This NATCA press release highlights another FAA folly:
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Federal Aviation Administration’s highly controversial rush to split the tower and radar control functions at Memphis International Airport last week has created an immediate staffing shortage. The FAA is now seeking to fill six new controller positions at the Memphis TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control). The agency’s official vacancy announcement – which was posted three days after the split – can be found here:
http://jobs.faa.gov/announcement_detail.asp?vac_id=115539
NATCA believes the staffing shortage is further proof why the FAA’s realignment of the facility – a precursor to closing much needed radar facilities across the Mid and Deep South regions and moving those operations to Memphis – was both unwise and unnecessary.
The move also justifies the concern of over 150 members of Congress nationwide who have registered their opposition to the FAA’s realignment agenda until there is a common sense approach in place; namely a review procedure that compels the FAA to subject all current realignment efforts to a much needed layer of oversight, accountability and transparency. The House FAA Reauthorization bill, passed last month, does just that. NATCA is supporting passage of a final FAA bill this year.
“We look forward to briefing (FAA) Administrator Randy Babbitt on the folly of splitting the air traffic control functions at Memphis and to assist him in returning accountability to the FAA,” said NATCA Southern Regional Vice President Victor Santore. “NATCA continues to offer to work on realignment issues with the FAA once a legitimate process is adopted. Through true collaboration, taxpayer dollars could be saved without compromising safety.”
The split of Memphis’ facility also has ramifications for the efficiency of the airport’s operations. It takes a certain amount of controllers in order for the FAA to safely run simultaneous instrument landing system approaches into the airport for the big daily Federal Express inbound push. But the staffing is now so strained in the TRACON that even one controller who is sick and can’t work means the FAA has to wastefully spend money on overtime to bring in relief help. Additionally, in an episode last Thursday, short staffing forced local management to use two supervisors to work traffic instead of experienced front-line controllers.
Similar problems are occurring at Orlando International Airport, where the FAA rushed to split the tower and functions in January, using an admitted crisis of short staffing to justify the action. The FAA claimed the split would improve efficiency and reduce training times. However, Orlando radar controllers are still working six-day work weeks and 10-hour days – spending thousands of taxpayer dollars in overtime – with little if any improvement in sight.
17 hours ago
2 comments:
I bet those 2 stupes who had to work traffic did so during breaks in the action, not during the big pushes. The management's decision to split the facility sure is showing off their ability to plan ahead. All the OT $$$ to Orlando and SOCAL and a bunch of other places...wonder how that stacks up against what the earnings of the retired folks would have been if they stayed. Financial mis-management should cost at least one of these VPs in the FAA/ATO their job.
I am a retired SES and concerned tax payer. I am writing this letter because I have personally witnessed the last four years of the ATO (Air Traffic Organization) and am not pleased with the current ATO leadership’s direction. As simple evidence, the recent report of survey “best place to work in the federal government” ranks the FAA at the bottom. ATO comprises 85% of the total FAA employees and painfully, this is no longer the same agency that I used to work for.
There are a number of major ATO goals that have fallen well short of target projections. Example one is the promised lease cost savings to be recouped by the Agency. At the non Service Center Regional Offices ( 6 locations), each Regional Office building has multiple vacant floors of office space that the FAA has paid for at least three years running, with no ending date in sight. This amount of “unutilized space”, as a result of the creation of the service centers is unjustifiable and totally unconscionable. The FAA has intentionally kept the actual square footage and costs hidden to the public and Congress. The questions we should all be asking is just exactly how much “unutilized space” is existing in the six regional offices (New England, Eastern, Central, Western, Great Lakes, and Alaska) and how much is it costing the FAA per annum. Meanwhile, the FAA leases additional buildings at the three Service Center locations to house newly created Service Center staff. Originally, there were even plans to build new Service Center buildings, at $350 Million each, at the three locations. Ultimately, those plans were shelved due to its high cost. Nevertheless, the projected cost savings from vacated office spaces never materialized to offset the additional lease costs at the Service Center locations.
Another example is the loss of efficiency: We now have more staffing at the Service Centers than the combined total number of specialists from the former respective ATO Regional Branches. In spite of that, it takes longer to get specific tasks done. This is true from processing personnel actions to getting project authorizations. Where is the promise of economies of scale, and service equal to or better than before?
Four years ago John Pipes, the Transition Executive led a plan to consolidate functions and create the service centers. The stated objectives were to help the ATO save costs, increase operational efficiencies and provide better services to the flying public. This plan has failed on a grand scale and instead has negatively impacted many of the NATAC and PASS members. Countless families have been uprooted and we have unnecessarily lost productivity and thousands of years of FAA experiences as the organization targeted many older FAA employees and forced them into unwanted retirement.
While creating these service centers, Mr. Pipes placed people into positions that he can control. He reorganized the entire ATO and conveniently catapulted himself to a senior VP position where he is also in charge of diversity for the ATO. He has, without cause, reassigned the only Hispanic female VP and down graded her title to director, simultaneously banning her from the Executive Council. Today the entire ATO Executive Council is void of minority representation.
If we continue to promote this type of leadership behavior, we will ensure the destruction of the FAA’s core values and suffer an ever expanding integrity gap. I respectfully hope that the new FAA Administrator will change this type of unwanted leadership and hold those individuals fully accountable.
Sincerely,
Concerned tax payer
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