Modified rest rules

I've heard staffing complaints for ATC for all my years in this career. Staffing ATC seems like it could simply fixed by force of will if they wanted to. The Federal Government employs huge swaths of people, and pays uncountably large amounts of money to do it. And it's not just worker drones. They hire and keep some pretty smart people. The relatively tiny number of people it would take to staff up ATC is hardly a rounding error in the big picture of things.

Need more throughput? Open more schools. Need more instructors, open the wallet. Heck, you can go out to any parking lot with a piece of chalk and people walking around in holding and traffic patters to imbue at least a very, very basic working knowledge of how things work for a couple of weeks to at least screen those who will get it and those that won't

There's got to be more to this story, and like the "blue wall", I suspect it's not for public consumption.
 
NovemberEcho said:
Santa moved EWR. Nuff said.
Click to expand...
Not saying he could not have fought harder than he did, but that was in the works long before he took office, it just happened to occur during his tenure. Besides didn't you want to move? I'd bet he helped ensure you guys got to maximize the move money at least.
 
Pilot Fighter said:
Think about it this way, into the 90’s, the Navy and Air Force thought that amphetamines were needed for our pilots to sustain that kinda ops tempo.
Click to expand...

FWIW we still get those, at least during OEF/OIF we were using them. It is a new medication that is supposed to not be as habit forming as straight amphetamines, compared to what they were using in the first decade or two of "performance enhancement". Very specific criteria for use though. Not just a free for all.
 
///AMG said:
FWIW we still get those, at least during OEF/OIF we were using them. It is a new medication that is supposed to not be as habit forming as straight amphetamines, compared to what they were using in the first decade or two of "performance enhancement". Very specific criteria for use though. Not just a free for all.
Click to expand...
Makes sense they were brought back in a more benign form. I think their curtailment in the 90’s was linked to the F-16 friendly fire incident.

Unless it was a long ferry flight, was kinda rare in the S-3 community. An extra set of hands up front certainly helped.

In my father’s Whale and Spad days, they were used liberally.
 
///AMG said:
when you have 20 days off in a month.
Click to expand...

Jesus, speak for yourself. I get 11/12. I'm sick of seeing people talking about how much time off they have.

The body isn't meant to work this hard long-term. Not for ATC, not for pilots, not for factory workers.

Put the money down and hire the right number of people to do the job, treat them well, and ... I mean, this is pretty basic.
 
GolfChuck said:
Not saying he could not have fought harder than he did, but that was in the works long before he took office, it just happened to occur during his tenure. Besides didn't you want to move? I'd bet he helped ensure you guys got to maximize the move money at least.
Click to expand...

He told us in person that if the FAA went ahead with the move, especially forcing people, NATCA would go to war with the FAA over it. Instead we got crickets.

Yes, I wanted to move because it was my only way off Long Island but from day 1 I have always said operationally and safety wise it’s the dumbest thing they could do.

Santa was definitely better than Nick Daniels but he sure as hell was no BUE Jesus.
 
Hiring instructors to teach those initial courses is an issue as well. The FAA in all their infinite wisdom, would rather contract the job out than just open bids for current controllers to just move over within the agency. To become an instructor you have to retire and then get hired by a third party. A big problem with this is we get retirement benefits to cover the gap between mandatory retirement and social security eligibility, but if we make too much money in the interim, then it just gets taken out of the supplement. Which means that guess what? The instructors are underpaid too. Now if I could get my good time in and then just transfer within the agency without retiring, I would be much more inclined to be an instructor. Even if I don't save my controller salary I'd still be contributing to my pension calculation and I'd get healthcare.

I have been through all 3 schools in OKC, En Route(2010), Tower(2015), and TRACON(2024). The last time I went, a significant portion of instructors were working double shifts to cover the classes. Meanwhile, classrooms sat empty. That is 7am-3:30pm AND 3:30pm-Midnight with two unpaid 30 minute lunch breaks, then back at 7am. I am sure the quality of instruction was top notch.
 
🦈💜 said:
Jesus, speak for yourself. I get 11/12. I'm sick of seeing people talking about how much time off they have.

The body isn't meant to work this hard long-term. Not for ATC, not for pilots, not for factory workers.

Put the money down and hire the right number of people to do the job, treat them well, and ... I mean, this is pretty basic.
Click to expand...

100% agree that schedule shouldn't be a schedule for anyone (at least those that don't want it). FWIW, our reserve lines are built pretty much exactly as you describe your schedule......12 or 13 days off, depending on if 30 or 31 day month.
 
The Oklahoma congressional delegation works tirelessly to make sure the FAA never opens another academy somewhere people would actually want to live. It’s crazy that we just accept that.

We’re in for a long ride as controllers unfortunately. I’m praying enough people wake up to get the NDJH faction the hell out of power, but I’ve been in for over a decade and have literally never seen anything in the FAA or NATCA get better.

Controllers need and deserve so much better than this current union “leadership”. It’s pretty to clear to anyone paying attention that he is far more concerned with his Buddies at home details and his own future consulting gig, than he is with any of us. Go tell the people at SJC BUR VNY etc that asking for more than a 1.6% raise is short sighted. •, ask any of the almost 100 CPCs who are moving to Australia instead of staying with the FAA.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top