Can the FAA Be Trusted to Fix Air Traffic Control?

Investors.com ^ | May 17, 2011 | JOHN MERLINE

[Kaslin]

Five years ago, a Comair flight taxied onto the wrong runway at the airport in Lexington, Ky., and crashed on takeoff, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard. It turned out that the lone air controller on duty who should have caught the mistake was operating on two hours of sleep. Two years before that, a tired controller nearly let two commercial jets collide on an LAX runway.

Now, in the wake of a raft of air traffic controllers caught sleeping on the job, the Federal Aviation Administration issued new rules to combat fatigue. But this problem has dogged the FAA for years.

Fatigue is just one piece of a long history of FAA management problems with the air traffic control (ATC) system, according to an IBD review of government reports and audits and various news accounts. Just last week, the Transportation Department's inspector general announced two audits focusing on air traffic controller mistakes.

To some, this record calls into question whether the FAA can be trusted to fix the problems plaguing the ATC.

Reason Foundation transportation expert Robert Poole, for example, argues that the FAA's problems stem from its dual role as operator and regulator of air traffic control, which he says "creates a potential conflict of interest."

FAA head Randy Babbitt said recently that "employees at the FAA work diligently every day to run the safest air transportation system in the world." And an FAA spokesman told IBD that while the Air Traffic Organization is part of the FAA, "it's regulated by another group that is independent of the ATO's chain of command."

[saganite]

It’s better than all the rest but its decline can be traced to the time it was placed under the DOT.

[kbennkc]

Can the FAA Be Trusted to Fix Air Traffic Control?

About as much as you want to trust the Department of Education to teach your kids sufficiently to compete in the world.

[GingisK]

About as well as government agencies setup traffic lights.

[CFIIIMEIATP737]

How did air traffic control decline when it was placed under the DOT?

[elpinta]

Q: Can the FAA Be Trusted to Fix Air Traffic Control?
A: F=Federal
Therefore, NO.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

You can’t trust the government to “fix” anything.

[Da Coyote]

Can the FAA Be Trusted to Fix Air Traffic Control?

Can the Obama-butt be trusted to provide an real birth certificate?

Is Nancy Pelosi really a female?

Did Jimmy Carter ever have a brain?

Did Bill Clinton “never have sex with that woman?

[C210N]

The only thing I can trust the federal government to fix, is to fix it so that they are more in control.

[ThomasThomas]

What would you do instead? Have a Czar work with a blue ribbon congressional committee that reports directly to the WH?

[OldMissileer]

It’s better than all the rest but its decline can be traced to the time it was placed under the DOT.

Yep. The politicians wanted to spend the money the FAA controlled but couldn't until they put it under DOT.

Since then it has been all downhill and politics rules over safety and innovation.

[Yosemitest]

First ... I'm a retired air traffic controller,
4 and 3/4 years in the Air National Guard,
24 plus years in the USAF,
and 5 years in the FAA,
all actively controlling air traffic, and 99 percent of it in control tower operations.

Now ... that being said ...

"Can the FAA Be Trusted to Fix Air Traffic Control?"

The answer is a very loud "NO!!!";
At least as long as the Union is involved.
The USAF has the best training policies, and management for ATC.

If it was up to me, it would be turned over to the Department of Defense (DoD).
Privatization of ATC might work if you got the government to take the insurance liability.

[Kaslin]

Excellent expertise post

[CodeToad]

No! The FAA is being run by non-pilots and non-aviation morons.

[Da Coyote]

This man speaks the truth. USAF controllers were the best.

(Admitted prejudice from a USAF instructor and test guy)

[Da Coyote]

This man speaks the truth. USAF controllers were the best.

(Admitted prejudice from a USAF instructor and test guy)

[RetiredTexasVet]

I wouldn’t even let them be school crossing guards. Fools would probably fall asleep after a hard weekend and all the school kids would get run over by a run away garbage truck.

[Yosemitest]

I'll give you an example.

Working schedules: {there are three that come to mind}
1. Two day shifts; two swing shifts; two mid shifts; and two days off (48 hours max).
This normally is done with four crews, and usually is augmented with a floater crew
that is mostly trainees and trainers, to expedite training.
2. Two day shifts; two swing shifts; 2 days off (48 hours); two mid shifts; and three days off (72 hours).
This takes five crews and is best for the body to adjust to the rotation.
It is also augmented with a floater crew of trainees and trainers.
3. One swing shift (6 hours); a 12 hour break; one afternoon shift (6 hours; a 12 hour break; one morning shift (6 hours); a 12 hour break; one mid shift (6 hours); and a 60 hour break (the rest of that day, all day the next day, and 18 hours of the third day.
This takes five crews, and this rotation is hardest on the body, but a favorite of the FAA due to the time off.
Also, this rotation can have the hours adjusted from 6 hours on some shifts to 8 hours {mostly on the morning and afternoon shifts} and 5 hours on the other shifts to allow some overlap.

Part Time Second Jobs:
The FAA can authorize controllers to get a second job, through filling out a form and getting signed permission from management.
This is why most FAA controllers (the Union) like the rapid rotation of the 3rd example of the work schedule.
My first question of these "FAA Incidents/Accidents" would be
Was the working controller involved, ... authorized to work a second job?
Did he truly have an undisturbed eight hours of rest before his Air Traffic Control Shift?

These second-job considerations, I believe, will be one of the contributing factors to most these problems.

[diogenes ghost]

I did it for 35 years, and no, they can't fix it.

PATCO screwed it up, then FAA caught a break and had a great opportunity to fix it, but....

Pressure to rebuild quickly, exacerbated by intense EEO mandates brought about another union that management essentially turned the day-to-day operation over to.

The genie is out of the bottle, the cadre of experienced personnel that is essential to ANY operation is gone now, replaced by scared kids who duck traffic and only stay on because of massive pay and ironclad union protection.

If you fly at all, thank your lucky stars for technology like TCAS...don't fly without it.

[Yosemitest]

What are your thoughts on work schedules, controllers working second jobs, and controller fatigue?

I knew one FAA controller that worked 40 plus hours in his second job, every week, stocking groceries.
You know he was tired when he got to work on his mids, and on his swings.