Too Many Controllers In Training, Not Enough Experienced
Ones
The FAA's
lightning-round hiring of new air traffic controllers to replace
retiring veterans has compromised the safety of the nation's skies.
That's not (just) more rhetoric from the National Air Traffic
Controllers Association, locked in a contentious two-year battle
with the agency over a new contract; that's the finding of the
Department of Transportation's inspector general.
According to The Associated Press, the FAA is literally swamped
with new hires -- so much so, it has exceeded its own maximum
trainee numbers at close to 70 of the nation's 314 ATC facilities.
The training program itself is also flawed, according to the IG's
findings, relying on a database full of false information to manage
the program. The FAA has also failed to implement basic steps to
handle the training process... steps the agency promised to take
back in 2004.
If this all sounds like problems endemic to a top-heavy
bureaucracy, well... we'll just note no fewer than four FAA VPs
oversee different parts of the training program, and leave it at
that.
"Facility managers, training managers and even headquarters
officials were unable to tell us who or what office was ultimately
responsible for facility training," the IG report said.
The IG also found the FAA hired 25 percent more new controllers
than it expected to, from 2005 through December 2007, to fill
vacancies left by departing veterans. As of last year, the FAA
counted 11,026 fully-qualified controllers among its ranks, with
another 3,584 in training; that contrasts with 12,328 veterans and
2,209 trainees in April 2004, according to the AP.
Moreover, the FAA has made a habit of underestimating how many
controllers would retire or quit since a new contract was imposed
in July 2006. Those work rules -- imposed on all controllers after
the FAA declared an impasse in its contract talks with NATCA --
have taken a toll, the IG found. The new rules cut top controller
pay by some $37,800 a year, according to the report; that amount is
roughly equal to what new controllers make to start, down from
$44,800.
Not surprisingly, NATCA president Patrick Forrey called the DOT
IG report "vindication.
"Three years ago we urged them not to impose what they did
because it would exacerbate this problem they knew was coming,"
Forrey added. "With work schedules being changed daily, vacations
being canceled and more time required on work positions, our
veteran members are saying, 'I'm out of here.' Under the old
contract, far fewer controllers retired as soon as they were
eligible."
The FAA has accepted most of the IG's findings... but it soundly
rejected a recommendation the agency provide an accurate, public
count of the number of qualified controllers at its facilities each
year, and the number of trainees.
"Publishing annual static snapshots of total trainees by
facility will be of little meaningful use," the FAA said in a
written response, noting staffing figures change on a daily
basis.