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Shortage of 3,000 controllers worldwide

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Old 29th Sep 2008, 15:40
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Shortage of 3,000 controllers worldwide

From the (UK) GasCo Flight Safety Autumn 2008 issue:-

The International Federation of Air Traffic Control Associations calculates that the shortage of controllers, the world over, amounts to some three thousand. Marc Baumgartner, President and CEO, stated: This shortage of controllers (in Europe as well as other parts of the world) represents a serious hazard to the flying public as we strive to maintain a safe and efficient air traffic system handling ever increasing numbers of flights. (Via 'Transmit')
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Old 29th Sep 2008, 17:57
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Yep...
Ever heard of Free Flight & SES... that would free a few

The big battle of the "future", are they gonna remote control us or are we getting good riddance by way of automated three dimensional ACAS or some

live 2 fly 2 live
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Old 29th Sep 2008, 18:19
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I don't think this will come as any great surprise to anyone in the ATC business. Just like the piloting business it's a bit cyclical. And it's and not helped by short-termist managements that seem totally incapable of working out when people will retire and add a bit for the normal additional turnover to determine the training requirement.

As for
Ever heard of Free Flight & SES... that would free a few
I guess you're either in the know and being tongue in cheek, or you've been taken in by the publicity machine .
 
Old 29th Sep 2008, 19:29
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I can count on my fingers the number of people I know who wanted to work in ATC.

But the entrance tests were well above the intelligence of an average human's brain.

Those people would have been ideal for the jobs, Having being given the chance.

I guess they are looking for a 1 in 500 people.

Think they will have a job on in future finding succesful applicants.

Maybe they will have to 'lower' their criteria a tad?
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Old 29th Sep 2008, 19:35
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Shortage is always good

That from a pilot perspective. And I am sure also the ATC guys are happy about this, it might boost their salary. Stupid overpaid managers try to save and cut corners, finally they have to pay more. Business as usual.
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Old 29th Sep 2008, 19:48
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Ever heard of Free Flight & SES... that would free a few
I'm not sure how that would free up controllers. I've seen repeated claims, but no details.

Under Free Flight, airplanes with FMS will allegedly fly Direct from origin to destination instead of being restricted to airways. So, instead of being on one of [10] airways in a sector, each will be on its own route. Without a complex computer program that sees ALL these routes and predicts ALL potential conflicts, the controller load would actually be higher. Then, if there is a computer outage, there will be even MORE potential for conflict than there is today, where we can at least revert to standard position reporting...

MAYBE the computer-based control scheme will eventually be proven to enable Free Flight, but I don't see it any time in the near future, especially given the track record of FAA software and system "improvements" in the past 20 years...
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Old 29th Sep 2008, 21:22
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Under Free Flight, airplanes with FMS will allegedly fly Direct from origin to destination instead of being restricted to airways. So, instead of being on one of [10] airways in a sector, each will be on its own route. Without a complex computer program that sees ALL these routes and predicts ALL potential conflicts, the controller load would actually be higher. Then, if there is a computer outage, there will be even MORE potential for conflict than there is today, where we can at least revert to standard position reporting...
Throw in a bit of bad weather .
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Old 29th Sep 2008, 21:50
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Lowering the entrance requirements will not help people to validate, and lowering validation standards will not help people when they are in control of a bad situation turning worse. And intelligence is not really what is tested, more the aptitude for the job.
I can count the number of people on one hand who actually understand and have heard of the job we do. Maybe if there was a lot more publicity about what ATC is then there would be plenty more applicants. Maybe some sort of "The Controller Factor" programme is needed with Cheryl Cole commenting on ones abilities.
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Old 29th Sep 2008, 23:09
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Cheryl Cole could comment and crticise my abilities any day
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Old 29th Sep 2008, 23:12
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We'd better get you to an Optician then.

She's only a kid.
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Old 29th Sep 2008, 23:14
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Ill stick with Becky the ITV weather Girl
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Old 30th Sep 2008, 06:12
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We tried Free flight in the pacific ocean and it was a mess with only 700 flights a day in the whole Ocean. Everyone wants to be either in the Jet eastbound or as far from the jet westbound. Everyone has access to the same weather, wind information, and flight planning software and file conflicting routes. The answer was the PACOTS. An orginized track system that changes daily based on winds. NASA tried a free flight demo using the lower 48 states, it was a real joke. Of course the NASA guys whose contract paychecks depended on the program continuing, kept saying how promising it was. There will be a transcon orginized track system before we have a free for all. With TCAS and ADS B, weather deviation issues are not as compelling as they were 20 years ago. As per the controller shortages, I leave Dec. 1. I am tired of the shift work, overtime and mismanagement. For people interested in ATC, it has been a very rewarding profession. Unfortunitly the screening, hiring process is a real joke in the US. Add to that the recent pay reductions and it does not look as good as it did.
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Old 30th Sep 2008, 07:31
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It wouldn't be honest to have an different opinion now,so I am still with my theory.
Maybe we are 3000 ATCOs short at the moment but it doesn't mean that there will be 3000 available posts for newcomers. It is just an argument when unions and associations talk with the management.
Also shortage is solved differently from country to country . Solutions are:
-TIBA- legal issue as 5 nm or 1000'
-Overtime- as long as there are ATCOs with credit debts
-Single person operation - Uberlingen wasn't good example,
probably there is more options so let others name it.
Does anyone still believe that there will be this winter the same amount of traffic worldwide?
With the crisis already in house I am pretty sure that it will be reduction. Significant one.
To be honest crisis wouldn't be the same for everyone,but the crisis will be highest at the places with the highest level of commercial air traffic.
I predicted it 3 years ago(with different inputs ) and I wrote about it 6 months ago at this forum when some " expert" said that it was wrong prediction.
But we will wait for little,for official CFMU data than you will see.
The only problem with those data that they will on European level show unrealistic figures. Since there is (in Europe) countries with different backgrounds some of them will show increase. But it is not for everyone. Because 1 operation per day more at some places means 100% of rise.
If I remember correctly I wrote that ANSPs managers in the first world know about crisis and the effects so that was the reason why they didn't increase numbers of ATCOs. Maybe there was a hole yesterday,but tomorrow there would be over staffing.
Ironically, HR managers did great job. For future,of course.
From my point of view the real problem will occur in 4/5 years.
We will catch now ,traffic /and staffing level. Than we won't have enough money to invest in training and new positive cycle will arrive and we won't be ready for such scenario.
By 2013 , I would have run my caffe at Mauritius . The only problem will be what kind of equipment for diving that day.
That's the problem!
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Old 1st Oct 2008, 15:13
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automated three dimensional ACAS
At last a solution to Greek ATC.....
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