"Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters"

bimmerphile said:
Wow. Just you guys understaffed, or US ATC in general?

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ATC in general but N90 is the worst off. I think we are hovering st around 48% right now with more retirements than trainees looming. All the big facilities are hurting pretty bad with a number on mandatory 6 day weeks. I think the only big facilities doing ok with staffing is SoCal, CLT, MIA and Orlando Tracon. Chicago and Atlanta are almost as bad as we are.
 
NovemberEcho said:
ATC in general but N90 is the worst off. I think we are hovering st around 48% right now with more retirements than trainees looming. All the big facilities are hurting pretty bad with a number on mandatory 6 day weeks. I think the only big facilities doing ok with staffing is SoCal, CLT, MIA and Orlando Tracon.
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Hence why the FAA wants to consolidate TRACONs? Like here where they want to close U90, consolidate it with P50 in their building, and have the U90 controllers control traffic here via remote feed from 100 miles away?
 
MikeD said:
Hence why the FAA wants to consolidate TRACONs? Like here where they want to close U90, consolidate it with P50 in their building, and have the U90 controllers control traffic here via remote feed from 100 miles away?
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I think the consolidation has more to do with overhead than staffing. When a facility consolidates, unless the airspace becomes divvied up among the gaining facility, it just becomes a new sector with no staffing overlap at the new facility. It being 100 miles away doesn't mean anything either. I'm probably about 40 miles from EWR, Boston TRACON is in New Hampshire, etc. I think next year Cape Tracon is consolidating with Boston, so those lucky bastards get to move to NH AND get paid as a level 11 facility while working the same level 8 traffic they've been working.
 
NovemberEcho said:
I think the consolidation has more to do with overhead than staffing. When a facility consolidates, unless the airspace becomes divvied up among the gaining facility, it just becomes a new sector with no staffing overlap at the new facility. It being 100 miles away doesn't mean anything either. I'm probably about 40 miles from EWR, Boston TRACON is in New Hampshire, etc. I think next year Cape Tracon is consolidating with Boston, so those lucky bastards get to move to NH AND get paid as a level 11 facility while working the same level 8 traffic they've been working.
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So consolidating facilities is a good thing?

Just wondering because when KPHX got their newest tower (3rd one for the airport), the TRACON was built into the facility, so as to allow P50 to move from their older buiding on the north side of the field, and be the same facility as the tower.....ground level, I believe.

When KTUS got their new tower which just opened a few months ago, is was specifically built without any accomodation for U90 to move from KDMA and be in the same facility as the tower. So TUS has a new tower, but U90 is still over at KDMA in the same dilapidated, crowded, and old building they've been in for a very long time. I guess with the PAR shutting down, that should open a little bit of room there. But I do wonder if it was done that way by design.
 
MikeD said:
So consolidating facilities is a good thing?

Just wondering because when KPHX got their newest tower (3rd one for the airport), the TRACON was built into the facility, so as to allow P50 to move from their older buiding on the north side of the field, and be the same facility as the tower.....ground level, I believe.

When KTUS got their new tower which just opened a few months ago, is was specifically built without any accomodation for U90 to move from KDMA and be in the same facility as the tower. So TUS has a new tower, but U90 is still over at KDMA in the same dilapidated, crowded, and old building they've been in for a very long time. I guess with the PAR shutting down, that should open a little bit of room there. But I do wonder if it was done that way by design.
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I wouldn't say it's a good thing but I don't think it's a bad thing either. I don't know the costs or savings involved so to me it comes down to if I liked where I was and was being made to go somewhere I didn't want to be or vice versa. Like if N90 moved off of LI, I would be ecstatic providing I could sell my house that I just bought in August for more than I paid lol. I'd imagine it's much more difficult for those who have been someplace for a long time and their kids are in school and have friends etc.
 
MikeD said:
So consolidating facilities is a good thing?

Just wondering because when KPHX got their newest tower (3rd one for the airport), the TRACON was built into the facility, so as to allow P50 to move from their older buiding on the north side of the field, and be the same facility as the tower.....ground level, I believe.

When KTUS got their new tower which just opened a few months ago, is was specifically built without any accomodation for U90 to move from KDMA and be in the same facility as the tower. So TUS has a new tower, but U90 is still over at KDMA in the same dilapidated, crowded, and old building they've been in for a very long time. I guess with the PAR shutting down, that should open a little bit of room there. But I do wonder if it was done that way by design.
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Remember that not all facilities are funded by the FAA, or directly from FAA money. Take Meridian apch as an example. Ran by the FAA for years and just recently the Navy decided on taking it back over for cost savings among other things.

There could be a similar situation going on in Tucson where the military partly funds the tracon and won't put up the money to move it...or something else along those lines.

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BWER said:
Remember that not all facilities are funded by the FAA, or directly from FAA money. Take Meridian apch as an example. Ran by the FAA for years and just recently the Navy decided on taking it back over for cost savings among other things.

There could be a similar situation going on in Tucson where the military partly funds the tracon and won't put up the money to move it...or something else along those lines.

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They use one of DMAs crappy buildings, probably because the PAR scope was in there. But now that it's gone, I wonder if there's any requirement to be here. All the controllers are FAA, with the exception of the PAR personnel who were USAF.
 
They tried to consolidate PBI approach with MIA. Everyone said no way because the drive would be approaching 2 hours. More in traffic.

Richman
 
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