Kudos… almost.
Posted by Paul Cox on April 17th, 2009
I haven’t been online much lately, as I said last week. I’d like to take a moment here and give kudos (almost) to the Focus FAA team. They wrote an awfully good story about the incident in Florida earlier this week, and it highlights what a great job every FAA employee wants to do. Well, it was awfully good… except for one glaring problem at the end of the story.
Let me go on a tangent for a moment. When I played baseball in junior high and high school, I was kind of an all-around substitute; I wasn’t really good enough to start at any position, so I learned exactly what each position’s responsibility was. I was able to play every position on the field (except pitcher, where you gotta be able to throw either hard or accurately, and I couldn’t do either well enough) but never really well enough to be a serious threat to any of the starters.
I figured this was a good way to make the team (and I was right); the coach knew if someone was hurt or whatever, he could throw me in at any position. I could field a grounder, even a hot one while playing third or short, but I wasn’t crazy about it. One thing I didn’t really understand was how the coach used to say that you had to be out there WANTING the ball to be hit towards you, because in the infield, I didn’t. (In the outfield, I didn’t mind- I liked running down flyballs.)
But getting back to ATC… One dirty little secret about controllers is that for the vast majority of us, when we hear someone say “emergency”, we WANT to be the one plugged in and working that sector or position. We WANT to have someone call with a wing on fire or an engine out or lost or stuck on top of clouds, so we get something interesting and captivating to do while we’re plugged in.
Yeah, we consider a “save” to be just part of the job, just another day’s work, and it is… but every truly good controller I know WANTS to be in that chair when that call comes in. (And as a side note, to the weak sticks and trainees out there… if you don’t want those emergency calls, well, that’s a good sign that ATC is probably not the job for you. For the sake of the flying public, go do something else, okay?)
Until I became a controller, and had that almost-jealous feeling watching someone work an emergency, I didn’t really get what the coach meant when he said you gotta WANT the tough situation placed in your hands. Now I know just what that feels like.
Back to Florida. The controllers in the story on Focus FAA (which, for the most part, is one of the best stories I’ve seen on this incident- which was widely covered in the media) all sound like they’re that type of controller- the one who WANTS to be in the hot seat. What’s more, they demonstrated some other things that good controllers have.
They’re willing to do whatever they can think of, in or out of the box, to get the job done. I know that nowhere in the FAA’s manuals does it say “if you know someone who’s got lots of time in the aircraft type in trouble, get them on the phone to help you out”, but that’s just what Dan Favio did. He had a friend, Kari Sorenson, who had hundreds of hours in the King Air; he called her up and she grabbed some manuals and every time the pilot in distress had a question, she was right there (over the phone) with an answer.
I’ve seen controllers do that as well. I’ve seen times when the supervisor couldn’t think of anything, and a controller said “what if we do XXX”, and damned if XXX doesn’t work perfectly and helps everyone out.
Anyway, the Focus FAA story. Like I said, it was pretty good; I really suggest you read it. The only thing that I noticed, where they clearly, CLEARLY let the FAA’s animus against its controller workforce show, was at the very end of the article. The last paragraph on the FAA’s web site has this quote from the pilot (who was the real hero that day, by the way- it was his butt in the sling!) who landed the plane:
“The husbands and wives of air traffic controllers have no clue what they do for a living, or what they go through, especially in a busy airspace,” White said. “They are not given near enough credit for what they do. … Those guys are my heroes.”
Great quote, isn’t it? Except here’s the way that quote read in a CNN version of the story:
“The husbands and the wives of air traffic controllers have no idea what their spouses do for a living,” White said. “They have no idea, particularly in a busy airspace like Miami or Fort Myers … they don’t make enough money for what they do, the service they provide.”
It’s stuff like this that makes so many of the employees of the FAA- especially controllers, sure, I’ll admit- so ticked off at the agency. The sad fact of the matter is that even when talking about some folks doing their job, and doing it tremendously well, the culture inside the FAA is such that they can’t bring themselves to run the full, true quote by the guy since it seems to endorse the “NATCA side” of the whole labor-management relations issue.
I love my job. It’s great. It sounds weird and sick to say this, but I go to work every day HOPING that I’ll be really busy at the sector, vectoring airplanes all over the place, metering during high demand times.
