Alarming letter from air traffic controller (NYT)

[swag]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/opinion/l20faa.html?ref=opinion

. . .

I am an air traffic controller with over 20 years of experience. In the past five years I have witnessed the zeal of the Federal Aviation Administration management as it transformed the agency into a deep-pocketed enabler of the industry it is charged with regulating.

I believe that the guides behind this transformation envision a future in which the F.A.A. simply has become an appendage of a self-regulating aviation industry. But safety is being compromised in new ways every day.

Veteran controllers are expressing their concerns and are being systematically ignored and devalued. These older controllers are now reaching retirement age en masse, and F.A.A. management is gleeful at the opportunity to replace these outspoken controllers with more docile employees.

We should all be alarmed.

David Mahnke
Kensington, Calif., April 13, 2008

[libnnc]

1. Paging MercutioATCer...

This crisis has been going on for a long time. My SO is a veteran controller at Charlotte. She's been in the agency for 20 years. It's bad. Really bad. And it's going to get worse.

When controllers alert the FAA about unsafe procedures (as they did in Philly a few months ago), FAA officials tell them to either STFU or find another job if they don't like working the traffic in that manner. The FAA is only interested in placating the airline industry.

Safety isn't profitable.

[Captain Angry]

2. Safety isn't profitable.

My dad used to work in a nuclear weapons safety team.

When the government decided to create a public/private partnership out of the larger organization he was in, my dad quit.

Nuclear weapons safety can't be brought in under a budget that is intended to create a profit. Some day in the future, there may be an accident that could have been prevented, but the controls were deemed to be too expensive.

[libnnc]

4. public/private partnerships...

That's what the GOP wants to turn the current air traffic control system into. They want to run off veteran controllers because the new hires are cheaper and will work for less money. They've already privatized the training process for controllers. Smaller facilities have already been privatized.

[glowing]

3. My father in law.. is an air traffic controler.. my bro-n -law was trained

similarly.. he refuses to work as a controller now because the pay is shoddy.. My father-n-law is owed a lot of money.. that they haven't paid to him.. raise/ o.t... the crap they are doing is disgusting. The systems are old and need a desperate overhaul.. the only reason you haven't seen a crash yet is because the controllers in there now are veterans with tons of experience under their belt.. many are beginning to retire and are scheduled to retire. My FIL is has only a few years left... At the point he says to us "STOP flying", I will listen. Its been ass-shit deep since Bushie took over.. My family has suffered enough.. we have many who serve in Iraq plus the shit they've done to a really great man. We have seen how Bush has purposefully destroyed our family.

[texanshatingbush]

5. Please let the rest of us know when your FIL says STOP FLYING...

I been concerned for quite some time that the FAA's current mission has been to promote, rather than regulate and oversee the safety of, air travel--at any cost.

[glowing]

10. I will.. of course.. He's in Charlotte now.. Crazy busy airport.. very strssful.

[csziggy]

6. So what's new?

Since Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers - who were striking for better equipment and working conditions - the system has been messsed up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_%281968%29#PATCO_Strike

Since then, air traffic controllers have not had as strong a union to represent them and I can imagine that conditions are much worse than they were in 1981.

I haven't flown since 1990 and don't intend to again, although I love flying. But with the poor safety record of US airlines, hassles of "security" and the way they pack passengers in like sardines, flying is no longer a pleasure.

[tbyg52]

7. Ditto, except I haven't flown since Reagan fired the air traffic controllers. nt

[Greyhound]

8. June, 2001. n/t

:kick:

[hootinholler]

9. What's new is that the scabs, ^h^h^h^h^h replacements are the ones warning this time...

Which means that this is the second level of ATC suppression. Weather services have been outsourced and general avation Flight Service Stations have been "automated" or privatized.

-Hoot