the Union but can you really say you are inspired by FAA management.

It would not be accurate to say that anyone is trying to lump all controllers into the same category, or to say that NATCA is entirely bad. But having been on both sides, I can say that managers typically give up after having their head handed to them enough times by senior "leadership". The Front Line Manager who actually tries to hold the line is typically denigrated, despised, and defeated. No wonder some of them resort to phoning it in.

Case in point: as a mid-level manager, I was responsible for coordinating the controller training of a new radar system. Naturally you can't stop air traffic, train everybody, and then throw the switch, so a schedule has to be developed which rotates controllers in for training and back out to serve the public (try using that phrase in mixed company). Normally, this process involves lots and lots of overtime, but my scheduling supervisor developed a plan which would accomplish the task in the time alotted using zero OT. Well, you'd have thought we were the incarnation of Satan himself: "You're punishing controllers"; "You're trying to balance the budget on our backs" wailed the union. Long story short, the union complained to senior "leadership" and we were directed to schedule OT to cover the training. That is how the FAA works.

[ted]

Your scenario and observations are very true, happens at many facilities.
Tough to be middle management, controllers may disagree with you and upper management may not support you.
That's why so many are content controlling.
The Union will always fight for OT, but why can't management say no?
Long ago I was a NATCA rep.
Hang in there, all that bs disappears in retirement.