New Routes And Procedures Threatened By "Inadequate Training
And Staffing"
Be prepared for trouble. That was the ominous message conveyed
by Patrick Forrey, president of the National Air Traffic
Controllers Association, hours after the announcement of new
procedures to be put in place by the government to combat flight
delays and congestion along the East Coast of the United
States.
As ANN reported, DOT
Secretary Mary Peters announced Wednesday a series of measures
intended to combat delays and cancellations affecting the nation's
largest airports. Most of the new intiatives will not go into
effect until March 2008, and will apply to New York-area
airports... but in the short term, new departure procedures and
route changes in New York and Philadelphia airspace went into
effect moments after the new plan was announced.
The problem, according to NATCA, is that controllers were also
notified mere moments before the changes took place. Noting the
union was "completely shunned by the Department of Transportation
and the Federal Aviation Administration on the final development
and implementation of new headings, routes and procedural changes
in the New York and Philadelphia airspace," NATCA says the new
procedures were "jammed down [controllers'] throats by FAA
management with wholly inadequate training and staffing, leading to
mass confusion and new concerns that the FAA is compromising
safety."
"Controllers do not feel prepared to add this new workload to
their already overstretched limits. What we have now, courtesy of
the FAA, are all the ingredients for an aviation catastrophe and it
both saddens and infuriates me," NATCA President Patrick Forrey
said. "The men and women who actually know something about air
traffic control in these regions -- the controllers -- were
unceremoniously shoved to the side by the FAA and DOT on this
initiative while foolish decisions were made in their absence.
Ultimately, however, it is on the backs of these very same
overworked, understaffed and fatigued controllers that that the FAA
has placed this extra burden."
The controllers union -- locked in a bitter struggle with the
FAA over a new contract for over a year -- say controllers at
Newark were given a 20-30 minute face-to-face briefing on new "fan"
headings for departing aircraft called for by DOT, and a facility
notice was issued by the facility FAA manager. "This is less time
than it takes to order and receive a delivered pizza," NATCA
said.
The bigger story, Newark controllers say, is the potential for
conflicts between the aircraft on the new headings and the small
private aircraft flying near Linden Airport, which is five miles to
the southwest, and right in the path of the new headings. NATCA
says the FAA has failed to warn these small aircraft; the Newark
FAA manager told controllers no NOTAMS (Notice to Airmen) were
issued.
The union adds controllers in Philadelphia were caught unawares
by the new plan, as well, as the procedures and headings were
changed from what controllers had originally trained for -- "so the
training is completely inadequate."
NATCA also states a safety concern exists because the new
headings aren't yet on charts used by pilots -- putting the burden
on controllers to advise pilots of the new headings.