Controllers Tell House Aviation Subcommittee Of Looming
Staffing Crisis
National Air Traffic Controllers
Association Executive Vice President Ruth Marlin told the House
Aviation Subcommittee Tuesday about the urgent need to start hiring
new controllers in the coming fiscal year. That, she said, is the
only way the US will be able to address a looming controller
shortage nationwide, warning there is "no other way around this
problem. The consequences of inaction are dire."
"Without adequate numbers of certified controllers we cannot
increase system capacity and safely meet the needs of our nation's
travelers -- instead we will see increasing delays and operational
errors," Marlin said, adding that the shortage affects more than
the daily operation of the system. "It jeopardizes the future of
the system and America's leadership role in world aviation. We
simply will not have the resources available to modernize
equipment, redesign airspace and update our standards."
Addressing a Department of
Transportation Inspector General report last week on the need to
plan more precisely in the hiring, training and placement of new
controllers in the system, Marlin said she agreed on the importance
of these issues. However, she added, "we cannot delay hiring while
these plans are developed. We need to move forward to bring new
controllers into the system, allowing us to fill known vacancies
while we develop better plans to identify future vacancies. NATCA
is eager to assist the agency in refining the process."
Using its own controller attrition simulation model, the General
Accounting Office (news - web sites) projects that nearly 7,500
controllers will leave the workforce by 2011 -- that's 50 percent
of the current total number of controllers. In the Federal Aviation
Administration (news - web sites)'s own projection, 450 controllers
will retire this year. A total of 2,181 will retire in the next
three years.
"What we need is action, now," Marlin stated. "NATCA is prepared
to work with the FAA and Congress to address this crisis before it
becomes insurmountable. We have identified real solutions that can
make a real difference. However, we all need to recognize that the
first and most important priority is to provide funding to hire
more controllers. We can no longer wait. For many locations, we
have waited too long already."
"This problem is not sudden or unexpected," she continued. "It
is known and we have had advance warning. Whether or not we address
the problem and prevent our aviation infrastructure from collapsing
under its own weight is a choice. Either we will continue to be a
world leader in aviation, or we will not. My members will continue
to do everything possible to keep our collective heads above water,
but it is Congress and the administration that can send us a
lifeboat."