The Price of Inexperience
Posted by NORDO on April 16th, 2009
There has been a lot of talk lately about the relative youth and inexperience among the air traffic controller workforce. And the truth is people should be talking about it. I don’t want to sound like an alarmist here, but the fact is the National Airspace System is completely overburdened with newly certified controllers and trainees, and the system is starting to feel the stress.
Let’s say you and your family were flying somewhere on vacation, and before you boarded the aircraft you caught a glimpse of the flight crew walking down the jet way. Imagine both crew members looked barely old enough to drive, early twenties at best. And here you are about to entrust the lives of you and your family to these two kids. You’d probably feel a little uneasy about the flight and rightfully so. We’ve talked about the value of experience here before and the same still holds true today. As a matter of fact inexperience in the cockpit is also a major factor affecting the NAS today, especially among regional carriers, but that’s another blog. I only point it out because pilots are a much more visible part of the system than controllers, but the same principles still hold true.
Inexperience is a big problem in the air traffic controller workforce today, despite what the FAA’s propaganda spin-machine would have you believe. The Orlando Sentinal published an article last week about the inexperience of the controllers working in the Orlando Control Tower. The article states that about half of the controllers at MCO tower have less than five years of experience, and 40% have two years or less. Well that’s no big deal. These kids are certified to work the positions and monitored by supervisors right? What could go wrong?
[NTSB - OPS08IA015A]
On September 19, 2008, at 1938 eastern daylight time, an operational error occurred that resulted in a near-collision on runway 6 at the Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE), Allentown, Pennsylvania. Mesa Air Shuttle flight 7138, a Canadair CRJ-700 carrying 56 passengers and four crew from ABE to Chicago as a scheduled 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 121 flight, aborted takeoff because N736GV, a Cessna 172 carrying a pilot and two passengers under 14 CFR part 91, had just landed and was still taxiing on the runway near the intersection with taxiway B. The crew of ASH7138 estimated the distance between the two aircraft as 10 feet when they passed. There was no damage to either aircraft and no reported injuries. Following the incident, both aircraft taxied to parking. The crew of ASH7138 elected to cancel the flight and have the aircraft inspected. N736GV taxied to general aviation parking and concluded the flight.
The local controller was hired by the FAA in September 2007, and began training at ABE tower in November 2007. He was certified on the local control position on August 12, 2008, and was also certified on the clearance delivery and flight data positions, but was not yet qualified to act as a Controller in Charge (CIC) or work any of the approach control radar positions. He stated that it was common to have developmental controllers who were not yet radar-certified assigned to a control position in the tower as long as one of the tower controllers present was qualified to act as CIC. The local controller had trained on the local control position from March 2008 to August 2008. During that time, he recalled training approximately one hour during nighttime hours. He stated that there was little to no training after sunset at ABE because of insufficient traffic. [Review of his training documentation showed that of his 81 hours training time on local control, 49 minutes were at night.]
That incident made national headlines. There was no supervisor on duty at the time. Instead another developmental controller was acting as Controller in Charge (CIC). Let me be clear, no one is trying to throw the controllers under the bus. It’s not their fault they weren’t fully equipped to maintain the highest safety standard. Sure, they were certified on paper, but should they really have been in the tower alone?
The frequent and relentless amount of training in facilities today has also been a stress to the system. Last spring a developmental controller receiving on-the-job instruction at Cleveland Center had a near mid-air collision between two airliners at 35,000 feet east of Pittsburgh. The aircraft involved were are Delta jet carrying 57 passengers from CVG to LGA and a PSA regional jet carrying 70 passengers from AVP to CLT.
This incident also made national headlines and true to form the FAA’s response was “safety was never compromised.”