Despite the fact that the adrenaline rush, high blood pressure, and stress probably cuts a year or two off of my life, I often find myself hoping that I’ll get that “Mayday!” emergency call. Yeah, it’s just part of my job. Truly, it is- and I’m sure that each of the controllers who helped in the Florida incident would say the same thing. But let’s face it- it’s a damn cool job.
But my employer? The FAA? I hate the culture we have in the FAA. I hate the people who’re running it. I hate their attitude, their disdain for what we do, the fact that they’ve created an agency where the FAA’s own internal communications people have to edit and cut quotes from a grateful pilot because he said something nice about the controllers.
If I hope for any change out of the Obama Administration, it’s that the “leadership” in the FAA has a serious culture change. They need it.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Sent to FocusFAA:
As many people did this week, especially this country’s air traffic control specialists, I read with great interest every story I could find on the King Air passenger-pilot landing in Ft Myers. I was dismayed to read on your website an edited version of Doug White’s comments about the controllers, conveniently leaving out the part where he said “they don’t make enough money for what they do, the service they provide.”
This was not just editing out a statement, it was surgically and intentionally removing something that FAA management would rather not have printed to the public!
Mr Lavey has said in public (at Mr LaHood’s first town hall meeting) that the FAA “bought” labor peace in the 1990′s, and that we “shouldn’t give away the store’ this time, so his feelings about ATCers in no secret; but his personal adgendas should not dictate editorial policy at Focus FAA!
April 17th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
When you say culture change in the FAA “leadership”, I think you mean leadership change….
April 17th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Fu**ers.
April 17th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Interesting how you applaud this FAA Focus story which mentions how a controller thought to “call a friend” who flew/flies KingAirs. Interesting how Ruth’s description of the episode failed to mention ANY involvement by ANYONE other than the controllers.
I find/FOUND that quite interesting as EVERYTHING other than Ms Marlin’s account of the event praised the controllers actions as well as their quick thinking in knowing a “friend” to call,/i> that could offer just the right information to make this tragic event into a successful flight for everyone involved (other than the original pilot-in-commad).
Why is that? why did both Ruth AND YOU fail to even make mention of this BE20 pilot that REALLY saved the day as EVERY other article I read described exactly what REALLY happened….
April 17th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Even is sleepy little SGF there is an element of distrust between the controllers and the supervisors. It’s not because we don’t like them, they’re nice guys. It’s because when it comes right down to it, I expect that they will do their jobs…whatever the FAA tells them to do. There is not one of them that will just say that’s not right and I’m not going to do it. They need their jobs just like I need mine and they don’t have anybody to stand with them.
Personally, I could never sell out to the FAA. I don’t doubt that I could be a good supervisor if I were allowed to supervise. But first level managers are just over paid babysitters that relay instructions from people that have never been in a control room. They lie when they are told to lie and they aren’t afraid to throw any controller under the bus if they think that it will save their own skin.
2 yrs, 8 months, 19 days
April 17th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
The sad thing is even fox news got this story right. Its a good thing people don’t read FAA Focus for their mainstream aviation media. Its just a piece of ultra-biased b*llsh*t (care to buy a vowel?).
I’ve been in the agency for about 8 months, and the stuff I’m hearing makes me think twice about flying. From controllers getting checked out at busy facilities when they aren’t ready to management finding ways to blame controllers for mistakes that occur due to procedures they implemented, I think its rather sad that the flying public has to go down the tubes with the workforce.
I am hopeful things will get better with time, but my guess is things get worse before that happens.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Well it finally happened I tried to access the follies from an FAA server and it was blocked….
April 17th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
You haven’t been online lately- yet you still take the great majority of your stories from Carr’s website. How about some original content instead of just riding coattails. Or better yet- spend some time working on your low skill-set. By the way- I work next to you. I’m not a Phlegm. You bitch to much and are a weak-stick. More time on the boards- less time whining. Your dad must be proud. How about blue-eyed-bitcher- it is a much better description.
Please- go just one day without bitching. Everyone rolls their eyes when you open your mouth.
April 17th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Well, two things. First, this site is primarily about the FAA and how it treats its employees- so while we often strive to report “real news” in a bring-the-truth type of journalistic style (although, admittedly, we’re amateurs), the reality is that’s not our primary mission.
