The FAA Follies

Or, as my Norwegian relatives would say… Uff Da!

My wife and I have had some houseguests this week. Her good friend Diana from college, Diana’s husband Lonn, and four kids: a niece who’s 13, and their kids who are 9, 6, and 2. Or maybe the little one is 1, I’m not particularly great with babies and wasn’t paying attention.

Anyway, they’re awesome people, but in a two-bedroom condo… it’s a lot of people. Especially when everyone else is on normal daytime schedules, and I’m on all swing shifts (my week is 16-15-15-12-12 for controller talk). Which is my excuse for not putting anything fresh up on the Follies this week. Weak excuse, I know, and even worse since I’m going on yet another vacation next week, but that’s what’s up.

However… I am happy to say that I do have a post from NORDO waiting in the wings, but before I post it tomorrow, I want to point out a contrasting view to it (it’s about inexperience in the workforce). I’ve invited the various candidates for NATCA national offices to submit articles for the Follies; thus far, the only one that has is Ruth Marlin. I do hope to get something in the next few months from Paul, Pat, Trish and Rich, but you never know- they’re awfully busy and might not be able to pop anything up here.

I also want to announce the semi-official opening up of a Follies project- the NATCA Election 2009 site! Yay! Found at www.natcaelection.com, the site is intended to be the basic resource for anyone curious about the NATCA elections. Rather than having to remember all the various candidates’ web site URLs, every NATCA member only needs to remember ONE address: WWW.NATCAELECTION.COM

I’ve asked the candidates to forward me basic info for a page for each of them. Some have, and you can see the results on the web site. I’ve also included links on their pages to their own official campaign web sites, and pages that describe each office. I haven’t gotten around to it but I’m going to include links on the site to the election forum that Rick Foster, DEN’s FacRep, set up.

Like the Follies, the NATCA Election web site is intended to be a non-partisan, non-endorsing kind of site. While I have my favorite candidates, I’m not using that site to pimp them, and each candidate is welcome to submit their own text for those pages (subject to some editorial considerations- it’s intended to be a collection of links and basic site, not a campaign ad for anyone).

So please spread the word and encourage any/all candidates to email me at faafollies@gmail.com with their info, web sites, and so forth. I would watch the NATCA BBS for candidates announcing for office but… um… well, the BBS Censor Squad kicked my ass off for speaking my mind have kind of asked me to not participate there for a while. Sigh. (In seriousness, they’re good guys just doing their job; the problem is they’re helping to enforce an incredibly stupid policy.)

If someone (or several someones) could pass the word to start pimping the election site on the BBS, I’d sure appreciate it.

Anyway, back to the inexperience in the workforce theme. (I’m a bit scrambled today.) Here’s a terrific piece from Ruth Marlin about a recent incident, and it demonstrates the professionalism of the air traffic control workforce:

Inspiration!

Today was an inspiring day to be working at Miami Center. It started off like many holiday weekend Sundays, slow in the morning then starting to pick up as people head back home to start the workweek. The sectors were all getting busy when a sector adjacent to mine had an aircraft emergency. This was not just any emergency, but rather a passenger on a King Air got on the radio and said the pilot was unconscious (later “appeared to be deceased”) the aircraft was climbing and he – the passenger – could not stop the climb.

The controller asked if the passenger was a pilot or had flying experience and while he did have experience in a single engine plane, he had not flown the King Air. The radar controller immediately called for assistance. His d-side started coordination on not only the emergency aircraft, but also the other aircraft in the sector that needed to be moved out of the way. A controller in my area, who is not only an experienced pilot, but also a flight instructor, stepped in to help. She was able to calm the passenger down and help him regain control of the aircraft. The radar controller and the controller assisting worked as a flawless team sharing the frequency to handle both the aircraft in distress and the other aircraft in the sector for which they were responsible, while the D-side made sure the extensive coordination was complete.

These three controllers, r-side, d-side and pilot from another area worked like a well-oiled machine to get the aircraft under control and delivered to Ft. Myers Approach. The team there took the aircraft to a safe landing. While they were working the situation, more people were waiting in the wings to help in any way they could, more controllers with pilot experience, ready to help. Controllers in adjacent sectors moved traffic out of the way. It was teamwork at its finest, and what makes us so proud to be part of this profession.

But there is more to this story. Those three controllers, those dedicated professionals who stayed calm in a crisis, responded to the unexpected, took the steps needed to save the lives of those passengers today, each certified in the last year. They used skills and training they paid for with student loans. Loans they took out because they had a promise from the government. They were told if they worked hard, performed at the top of their class, invested in the FAA certified program, waited for a hire date, focused on their training and made the cut, they would earn their way into a profession where their skills will be valued and they would be compensated like professionals. The investment of time, talent, and tuition would be worth it. They could forgo other careers, and even though the post college training may take another three to five years, eventually it would lead to a career worth dedicating your professional life to. They took that IOU. They trusted the United States of America to keep its promise and not to change the rules in the middle of the game.

When the passengers on N559DW called for help, they didn’t get an IOU, they didn’t get a promise for help later, they didn’t get asked to wait, and they got to live to see tomorrow. The team that helped them today, are not “kids”, or “new hires”, or “b-scalers”, they are air traffic controllers. They are dedicated professionals, union members, our brother and sisters. I am honored to work along side them every day. They not only deserve the credit they will get over the next few days, they deserve the respect of their employer.

They paid it forward. It is time for the government, the FAA, the Secretary of Transportation, and the President of the United States to do the same. We have heard that their issues are a “top priority” for the administration – they are the ones that are most harmed by the imposed work rules. When the passengers on that plane needed them to come through, they didn’t hesitate, they made no excuses, they performed and the people on that plane are alive because of it. It is time for their employer to come through for them, deliver on their promises and stop making excuses.

Whether you’re going to vote for Ruth or not, or are even a NATCA member or not, I am sure you can see the wisdom of her post and agree with it.

(Ruth’s blog is worth reading, even if you’re not going to vote for her or if you’re undecided. Heck, so is Paul and Trish’s section where they post new content. I don’t know if Pat has anything up yet, but I’d encourage all NATCA voters to educate themselves about all of the candidates and see what they have to say, and offer. I’m voting for Ruth, of course, and hope you join me, but more importantly I hope that you take part in your union’s election process.)

That said, tomorrow we’ll have a post from NORDO that looks at the flip side of inexperience in the ATC workforce.