Denver International Airport was also recently in the news becasue of the lack of experienced controllers in the Tracon. Media sources obtained a two-page memo by the Denver ARTCC acting manager explaining recent changes to air traffic flow procedures to the airport. (Editor’s note: John Carr scooped everyone and was the first media source to publicize this memo; thanks to the traditional media’s disdain for bloggers, though, they never gave him proper credit for doing so. John, here’s your shout out, amigo- nice work! Love John or hate him, but everyone damn well ought to respect him.)
DEN is commonly regarded as the nation’s most modern airport. The change in procedures restrict the inbound traffic to four corner-post arrival routes, resulting in delays. The reason for the change according to the memo is “the loss of a large number of experienced employees (and) the relative inexperience of many of their current controllers.” So now we have FAA management curtailing and limiting air traffic services due to experience levels in specific facilties.
The NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) is a great tool for aviation professionals to communicate safety issues under relative anonymity. Over the past two years the system has had dozens of reports by controllers who are concerned about the impacts of training and inexperience on the level of safety in the system these days. Here are a few excerpts:
“…When the trainee saw that the C172 was descending out of 4300, the trainee told the C172 to maintain VFR at 4000, the same altitude as the CRJ2 was climbing to, head on. The Instructor had to issue evasive instructions to save a midair collision. This is becoming the norm for trainees here at AUS. Each new trainee is being given a number of hours to train on each radar position, which is unheard of and find it hard to believe the extra hours are doing the flying public any good. The extra hours are only increasing the chance that a trainee that should not be doing this job is being given more time to have a seriousevent occur between two or more aircraft. (AUS 2008)”
“…the Ground Controller gave his initials and then started to instruct the Bonanza at Txwy E to Cross Rwy 21L at Txwy E. The Ground Control Trainer immediately cut in on the Ground Frequency to prevent the Bonanza from moving and having a potentially ugly situation. The experienced and knowledgeable controller conducting OJT at the Ground Control position and making great saves was the only reason a runway incursion or worse did not take place. These situations happen more often now because we have so much training going on at our facility. We have 10 CPCs and 9 Trainees and out new CPCs are causing the safety at the airport to lessen. Our trainees are of a lesser quality than we have had in the past and our facility is now acting as the screen for those trainees that don’t have what it takes. (PRC Feb 2008)”
“…what I expected to hear my trainee say was to have aircraft Y cross Rwy 18. What my trainee said instead was to clear Aircraft X for takeoff without delay because of additional traffic inbound to Rwy 21. I immediately instructed my trainee to cancel the takeoff clearance which he did. Unfortunately the transmission was wither blocked or not received because Aircraft X continued his takeoff roll and departed. There is a lot of training being done at MSN right now. There are 9 trainees with 17 CPCs so training occurs regularly. (MSN Nov 2007)
I wish I could say that these were simply a few isolated facilities with a few isolated controllers. But the fact is these ASRS excerpts typify sentiments by controllers throughout the system. And as much as it pains me to say it, these types of aircraft incidents are going to become much more common in the years ahead. I just hope the new administration at the FAA intends to address it, otherwise they’d better beef up their public relations spin-machine. So far they’ve been able to pull the wool over the eyes of the public. But when airplanes start falling out of the sky, no amount of spin will be able to silence the public outcry.
April 16th, 2009 at 3:03 am
What is the answer?
I would imagine the experience level in 1982 was lower than today, but no one listened to PATCO. I mean, they obviously had an axe to grind. Their solution was to bring them back to restore order in the NAS. That didn’t happen!
So, what is Your solution to the problem? If we were to go back to the Green Book today, how would this stop the mandatory retirements?
Would everyone suddenly decide to forgo an early retirement?
You state the obvious but don’t offer a solution.
The fact is, the majority of today’s seasoned workforce is greying. No amount of finger pointing will change this fact.
Be constructive, give us a road map to recovery.