And secondly, apparently you have some problem with reading comprehension. First of all, the BE20 pilot died; the guy who landed the plane was not a “BE20 pilot”, he had some time in a single-engine (a Cessna, I believe) aircraft but not a KingAir.
But perhaps more importantly in this VERY POST I said this about the passenger/pilot: “The last paragraph on the FAA’s web site has this quote from the pilot (who was the real hero that day, by the way- it was his butt in the sling!) who landed the plane…”
So not only did I mention the pilot, but I said he was the REAL hero that day.
As far as why Ruth wrote her stuff the way she did, she DID mention the passenger/pilot and the detail that he had some flying experience, but not in the KingAir. (So you screwed that one up, too- she did mention the guy.) But her post wasn’t, to me anyway, about the whole story; it was to make a point that these young controllers, when called upon, stepped up and answered the call. The FAA, on the other hand, screws its employees whenever it gets a chance. It doesn’t step up, at least not when it comes to stepping up for its workers.
So, for a review: If you want news stories about incidents, this probably isn’t your site. We’ll happily break news if/when we can, but we’re not professional journalists and that isn’t exactly the mission of this site.
And before you start slinging around accusations that I, or someone else, “didn’t mention” the pilot, you should probably actually read the posts you’re criticizing, because you were 100% wrong there.
Better luck next time, chump.
April 17th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
to your Co-Worker, Pretty brazen of you to anonymously come on here and tell him to not bitch?? If you have better idea’s for content start your own blog! I dont care who posts what what we need are more and more voices out there speaking up on our behalf! IMO there are not enough Follies and Carr’s out there and WAAAYY too many who want to sit in the shadows and mope.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Dear John Me Boy,
I did not write a news story about the event, I wrote about my coworkers and how I was inspired by them, in fact, I called it “Inspiration”. It was not a press release. I sent it to other controllers, and I shared it on my facebook page. Here it is:
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.
April 18th, 2009 at 2:39 am
Hey – Your Co-Worker-
Mighty brave of you to call Paul out, call him weak, call him a coat-tail-rider. Mighty brave of you to also remain anonymous. How’s your blog going? How’s your public commentary of the FAA? How’s your tie looking in the mirror?
I’ll bet you’ve never even said any of your concerns or complaints to Paul. I’ll bet you sit right next to him (occasionally, because he’s never on the boards, right?) and smile, chit-chat, roll your eyes (behind his back, though) but never say BOO to him because you’re a chicken shit.
Paul publishes this blog in the face of his employer, discussing issues that affect us and the flying public, bringing to light problems and complaints (sometimes before Carr does, sometimes after) and overall does a service for all of us. What exactly do YOU do? Watch Faux News in the cafeteria and complain when I switch the channel to the Mariners?
Man up, dude. You got a problem with the Follies or Paul, say something out loud. Slip a note into his headset box. Talk to your rep (IF you’re a dues paying member and not a management suck-up like I suspect you are). But don’t come on here and anonymously insult the dude…
Oh, and work on your spelling – spell check will not always be available….even for a supe.
April 18th, 2009 at 6:52 am
With friends like that co-worker, who needs enemies?
Well done, troll boy!
April 18th, 2009 at 7:53 am
“your co-worker”….. Really? Pretty damn easy to hide behind a keyboard. Paul may be many things, but a weak-stick isn’t one of them.
I value Paul’s opinions. Paul has the intestinal fortitude to stand behind what he says, and admit when he’s wrong. You, sit behind a keyboard and take shots from the safety of anonimity. I can venture to say we know who the ‘weak-stick’ is here.
April 18th, 2009 at 10:47 am
“Paul has the intestinal fortitude ”
Damn, I KNEW that was him the other day, after eating the chili!
And I don’t think it was Paul’s co-worker. More like his “colleague” (in the Marion Blakey sense of the word).
AL
April 18th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I’d love to have Paul as a coworker. In fact, I’d be willing to forgo breaks if it meant allowing him more time behind his keyboard to educate people the way he’s been educating them with his blog. I wouldn’t consider his posts here to be of a whining nature at all. His ability and desire to bring to his blog more than just a cursory understanding of the many aspects where FAA management is failing the workforce and the public is admirable; and I have to assume, very time consuming.
“Everyone rolls their eyes when you open your mouth” says Your co-worker. Hmmm; you know what? I don’t believe you.
