Sat, May 05, 2007
RME Shuts Down Wednesday Night After Controller Calls In
Sick
The Federal Aviation
Administration radar approach control facility at Griffiss Airfield
(RME), a 24-hour air traffic control operation, was forced to close
late Wednesday evening and into early Thursday morning due to a
controller staffing shortage, according to the National Air Traffic
Controllers Association.
The controller's union tells ANN the controller scheduled to
work the overnight "mid" shift was sick and could not report for
work... and there was nobody to call on to fill in. FAA managers
didn't ask other controllers to work overtime to fill the position,
NATCA adds, because it would have created another staffing problem
in the schedule.
The FAA was forced to transfer control of the local airspace to
workers at Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center in Nashua, NH...
who the union says haven't been trained on how to work the
approximately 7,000 square miles of airspace in upstate New York
controlled by RME.
The facility has just seven fully certified air traffic
controllers on staff, according to NATCA Facility Representative
Rick Rutherford. Three trainees have joined the staff recently, but
are not able to work until they are fully certified, which can take
one year or longer. The FAA for many years agreed to staff the
facility with 12 controllers, which NATCA believes is still the
proper amount needed to ensure a safe and effective operation.
However, the union claims that as part of a wholesale reduction
in staffing standards nationwide in March to reflect the reality of
a staffing crisis, the FAA announced that RME’s new staffing
"range" should be 7-9 controllers. NATCA calls that "a woefully
inadequate number" that "is not based on any solid facts or
research and is simply staffing to budget."
"The fact that this facility had to close because we only have
seven fully certified controllers working there and there is no
room to allow for normal workplace events, such as employees
getting sick, proves that the FAA cannot overcome its staffing
problems and it is putting unacceptable and unsafe strains on the
system," said NATCA Eastern Regional Vice President Phil
Barbarello. "Giving Griffiss' airspace to a facility that is not
trained to handle it exacerbated this problem and compromised
safety."
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