April 16th, 2009 at 5:42 am
#1. The problem is that there is no easy road to recovery. Our employer has intentionally seen to that. The faa has painted itself into a corner with the vets already gone and staffing critical. The newer hires are here now and that cant be changed. Its not the newer hires fault by any means. I have great heartache for all the hires that were/will be training failures here at DAB. Their employer did them an injustice by sending them here. A large portion of them could be successful if sent to a slower tower/tracon and progressed up the chain(which usually happens anyway). Instead we are forced to spend years and energy training them until they dont make it. What a waist. I have some ideas though. First take any flem that has been promoted within the last 3 years and make them return to the boards. As feeble controllers as they are they can work the easier sectors/positions while the folks who do it every day can train on the busy ones. This will also augment staffing. Next start sending developmentals with no previous experience to slower facilities first and let their career move them up. It does no good to send a zero experience person to ZTL and NY TRACON. Dividends from doing this would take years but would make for a more fundamentally sound controller. For you readers that dont know, this was the norm for decades. Once the agency realized controllers were leaving in droves, they did/are panic staffing to make numbers look good. More smoke and mirrors. Next return us to a contract that encourages those considering retirement to stay for a few more years.
These poor new hires stepped into a battlefield. One side, a union, fighting for their rights and on the other side an incompetent employer who could care less.
April 16th, 2009 at 5:58 am
One of the only ways out of this that I can see is to reinstate a screen at the OKC ATC academy. Anyone with a pulse could pass out there right now.
For example, when I took the the entrance exam in 1985 there were 30,000 other people who did over the country. Of those 30,000 slightly more than 3000 scored high enough to make it out to the Academy. At the Academy right at 50% of those failed and were sent home.
The remaining 1500 or so people were split up. In general, the top 25% of the highest scoring folks were sent to the busiest, hardest to staff facilities and the remaining were split up between the slower towers, tracons and centers.
To get the best and brightest to even bother to take the test you will have to lure them with money, and lots of it. Offer at least a 50k base out at the academy plus per Diem with a substantial raise upon graduation.
You get what you pay for in this world and I think that slowly, dimly the FAA is figuring this out.
Every single one of our new guys who certified (ok, after 1000 days of white book we have only managed to certify 3) here have admitted they have resumes out with the DOD and overseas. The FAA spent hundreds of thousands of dollars training them and they are going to be gone in less that a year because there pay is so low.
BRILLIANT!
April 16th, 2009 at 6:54 am
I heard someone say that a big problem is that the smaller GA towers ar more often than not contract controllers, so that learning step in the process is gone. Trainees are being dropped into busy towers without the advantage of slowly working their way up. Is that true?
April 16th, 2009 at 6:55 am
and how many Operational Deviations go unreported. That is: i.e. ; issued a wrong taxi route creating and head on with another aircraft taxiing and a tug is required to pull the 2 apart. Or the new hire in the tower issues non-standard, SOP, missed approach procedures, into another aircraft’s flight path, then going unreported because the other local control (experienced veteran caught the situation and corrected the new hires mistake). Or how about new hires in the tower just making blatant mistakes, but the FAA would shuffle them off to another facility, when they have already showed that ATC is not in their blood.
There are hundreds of SOP Deviations nation wide that occur and veteran controllers just make a few comments about the new hire and then move on because it is fruitless to call that new hire out and any real action is taken.
Unless some real action to stop the hemmorage of veteran controller starts immediately, things will continue to digress.
I have seen the new generation of controllers and some have the skills to be good controllers, but the overall group have shown they are motivated but just lack the necessary skills to to the job. Now I work in an ATC 12 terminal facility and NO NEW Hire should be placed in a facility higher then ATC 8.
High density facilities never were set up to train this way, Centers have been for a long time.
You all be safe out there
April 16th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Reference the smaller VFR towers, yes, most are now contract towers. That doesn’t mean they are not usable for training of FAA controllers, however. Example: I know a contract tower controller who was just picked up by the FAA to go to the academy. She has some military experience and worked for my company as a tower controller for about a year. She took a $30,000 PAY CUT to get the FAA job. And, get this, she was selected for LAX Tower ! I think she may have difficulty in making the program, to say the least, but hopefully the FAA can place her at a smaller tower when the inevitable occurs. It is the FAA that screwed this up. She has good experience, but not for the kind of operation LAX is. A waste of taxpayer money. So, yes, VFR contract towers are still good training, but the FAA has to get some reality in their decisions….
