Striking ATCOs: Governments Must Act!
 

Striking ATCOs: Governments Must Act!

Worth reading...

Our minister said in an interview that, as it happens with pilots in Spain, he would like to have 3.000 unemployed ATCOs...

(in spanish) Blanco se jacta de que formará a 3.000 nuevos controladores "para tenerlos en el paro" - elConfidencial.com

.

Something that has often been wished for by various CAA honchos. In fact, one even said that "he wished he could hire and fire ATCOs like beach resorts do with deck chair assistants". i.e, utilise on an as needed basis like those employed on a factory assembly line

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your perspective, this is not possible with ATCOs due to the lead in time for validation, competency, safety, etc.


Your minister is living in LaLa land.

:ok:

And I thought that AENA had a monopoly in management stupidity!

When ANSPs are willing to invest in training a large excess of controllers then this approach might be an option but as the costs will be huge and any returns well into the future, I don't see it as an option. (Would the CAA allow NATS to make this sort of expenditure in the next control period?)

To get into the same position as airlines are with pilots, the ANS industry would have to market the job as glamorous so as to persuade candidate trainees to fund their own training. Somehow I think that might be a bit of a challenge.:ugh:

Against the global voice, I see no real fight back from ATCEUC nor ETF and do not expect real one from now till the next October steering committee... nor till November in Venice...
When shall all European atcos finally understand that it becomes definitly urgent to join our forces to create our own European atcos company ?
No other answer to that war we are facing...
Just think about it... Deadline December 2012...

You're probably right, saintex. A fair bit of unity is called for.

On that blog, the author writes about training up a large pool of ATCO's. As with any specialist vocation, such training, if done properly, takes a large investment of money and time.

The obvious answer, which is written about in another CANSO blog, is to not do it properly. De-skill the profession. It's already happening. More automation and procedures-based standard operating practices, less skills-based practices.

Is anyone else seeing this? Is anyone else seeing that the airlines - who probably don't know any better - seem OK with this?

To be fair, they probably are ignorant of the true story.

It's maybe time for IFATCA to challenge the need for CANSO ? Mr.Graham publicly calls for atco unemployment making us slaves and working for peanuts.:ugh: I think he just dreamt a dream.

Graham is typical birocrat, who thinks there are easy solutions to complex problems. Let's get rid of CANSO instead. What good has this organisaton brought to the aviation anyway?

Bet Mr G.L wouldn't mouth off so much if he was still a working ATCO.......remember where you start from!!!!:*

Problem is that unlike flying planes, you just can't keep throwing money into the pot to become an ATC. I have never heard of anyone failing a PPL and being told not to come back.

Somewhere you can, even if it's not the normal way to join the job yet, but we are moving to this direction day by day, in the next future controllers will have to pay for working as well.

CANSO ... seems like some old boys club where they can all go on junkets to conferences in exotic locations and pat each other on the back at someone else's expense. I can't think of one single thing they have done to improve the ATC profession or service. Can anyone else ?

definition is exact.:D
Term might be ,CANSO ,IFATCA....
:E

10W, I don't think CANSO was formed with the idea in mind of improving the profession, somehow.

The finance and effort that all the member ANSPs are contributing to CANSO could be better spent on improving their own companies. Would not all their activity be more usefully directed through ICAO - plus Eurocontrol and other regional organisations, particularly as the CANSO membership only covers a few disparate parts of the world? Cannot help but agree with 10W.

Sorry, GL - sounds like a bit of a - very prejudiced - rant, particularly with the bold and exclamation marks!

2 s

" The finance and effort that all the member ANSPs are contributing to CANSO could be better spent on improving their own companies. "

.... No, no and no, the finance and effort that all atco is contributing could be better spent on improving their new own European atcos company...
Again, just think about it...

Is this CANSO chappie an ex-ATCO?
Out of interest, where, and for how long?
The CANSO website is fascinating, loads of dinners, conferences and corporate events. But I thought most ANSPs are hard up.
Why do we need CANSO when we already have have ICAO, IFATCA, EASA, GATCO, Eurocontrol etc?
Didn't The Red Barron address a CANSO conference once? I'm sure I remember reading it in his 'blog'. :E

Zooker,
Yes, he did. Wrote very enthusiastically about it in his blog. It was somewhere exotic half way round the world. Who paid for his tickets, hotel and grub? Bet it didn't come out of his own pocket. The fact that Barron and CANSO were linked should give an idea of what a waste of time and money this international junket is.

Mr Lake was on No 28 Cadet Course, starting June 4th 1973. CATC, Bournemouth.

Still U/T then. Let me speak to his coach.

Don't expect the Governments to do anything. They created the situation themselves