Air traffic controllers seek help

[daveyb99]

For evrey hour that an ATC works they get a 20 min break so they work 40 min out of evrey hour due to the high stress of the job.  

I have been a controller for 18+ years.

Since 1988, our contracts have stated "no more than two hours on position without a break from operational duties". The FAA does violate that when THEY let staffing numbers drop and can not get people out.

In a 7+30 shift (paid 0+30 lunch cause we can not leave the facility), time on positiion tends to run 4+30 to 6+30 depending on day of week, weather, etc., with the rest of time spent doing briefings, refresher training, ongoing training, and yes just plain breaks.

Thanks for the support everyone. 1-800-FAIR-FAA

 

[AmtrakWPK]

As a private pilot I have flown through busy airspace, like New York, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, jacksonville, Dallas, and others. No way would I ever have been interested in an ATC controller job. Flying through NYC airspace, I have never seen so many clouds stuffed with aluminum, all moving at high speed in three dimensions, arriving and departing from several different airports. A train dispatcher works with traffic in two dimensions, and all the traffic is on an exact predetermined path (the rail). Not so with aircraft. And has been pointed out, you can tell all the trains to just stop, and then take your time sorting things out. For hours if necessary. Nobody dies. Tell an airplane to stop, and it will fall to the ground. An airplane also runs out of fuel eventually and crashes if it doesn't land in time. It has to be guided around bad storm cells. It can pick up ice and require expeditious handling out of the area of severe icing. It can have a medical emergency on board and require immediate rerouting around all the traffic in front of it. Just listening to the ATC transmissions in busy airspace is enough to give you gray hair. And the typical big-city airspace will have air traffic transmissions on as many as a dozen different frequencies because there is way too much in the way of information being taken instructions being given to be done on less channels than that. They earn their money.

 

[Treckie]

I have been a controller for 18+ years.
Thanks for the support everyone.  1-800-FAIR-FAA

You Bet daveyb....Kinda had the feeling you knew what you were talking about.

 

[Boxcar]

I have been a controller for 18+ years.

Thanks for the support everyone.  1-800-FAIR-FAA

You Bet daveyb....Kinda had the feeling you knew what you were talking about.

I second that daveyb99.....Keep up the fight and thanks for watching out for my butt when I do fly... .....BD

 

[PRR 60]

Well, as the risk of inciting a riot, the point is not whether air traffic controllers have a tough job: they do. It is a stressful job. It is an important job. People’s lives depend on the skill of air traffic controllers (although not only controllers). The point is that controllers exist in the same economic environment as that of the rest of the airline industry: an industry that has fundamentally changed its economic structure over the last five years. With an average salary before overtime of over $100,000 per year, controllers are very, very well compensated for their skill and efforts. The mere fact that the cost of air traffic control is on the table is not, in and of itself, an assault on American labor.

The issue is not whether there has to be some modification of the conditions of employment of air traffic controllers. Even NATCA recognizes that reality. The issue is how much and by what means. Right now, the impasse between NATCA and the FAA is a “he said, she said” (appropriate, don’t you think) stand-off that, for an outsider, is pretty hard to resolve.

Here is my bottom line: I feel safer in the air than I do on any other form of transportation (sorry, railfans). That safety is a result, in part, of technology like TCAS, but is also the result of the skill of many people from pilots to mechanics to flight attendants and, of course, controllers. Each of these groups is a major contributor to air safety, and each of those groups, except controllers, have taken hard economic hits since 2001. Controllers, and controllers alone have escaped the airline economic storm virtually unscathed: protected by the armor of being government employees. Salaries have been protected. Pensions are intact. Benefits are intact. That, in the commercial aviation world of 2006, is no small matter. As a reasonably frequent air traveler, I hope that the NATCA-FAA dispute can be resolved, and maybe if both sides could stow the name calling, it could. But NATCA has to realize that they are a pretty lucky group in today's aviation business and consider that simple fact when trying to settle this thing.

 

[Boxcar]

Well, as the risk of inciting a riot, the point is not whether air traffic controllers have a tough job: they do.  It is a stressful job.  It is an important job.  People’s lives depend on the skill of air traffic controllers (although not only controllers).  The point is that controllers exist in the same economic environment as that of the rest of the airline industry: an industry that has fundamentally changed its economic structure over the last five years.  

There is no risk of inciting a roit as far as I'm concerned PRR60. Your opinion is just as valid as anothers, including mine. In fact I have found several of your threads informative. you have made some good points on this subject as well. The main point I tried to make was that a job that stressful requires an above average wage and if that wage is drastically reduced it becomes not worth it to the controllers. It wouldn't be worth it to me.I just think there are some salaries that can be downsized and there are others that can't. Many people have jobs they don't like but keep them because of the wages and benefits. Remove those and they are out of there in a flash.

I would hate to see the ATC become a revolving door for controllers.

I just don't think it is safe.....BD

 

[amtrak_flyer]

TCAS/TAWS/GPWS are pieces of equipment of last resort, think emergency type situation.

Something else to think about, we're all talking about airline/commercial type traffic where the pilots are well trained. One of the most stressful ATC jobs has to be at busy general aviation airports. You have student pilots learning to fly, people that fly once blue moon, unexperieced pilots who can barely fly the plane much less respond to ATC. Put ten of those pilots/planes in an airport traffic area and you have the typical general aviation airport in the US. Would I want to control there, NO THANKS.