April 16th, 2009 at 7:28 am
“The fact is, the majority of today’s seasoned workforce is greying. No amount of finger pointing will change this fact.
Be constructive, give us a road map to recovery.”
Road map?
Sure, stop sending zero experience new hires to ATC 8 or above terminal faciliites for starters, and reinstitute the non radar screen at OKC.
And stop viewing the controller workforce and NATCA as the enemy. Bush and Blakey and their ideological agendas are gone. And Babbitt is going to have his hands full, righting this foundering ship. So we’re all going to have to work together again…something FAA has been loath to do for too many years under the last WH.
Do I have grey ? You bet, plenty. And I earned every one of them.
But believe me, when the scata hits the fan, you’ll want me controlling the flight you’re on. Not some 23 year old kid certified on one or two radar sectors.
April 16th, 2009 at 7:44 am
Don’t pat yourself on the back too hard. It was 23 years old “kids” that one WWII in P51s and B17s. Not everybody can do it, but it’s not brain surgery either.
April 16th, 2009 at 7:48 am
won
April 16th, 2009 at 8:28 am
…Don’t pat yourself on the back too hard. It was 23 years old “kids” that one WWII in P51s and B17s. Not everybody can do it, but it’s not brain surgery either…..
Apples and oranges. A world at war, and those kids got better training then some of our new hires do today.
I stand by what I said.
April 16th, 2009 at 9:47 am
“…those kids got better training then some of our new hires do today.”
A couple of days ago, during a period of IFR weather here in the east, a CIC was in charge as the weather started coming down. The reported ceiling dropped to 300 feet. The CIC announced that we were now below minimums (approach plate show minimums for CAT I ILS to be about 350′. The elevation of TDZ is about 150′.) The CIC has been in the building for about 1.5-2 years. The others in the tower at that time – all newbies with equal of lesser experience – all agreed while I remained quietly to the side as they discussed this.
When I informed them that approach minimums were altitudes above sea level and clouds are above ground level, they didn’t get it still. When I explained to them that if the ceiling is 300 feet and the touch down zone (TDZ) is 150 feet, and the two together are 450 feet and that means that we’re still above minimums. They were dumbfounded. It was then that I realized that these kids have never had a detailed class in reading approach plates.
The FAA continues to throw these kids into the fire without the basic tools that they need to interpret basic information needed to perform their job. Worse still, they’re being checked out without verifying this knowledge exists.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:07 am
223 and a wake-up! Says:
“Be constructive, give us a road map to recovery.”
There is only one way to make things as safe as they were 5 to 10 years ago. Do the same thing the FAA did in 1981-post stike.
Restrict flights.
Will they? No. Why? Because this mess is entirely FAA Management caused, not something caused by The President. Management had someone else to point their finger at when they slowed traffic in 1981. Now they are the cause of the understaffing and they are just praying they don’t get whacked like NASA after the Columbia incident.
April 16th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I asked for a road map, and there are some pretty good ideas out there.
My point was you can go most anywhere on the blogs and see people lamenting the past. I think it’s time for some forward looking thinking.
Thanks for the thoughtful input!
April 16th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Pay demo. Gives incentive for experience controllers to try out the “big houses”. We can fill their spots with a few of the folks in training we have here. I’m not saying anyone can make it at an ATC 8 or 9, but the great majority are not cut out for ATC 12 work on day one.
April 16th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
223 And A Wake-Up!
Do a little research here on this very blog. Paul does a LOT more than piss and moan. I assure you look just a little and you will see the “road map” and “Blueprint” on how to fix this mess right here on this blog.
