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."

FMI: www.natca.org