Originally Posted by
DROPS
Is anyone listening?
Pilots are concerned about the safety of increased reliance on uncontrolled airspace due to temporary air traffic controller shortages ... the issue was unprecedented, worsening and increasing risks to the point some airlines were delaying flights. AusALPA (& AFAP) president and Qantas Link pilot Captain Louise Pole told The Australian some airlines were delaying flights rather than operate while TIBA was in place. “It (TIBA) means the workload for a pilot is a lot higher and that makes your job harder, and it does create more risk because you are not operating in a normal (situation).” She said in 30 years of flying, she had not flown TIBA until two weeks ago, and had since flown it twice, most recently on Monday. Civil Air Australia president and #airtrafficcontroller Tom McRobert said 120 controllers had taken early retirement under the program, reducing “resilience” to deal with staffing issues. He said the scheme had arguably cut twice as many as was wise and this was the “root cause” of the use of TIBA. “We are seeing more TIBAs in the last six months than I’ve ever seen in my nearly 20 years (in the job)". Airservices Australia #AirServices #trafficcontrol #aviation #ausalpa
Make a REPCON to ATSB. I’m sure they’ll investigate the facts and risks quickly and efficiently, before concluding that everything’s ‘acceptably safe’.