No, the green book will not stop mandatory retirements but waivers can. I personally don’t know anybody currently that wants to stay past 56. In this day and age it is a moot point. We could save a handful of retirements, BIG DEAL. Most will be in management anyhow.
Will the return to the green book stop ALL early retirements, OF COURSE NOT. It will help (I would be one to stay one or two more years MAYBE)
We are in BIG trouble, that is this entry’s point. Get a REAL contract, stop sending under-qualified people to high level facilities, START SCREENING, adjust new hire’s pay, start giving the older people raises and it would help (NOT FIX) this problem Bush/Blakey created.
ATC is not as complicated as brain surgery nor is the solution to this mess.
April 16th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
However, that’s what I’m best at! LOL
Actually, the notion of looking ahead and planning is one that I’ve wanted to get into for a while. In fact, I’m running for FacRep of ZSE’s NATCA local, and that very idea- of figuring out what we need to do and should do- is going to figure prominently in my campaign.
While I don’t want to use the Follies as a vehicle to tout my favorite candidates for national office, I’ll happily do so for my own personal gain, so I guess I’ll share my stuff here in addition to a campaign website.
April 16th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
So when you overstaff the 6,7 & 8 facilities to make room for others to move up,but then don’t give any incentive to move up-somebody in upper FAA mgmt will decide that the guy who has spent ten to fifteen years at that level HAS to move.The FAA could care less that this person has put down roots,made a home and is perfectly happy to stay at a lower level facility for whatever reasons. Not to mention those who barely got checked out at that level and couldn’t possibly make it at a level 9 much less a 12.The FAA created this mess by not hiring but a trickle between 1992 and 2002 and I don’t for one second trust them to not just start moving people who have found their niche. Under the current pay rules I would have to go to a level 12 just to not lose money. After 21 years, I just don’t have the desire to get my ass handed to me every day until I am eligible. 10 CPC’s ,(8 OJTI’s) and 13 trainees-at my facility with more to come by the end of the year-so there will be no more slots to send higher level washouts to.I hate to say it but I agree with all the others that it’s going to take something bad happening before the public starts to take notice
April 17th, 2009 at 2:05 am
ceceya Says:
April 16th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
“I hate to say it but I agree with all the others that it’s going to take something bad happening before the public starts to take notice”
That is what senior leadership calls managed risk. They did a “risk assessment” and determined the system could manage this transitional period safely. One way they have done so it to not acknowledge the obvious. I’ll bet Mr. Stark got a pretty good ass chewing for his two page memo.
April 17th, 2009 at 9:28 am
>I’m running for FacRep
You’ve got my vote, Paul…
April 17th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
“In fact, I’m running for FacRep of ZSE’s NATCA local, and that very idea- of figuring out what we need to do and should do- is going to figure prominently in my campaign.”
OK, now you have to move this WHOLE THREAD over to the National Elections forum, and Paul, you’re banned for a week from your blog for not following the BBS rules about elections and lawsuits….
oh, sorry, wrong venue.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
HEY Joe Cool – “Don’t pat yourself on the back too hard. It was 23 years old “kids” that one WWII in P51s and B17s. Not everybody can do it, but it’s not brain surgery either.”
First of all, they were screened out way better than our trainees are, then got great training.
Second of all, would you approve of the death rate that our 23 year old kids were exposed to, for the flying public? Yeah, we’d win the ‘war’, but we don’t have the luxury of ‘acceptable losses’ for the good of the mission…. Our threshold is ZERO losses, so we can’t throw lives at the wall and accept that many won’t make it.
Your analogy is really quite stupid, the more I think about it.
And, no, it’s not brain surgery, but it takes a combination of attributes that the average 23 year old (or any age kid) doesn’t have.
April 17th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
HEY AL – “Our threshold is ZERO losses”
Your drive to work has a “ZERO threshold” … if you mess up, you could die!
