Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of Hou

reddn

New Member
Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb_ZIK6BDKA&NR=1

at around 08:00 the Rep. John Mica starts drilling the controller asking if they are staffed with 'experienced' controllers and 'up to date' equipment.. it seems he was not expecting that.. i would have figured the natca would have given him some information on possible questions etc so he would have it handy

i guess 7-8 year old screens are good..

no word of no union contract, the an alarming rate of retirement due to the pay and IWR... to the point where very qualified people won't apply, possibly making them hire less qualified and to rush their training.. which costs money and possible lives

so does congress really even know whats going on with their own aviation community? I believe sullenberger stood up and spoke about the air lines dropping their pay, and hiring less experienced pilots to save money

also posted on SM

-thomas
okc 05 Aug
zdc
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

Wow...

When I become a controller hopefully I won't be cross-examined for doing something heroic...

:mad:
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

I'm sure this guy wasn't the only one asking questions, I'd like to see the whole hearing

One thing I didn't like was his constantly referring to the radar being "dialed down" to where the birds could not be seen on the radar, like it was somehow the controllers fault he didn't see birds on a radar that was designed to detect airplanes.
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

Does the word D**chebag come to anyone else when watching that video?

I laughed when the controller told him those alternate departure routes wouldn't work.:rotfl:
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

Sounded like a criminal trial.
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

Not sure what that congressman had as motive but you know he has something in mind, something he is trying to prove. Definitely was trying to get the new airways but luckily the ATC was smart and shut him down. As for the trainees...not sure what he was trying to get at but he definitely was trying to get at something. I hate Politicians and their games!
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

lol yeah, oh no the guy coming on the station next had one and a half years experience...well in order to get 10 years exp you must have a year and a half experience at some point in your career. That congressman was just an idiot. Like I said, I'd like to see the whole hearing.
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

For some reason while watching this video this congressman John Mica really made me upset with his ask a question, hear what he wants and cut off the responce of the person answering the question. Dont know if anyone else saw that, but that would drive me crazy if I had to answer his questions.

Also I love when the controller stated that "I can already tell you that some of those wont work" when he was refering to the "new" departure procedures they are trying to impliment and the congressman was speachless and the crowd laughed! That was great! :laff:
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

Unfortunately, a lot of congressmen just like to hear themselves talk. I am sure this was one of the more-watched congressional hearings this year, he was on TV and tried to be a big-shot.
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

Why does he have to point his finger around at people as if they are all a lesser life form?
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

Not sure what that congressman had as motive but you know he has something in mind, something he is trying to prove. Definitely was trying to get the new airways but luckily the ATC was smart and shut him down. As for the trainees...not sure what he was trying to get at but he definitely was trying to get at something. I hate Politicians and their games!

This basically boiled down to needing a scapegoat. Even though tragedy was averted that day, there ALWAYS has to be SOMEONE to blame when there are multi-million dollar losses and the spotlight (media) is on you. Those who "oversee" government agencies never believe that things sometimes "just happen" and there is really nothing you can do about it.

There was no WAY he was going to blame Capt. Sullenburger. Can you even imagine the outrage that would have ensued had he said something to the effect of "So, you saw the enormous flock of geese...Then why, Capt. did you not use the emergency avoidance procedures put in place by your airlines and practiced by you hundreds of times over the course of your 30+ years flying?" He would have never been re-elected and everyone would be thinking the same thing: What kind of ridiculous line of questioning is this and are you REALLY trying to accuse our hero, Capt. Sullenburger, of not doing everything in his power to avoid this situation?

So, who does this leave to blame? The 1st officer? Not likely. The flight attendants? Of course not. That leaves the ATC. The part about "dumbing the scope down" is ridiculous. What Mr. Harten was TRYING to explain was that they can filter out aircraft that are not in or around the altitude of the airspace that he was controlling. For example, if an aircraft is flying at FL350 and talking to NY Center, he is going to filter that aircraft off his scope because there is no chance of that aircraft being a factor as far as traffic is concerned. The congressman was confused as to how the filtering worked. He thought that the controller had turned down the sensitivity of the scope as to eliminate smaller objects on the scope, which is not the case. Obviously, he nor anyone else on his staff had bothered to talk to an actual ATC to find out how this worked. Instead, it seems Google and CNN were good enough sources. Had he actually spoken to an ATC they could have told him that not only was a flock of geese unlikely to show up on the RADAR scope, but that even it the flock had shown up, there would have been no way to be able to determine the altitude of the geese (unless Canadian Geese have managed to evolve into a species with a Mode C transponder built into their beaks). The only thing the controller could have done IF there HAD been a primary target on the scope is issue an advisory, and possibly vectored around the primary target. That, of course, is ridiculous since that airspace is so congested and clouds will sometimes cause erroneous targets.

Everyone that day did their jobs exceptionally well that day, including Mr. Harten. I did not watch the entire congressional hearing, and I do not know what happened to Mr. Harten, but hopefully he is still working as a controller in the FAA. I would fly in his skies any day.

Edit: The reason Congressman Mica brought up the trainees is that he wanted illude to the fact that the controller was relatively inexperienced compared to the rest of the people sitting in the hearing that day, whereas everyone else had 30+ years experience Mr. Harten "only" had 10 years and his relief only had 1.5...just another way to try and take a cheap shot at the controller.
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

For those of you that don't know Mica's history. . .

He's always been a dick towards controllers. Especially when he was chair of that very committee during the Bush years.

Mica is counter-productive to the goals of the FAA (the new FAA at least) and NATCA. He, with Blakey, combined forces to get the IWR in place.
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

For those of you that don't know Mica's history. . .

He's always been a dick towards controllers. Especially when he was chair of that very committee during the Bush years.

Mica is counter-productive to the goals of the FAA (the new FAA at least) and NATCA. He, with Blakey, combined forces to get the IWR in place.

Mica (R-MI) doesn't like controllers? would have never guessed that. :laff:
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

Mica should have googled ATC or read Ch. 10 of the .65 before this live televised questioning for obvious reasons.
Mr. Harten earned his pay that day and i'm sure FAA manglement tried to pin him with a QAR w/deficiencies.
 
Re: Youtube Video- N90 Controller Patrick Harten in front of

What a complete moron! Thankfully Mr. Harten didnt let that finger pointing and stupid shenanigans about questioning each crews years of experience let the best of him.


I bet Mica was waiting for the crowd to go "Oooohhhhh, AHHHHH" when he said 10 years. And on top of it, Mr. Harten continued to defend any other controller with less experience than him. A+ work mate!
 
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