It’s possible because it was a training base so student F-15/22 pilots
Not a pound for air to ground, on that base.
It’s possible because it was a training base so student F-15/22 pilots
None at all. Even the Eagles were C modelsNot a pound for air to ground, on that base.
Does ATC still not hire anyone older than 34.5 years?
This:
@NovemberEcho, @RetiredATLATC and @greg1016 - Are there more incidents or simply heightened awareness of incidents that occur? If you could name three things to improve safety, if money were no object, what would they be? Why is the A350 cool and the 787 not?
But decaptiating the Administration may be worse than saying "See, I need money and resources" when you know that's what the next person is going to do after blue ribbon hearings and you've just wasted more time. I don't know. I really don't know WTF I'm talking about because I fly airplanes.
The problem is the only thing worse than the rattler is literally every other alternative. If you take away the rattler you are left with a rotation of a week of days, a week of nights, a week of midnights
Yes but the administrators new proposal will eliminate your ability to work 2-3 mids during what would normally be a week of days.My facility does week of days week of swings. There is no week of mids. Every couple months you get 2-3 mids during a day week. We have enough people that like mids I haven’t had to work a mid in over a year, and that one just because I wanted it. I’ve never worked the rattler and never want to.
A job action?If you routinely bang in on your overtime they can give you a sick leave letter which can result in suspension. This isn’t enforced equally though, we have people at my facility who don’t work any of their scheduled OT and nothing comes of it. My coworker who came from Waco tower said someone received a letter because they banged out on 4 Fridays in a year and that was considered a pattern.
And if everyone decides they don’t want to work their overtime anymore it will be considered a job action.
Why do large TRACONs and Centers have such an abysmal training success rate? Because the people already there NEED the overtime to sustain their life styles. They are disincentivized to train the next generation because improving the staffing situation would reduce their overtime. If we were paid enough so that OT was not required to make ends meet, training will become so much better. This will also help with attrition. I was just reading an instagram post where a colleague was speaking of a controller who was quiting the agency after 20 years (5 years from collecting a pension), to go fly airplanes, because our raises have not been enough to keep up. I've thought of it myself but with 7 years to go IMO it is not worth giving up my pension.
A job action?
Yes but the administrators new proposal will eliminate your ability to work 2-3 mids during what would normally be a week of days.
For me it is the weekly rotation that messes with my sleep more than a daily rotation. When they eliminated the rattler at JFK they brought it back the next year because people wanted to see their kids. A week of the same shift during the pandemic was fine because you had several days to adjust to the next rotation. 1-2 days is not enough for a lot of us.Yes but there is an alternative to the rattler that isn’t worse and doesn’t involve a week of mids. Although my guess is that could also vary with staffing numbers
I have said this in other threads but it is worth repeating. I have friends in the SFO tower and one who I consider a very close friend. She has repeatedly stated concerns about staffing and being overworked. The new norm for them is 6-day work weeks. They have to use sick time to get a normal amount of days off. The FAA has audited these towers and asked what controllers need to prevent these issues and all of them say staffing. The FAA specifically told them to not mention staffing, but what else could they do? The FAA does not want to properly fix staffing issues and I firmly believe these mistakes are due to fatigue, exhaustion, and being understaffed. SFO is short several controllers, and I know other towers are too.
Pilots really need to watch themselves at these airports. We are having too many close calls and thank goodness they are caught before there is an issue but we are seeing an almost state of emergency when it comes to ATC-related close calls. Controllers are working more planes as traffic levels continue to recover and go beyond pre-COVID levels and towers are understaffed.
You’re right of course, and “the right answer” is going to be a lot more nuanced. Congressional oversight may be questionably effective anyway given that congress is the body that is insufficiently funding the FAA to begin with.
Anecdotally though the FAA has a reputation of being a bureaucratic, middle-manager heavy organization. So rather than decapitating the agency by periodically firing the administrator, which impedes progress towards a solution, how do we change the culture and motivate all those middle managers to accept that baselining 6-day workweeks for a skeleton crew of controllers is unsustainable, unacceptable and risks another major air disaster?
Has the 6-day week thing survived because it makes a lot of middle managers look good? Like was said earlier in this thread less people = less money spent. How do we change that incentive structure?
Why do you hate America, ya librul?I don't know. It feels like what's wrecked NASA (constantly having to ask for lots of money from an ever-changing administration and a changing congress, who are just worried about the next election cycle when NASA needs to fund programs that span into decades, the funding model is broken.
We, as Americans accept this. We don't, however, accept the deleterious affects it has on progress, but we're unwilling to admit the pains of our current situation is because we haven't figured out that not everything needs to be political.
Why do you hate America, ya librul?
Yeah, the decisions in this country being short-term results oriented instead of being based on long term goals is one of the factors that will drag us out of the #1 position in the world. Much too short sighted to be effective over the long haul, on so many fronts (your earlier comment about NASA being a prime example).I'm just getting 'long in the tooth' and realizing that our fundamental problem with America is that we live in an ever-lingering campaign season every 24 months which is the 'cap' of a deeply festering rot because we can't plan more than 24 months in advance for programs that could take generation or two to build.
We were talking modernization of ATC back in the 19 effing 70's, fifty years ago. Today's "OMG! The Boeing 737 Max!!! heads are going to roll! This is a conspiracy! (it's not)" was yesterdays "Who in the hell at the FAA thought certifying a DC-10 with all three major hydraulic lines underneath a motor was SANE?!"
But of course, we treat history like a dog treats food. Three to six times per day: "OMG! It's dog food, I've never seen such a thing! Food JUST for me! ! I'm so excited! I've never had this before! I'll never see it again! EAT EAT EAT!"
Then the next day: "OMG! It's dog food, I've never seen such a thing! Food JUST for me! ! I'm so excited! I've never had this before! I'll never see it again! EAT EAT EAT!"
And then the next…
That's kind of how I'm starting to see the ATC thing. We'll fix it when we stop treating the FAA like the Department of Education.
@derg for presidentI'm just getting 'long in the tooth' and realizing that our fundamental problem with America is that we live in an ever-lingering campaign season every 24 months which is the 'cap' of a deeply festering rot because we can't plan more than 24 months in advance for programs that could take generation or two to build.
We were talking modernization of ATC back in the 19 effing 70's, fifty years ago. Today's "OMG! The Boeing 737 Max!!! heads are going to roll! This is a conspiracy! (it's not)" was yesterdays "Who in the hell at the FAA thought certifying a DC-10 with all three major hydraulic lines underneath a motor was SANE?!"
But of course, we treat history like a dog treats food. Three to six times per day: "OMG! It's dog food, I've never seen such a thing! Food JUST for me! ! I'm so excited! I've never had this before! I'll never see it again! EAT EAT EAT!"
Then the next day: "OMG! It's dog food, I've never seen such a thing! Food JUST for me! ! I'm so excited! I've never had this before! I'll never see it again! EAT EAT EAT!"
And then the next…
That's kind of how I'm starting to see the ATC thing. We'll fix it when we stop treating the FAA like the Department of Education.
But that's the new normal with everything. Pretty soon maximizing shareholder value will just mean selling off the assets and cashing out. #latestagecapitalismYeah, the decisions in this country being short-term results oriented instead of being based on long term goals is one of the factors that will drag us out of the #1 position in the world. Much too short sighted to be effective over the long haul, on so many fronts (your earlier comment about NASA being a prime example).