Your walk across a busy street has a “ZERO threshold” … if you mess up, you could die!
The mechanic that puts on your breaks has a “ZERO threshold” … if he messes up, you could die!
My point is, 23 year olds are VERY capable of doing ANYTHING 40 year olds can do. What they lack in experience, they can make up for in reflex, will, and determination. (and they may actually appreciate the job, and not think they are entitled to it)
Like I said, don’t pat yourself on the back too hard … it’s not brain surgery!
April 18th, 2009 at 11:04 am
“What they lack in experience, they can make up for in reflex, will, and determination.”
OK, now I’m pretty sure you’re NOT a controller.
You can’t hide inexperience with reflexes, will or determination. This isn’t a hole digging contest. A 23 year old shining star of a metal mover (and there’s quite a few of them out there!) still can’t create experience outta thin air… but we’re not talking about the morning rush here, we’re talking about the shiat hitting the fan….Like he said above. Next time you consider your loved ones on an old B734/A stuck in icing conditions over the Cascades and losing an engine or all electrical, would you rather have the hot young gun or the vet working them?
BTW – The flying public, including the millions of passengers, don’t care much if I screw up and die while driving or walking…..they DO care if I screw up and hundreds of them die. That’s what we’re talking about here and why we get paid to do what we do.
There’s a reason why there’s such a high washout rate in this job. Which is why I DO pat myself and all my co-workers who do a good job every day – some of those guys working harder than I ever did in places I would not like to be working in, I’ll pat pretty hard on the back. They deserve it.
April 18th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
“What they lack in experience, they can make up for in reflex, will, and determination.”
If you call quick texting as quick “reflexes” and hanging out at the smoke shack “determination” then we have it made. We have some of the most demotivated new hires I have ever seen, what scares me is I don’t think they would be any more motivated with 100% pay raises. Since we did not screen these people we have the wrong bunch in our facility and I am sure it is the same way nationwide. Many know they are over their heads and are filing paperwork to continue to stay on a really darn expensive form of “government assistance” and ruin careers if that is what it takes (I guess you could call them “go getters” and “motivated” too). We have some great ones and they know who they are too. They stick out among the scum and are flying through the training program. We have far less of those than the losers unfortunately.
Each of our areas has more trainees than we can affectively train, bad news is we stand to LOSE more from retirement than we currently have in the training program so in 3-4 years we will be in the same situation or WORSE off staffing-wise when we know traffic will be back (and then some). What makes this all even more gut wrenching is the fact that we are going to lose many to training failures,promotions and resignations (No matter if we get pay raises) The FAA has burned its bridges and people will leave no matter what they do. We don’t trust management and for many they never will.
April 18th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I was controlling airplanes at 23. And I still am….pushing 50.
I’m better now then I was then.
April 19th, 2009 at 12:40 am
Al,
I am pretty sure that we can both agree that you see yourself as “God’s gift to the ATC system” and without you, there is no way airplanes could fly around this great Country of ours. My guess is you barely made it at your first facility several years ago, struggled for another 2 – 3 years and finally got the picture of what was expected of you. Now that you are an average controller with a few years of experience under your belt, you now “shine” around the new trainees at your facility. Instead of being a mentor, and a good trainer to the newbie’s, you choose to point out all their shortcomings, somehow forgetting that you almost washed out yourself. If the “Secret” gets out that others can, and will work the planes for half of your salary, then your sweet gig is up. You try and scare everybody into thinking that there is “Zero tolerance” for mistakes, when we all make mistakes every day. (The reason we need 3 miles between A/C is because even when we mess up, and have a deal …. they still don’t hit)
“Next time you consider your loved ones on an old B734/A stuck in icing conditions over the Cascades and losing an engine or all electrical, would you rather have the hot young gun or the vet working them”?
…. After you give the pilot all the WX you have in front of you, point out the nearest airports around him …(get SOB & fuel remaining) it is now up to the PILOT to decide what course of action to take, not you! Chances are the captain is in his late 20s and the co-pilot is TWENTY THREE!
