unknown00
9th Feb 2008, 08:46
Air Traffic Controller Staffing Crisis Jeopardizes Air Safety
In a state of neglect, oblivion, denial and arrogance, the Federal Aviation Administration continues to turn its bureaucratic head away from serious aviation safety issues arising out of critical understaffing levels of certified professional controllers (CPCs)......
Making up for the FAA's shortfall of employed CPCs, its remaining workforce has been forced to work brutal 10-hour, six-day shifts. New hires suffer, too, as the remaining CPCs don't have time to mentor them and handle increased traffic.
"People who are flipping burgers or driving dump trucks, and there's nothing wrong with those fields, are making the same if not more than someone working up in a control tower, where there's intense stress--making life or death decisions," ...
The FAA knows aviation safety is at risk. In fact, the FAA halted on-the-job training of new hires at a busy facility, because it knows there aren't enough CPCs left to take on the burden of mentoring new hires.
In the best interest of air safety, to ensure that the flying public is safe, the FAA must act now in order stop more of the nation's experienced controllers from retiring early. The FAA needs to pay new hires what they're worth, and especially offer them more money once they become fully certified. If the FAA continues to ignore a crisis it created, the American public will end up paying for its ignorant and arrogant polices.
For the entire article...
http://www.charterx.com/resources/article.aspx?id=3163
In a state of neglect, oblivion, denial and arrogance, the Federal Aviation Administration continues to turn its bureaucratic head away from serious aviation safety issues arising out of critical understaffing levels of certified professional controllers (CPCs)......
Making up for the FAA's shortfall of employed CPCs, its remaining workforce has been forced to work brutal 10-hour, six-day shifts. New hires suffer, too, as the remaining CPCs don't have time to mentor them and handle increased traffic.
"People who are flipping burgers or driving dump trucks, and there's nothing wrong with those fields, are making the same if not more than someone working up in a control tower, where there's intense stress--making life or death decisions," ...
The FAA knows aviation safety is at risk. In fact, the FAA halted on-the-job training of new hires at a busy facility, because it knows there aren't enough CPCs left to take on the burden of mentoring new hires.
In the best interest of air safety, to ensure that the flying public is safe, the FAA must act now in order stop more of the nation's experienced controllers from retiring early. The FAA needs to pay new hires what they're worth, and especially offer them more money once they become fully certified. If the FAA continues to ignore a crisis it created, the American public will end up paying for its ignorant and arrogant polices.
For the entire article...
http://www.charterx.com/resources/article.aspx?id=3163