FAA Spokesman Has A Lot To Say About Union's "Melodramatic Rhetoric"

In the ongoing war of words between the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, it's sometimes difficult to tell where to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were. Over the past year-and-a-half that controllers have worked under a contract imposed upon them by the FAA, the union has stepped up its efforts to portray the agency as disconnected -- even bumbling -- and uncaring about the needs of its controllers.

But none of that compares to what NATCA had to say Friday. In a release to numerous media outlets, including ANN, the union insinuated the actions of an FAA supervisor may have interfered with controllers' efforts to hear a pilot's "Mayday" call in Northern California.

According to NATCA, air traffic controllers at Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZOA) last Sunday were prevented from monitoring the distress calls from a small plane in trouble, because their FAA supervisor turned down the volume of the facility’s emergency frequency and loudspeaker to an inaudible level.

The RV-7 crashed at approximately 1650 PST, on private property between Highway 20 and Banner Mountain, near Nevada City, CA northeast of Sacramento. The pilot and sole occupant onboard the plane was killed.

NATCA states that before the crash, a "Mayday" call came over the "Guard" emergency frequency at Oakland Center, which monitors and controls airspace above all of Northern California. The Mayday was followed by other emergency-related transmissions -- also broadcast on a loudspeakers inside the facility -- regarding a plane "going down over Grass Valley."

Three controllers began listening in an attempt to understand the call signs involved. Then, according to one of the controllers, the supervisor came over and turned the loudspeakers down to an inaudible level, stating "I do not want my controllers distracted."

NATCA says controllers responded it was their responsibility to always monitor the frequency, and they were trying to hear the call signs in order to eliminate the possibility that the aircraft was one in which these controllers had under their immediate control.

In fact, the union adds, controllers are given annual refresher training to insure they follow proper procedures in just such an event.

"There is absolutely no justification for the supervisor to turn down the Guard channel. This frequency is required to be continuously monitored at every FAA air traffic facility and area," NATCA Oakland Center Facility Representative Scott Conde said. "This is to ensure coverage and allow controllers to try and gather information on aircraft in distress. Controllers can pinpoint locations and relay information to emergency services. This can dramatically reduce the time that it takes to get assistance to the downed aircraft."

Conde added it is an FAA order that these frequencies be continuously monitored and tested for service. In any normal circumstance, he said, it would be highly inappropriate for any employee of the FAA to turn off the "Guard" channel -- and called the supervisor's reported actions "completely unconscionable."

That accusation definitely got the media's attention... and Ian Gregor, the FAA's Western Region spokesman, says that was precisely the union's intent.

"This is yet another example of the controller union leaders making unsubstantiated claims in their ongoing attempt to attack FAA management because they’re unhappy with a labor contract that we put in place a year and a half ago," Gregor told ANN. "Indeed, NATCA's national president, Pat Forrey, admitted to reporters several weeks ago that the reason the union is attacking the FAA is to force us to reopen contract negotiations.

"In this case, as usual, the facts do not support the union’s melodramatic rhetoric," he pointedly added.

According to Gregor, ZOA wasn't handling the aircraft in distress -- and the pilot wasn't calling Oakland Center for help. Furthermore, Gregor says, "[t]he supervisor could tell from the communications that the pilot who was in distress had already reported his problem to another facility. The pilot had reported it to a flight service station in Rancho Murietta. Another pilot reported over the emergency frequency that he saw the plane in distress had already hit the ground. This pilot was circling over the scene to make sure emergency crews would respond."

Gregor also states controllers had the volume on the emergency frequency "very high," and the supervisor was concerned -- as the union acknowledges -- the transmissions were distracting the controllers from handling their immediate responsibilities. One controller was handling 11 aircraft at the time, Gregor noted.

"If the controllers were distracted, they could have allowed aircraft to get too close together," Gregor said. "It seems reasonable to me that the supervisor wanted to make sure that the controllers were doing their job and not being distracted by a situation that was beyond their control.

"The supervisor’s decision to turn down the volume had no affect whatsoever on the tragic outcome," the FAA spokesman concludes.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.natca.org