I will NOT tell you to pat yourself on the back because it seems that you enjoy it way too much so …. pat away my friend, and thanks for coming to work each day, because without you, we would obviously have to shut the NAS down.
April 19th, 2009 at 9:36 am
You gonna guess Al’s height and weight next Joe Cool ?
LOL
April 19th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Hey joe, the psychological diagnosis for this is called transference. Projecting your short comings onto others.
April 19th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
LOL Dude, you’re so far off, you’d need a GPS to zip up your fly. And although you’d like your guesses about me to be correct, well – let’s just say you’d be a great HR flack for the FAA. God’s gift? No, but I’m solid. I’m experienced. I’ve got 24 years of ATC depth to draw from, which includes which of my coworkers I can turn to when I need help. And it’s guaranteed to not include useless hairballs that blow through (or near) the facility like you. Good luck with your next middle management job – enjoy it before it gets cut like all the rest of the useless management jobs the new administrator is going to be directed to eliminate.
April 20th, 2009 at 3:44 am
It’s usually good for a few yucks when some management clone comes in here, dutifully repeats the last administration/FAAMA’s talking points and then personally attacks a controller.
Like Frank Wit-less did on the FAA Focus site recently.
Babbitt is going to have to pull the plug on Lavey and the rest of that bunch of left over Blakey PR hacks.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:00 pm
That was a great post, and some good points made afterwards. There is a lot of inexperience, and a lack of an effective screening process- but lets not fool ourselves. The FAA has a much tighter grasp on operations than it did back when most of the older, more experienced controllers were first hired. Back in the day when 1982 controllers were first training, mistakes happened as well. People seem to forget that they were there once too. They scared themselves, their trainer, and everyone else. They made mistakes. They learned from it and became experienced professionals. The FAA didn’t care to keep a spotlight on the incidents like they do now.
This situation is not the new hires’ fault. It is not the OJTI’s fault. It is the FAA’s fault- for putting us all in this situation when they had 25 years to figure out a solution. I know some of these new people aren’t the same as others, but many of them seem to work hard and do it for the same money controllers made 25 years ago. It seems experienced controllers can’t help but slam the new ones, which divides controllers and creates more discontent. That’s kind of funny- because that is exactly what the FAA wanted. They wanted posts like this which start off in a tone against the FAA and then end in a tone against each other.
Pull it together. The best thing we all can do is help each other out. I am not saying we should hold hands and sing “Kumbaya” while we eat s’mores and play guitar. I am saying to keep focused. The FAA hired new people. The only thing experienced controllers can do is give their knowledge and help their young comrades. The new ones must absorb and learn. Pointing fingers at each other and their perspective skills does nothing. Get off your high horses (both trainees and CPC’s) and tackle the real problem- the FAA.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Sure, but OJTIs can only do so much.
The trainee has a responsibility too. Granted in the case of my workplace, they didn’t ask or even want to start at the busiest combined Tracon in the NAS.
But that doesn’t excuse them from holding up their end of the bargain. Knowing the rules, the SOPs, the LOAs, and being in the right frame of mind to train, while they try and get by on sub standard wages in Socal.
Three CTIs/zero background new hires have already washed out in my area, two more are on one sector OJTI and one is still in the classroom/dysim. Two other CTIs are progressing, but they’ve been at it for two years already and neither one will certify in the next six months.
I don’t know about anyone else, but my patience is at an end. Having to swallow FAA’s sh*t sandwich every day for the last 30 months is bad enough, but I have to fix their staffing screw up too ?
And three years or more training times, have never been the norm in the terminal environment.
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 am
The screen saved us all a lot of time. The FAA is now using live traffic to screen, and is burning out trainers. We work for idiots.
April 24th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
We were all new in 81′, system survived. These kids will be talking about all the newbies in 2035….