Your co-worker…are you happy with your work environment and blatant hypocrisy wherever you look? What have you done to push us back in the other direction other than shoot at those who are putting themselves out there?
April 18th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
EDUCATE? My hind quarters! This is the poorest excuse for an ACCURATE undertaking of what ATC is all about. Ruth, possibly your next worthless President isn’t worth a sh*t either. After 30+ years in the FAA, reading this blog is more a comedic even than anything even close to reality. WE DON’T REPORT WHAT HAPPENED (paraphrasing of course) WE JUST SAY WHAT WE WANT YOU TO HEAR/READ. Pretty poor, even if I must say so myself.
You’re ALL a bunch of whiners and clowns and you get, have gotten, EXACTLY what you deserve and there isn’t any change coming soon! BUT YOU CAN CONTINUE TO DREAM… Call Obama! Tell him what a magnificent job these NEWBIES did… and while you’re at it, DON’T FORGET TO TELL NATCA’S MEMBERSHIP (NEW AND OLD) THAT THE AGENCY HAS BEEN TRYING SINCE EARLY 2007 TO RIGHT THE WRONGS OF THE CLASS “B” SCREWEES… BUT N-O; YOUR UNION WAS TOO FREAKING SELFISH FOR THE SENIOR MEMBERS TO ACCEPT WHAT UNCLE SAM WANTED TO OFFER THE NEW HIRES.
YOU “OLD” PRIMADONNAS DECIDED TO REFUSE ANY/ALL SETTLEMENTS TO HELP YOUR NEWEST MEMBERS BECAUSE THERE WASN’T ANYTHING (ENOUGH) IN IT FOR YOU FAT CATS THAT ALREADY EARN $175k TO WORK 5 HOURS A DAY IN THE COMFORT OF BOTH FEET ON THE GROUND!
PISSING ME OFF TO CONTINUE, SO………
April 18th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
John Meboy,
Your post is difficult to read as you have writing skills of a fifth-grader. However, after reading it several times I think I figured out where you’re coming from. You are a supervisor or manager and you are scared of the change that is coming, and believe me – it IS COMING.
Thank you for illustrating the stark contrasts between the intelligence of someone in management versus an ordinary front-line controller like Paul. Your horribly written diatribe is yet another example that the best and brightest in the FAA are not those in management, but are the people wearing headsets and working airplanes. The smartest people in the FAA are not at Headquarters or Regional offices, but they are in control rooms throughout the nation. Thank you for displaying that point in black and white for everyone to see.
“WE DON’T REPORT WHAT HAPPENED (paraphrasing of course) WE JUST SAY WHAT WE WANT YOU TO HEAR/READ. Pretty poor, even if I must say so myself.”
All kidding aside, when I read this I was sure you were talking about Jerry Lavey and the FAA Propaganda-Spin machine. You sir are delusional. Go sip some more koolaid bud, because your days of glory are coming to an end.
April 18th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
“THE AGENCY HAS BEEN TRYING SINCE EARLY 2007 TO RIGHT THE WRONGS OF THE CLASS “B” SCREWEES… BUT N-O; YOUR UNION WAS TOO FREAKING SELFISH FOR THE SENIOR MEMBERS TO ACCEPT WHAT UNCLE SAM WANTED TO OFFER THE NEW HIRES.”
The FAA screwed the new hires with the B scale to begin with starting around September 2006 when they implemented the IWRs. Their subsequent “offers” were little more than an insult, to new hires and the A scale.
Trying to rewrite history, in all caps, doesn’t make you any less wrong JohnMe.
Sounds like you and the propaganda minister Lavey went to the same communications class.
Babbitt is going to pull the plug on FAA Focus, the ATO online and the FAA employees web site, until he can get control of the message.
That Lavey and his ilk at HQ despise controllers and want to keep their boot on our throats, is plainly obvious.
Their desperation is also obvious. The minute the quotes/story hit the web, the true story was already told. Trying to alter reality after the fact, by leaving out part of the quote….like I said, desperate.
New sheriff in town, and his name is Barack.
April 18th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
What an idiot. Surprised a retard like that even made it as a supervisor.
April 18th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
JohnMe is spinning around in the same echo chamber that most of FAA management has been in since the Nuremberg, errrr St Louis manager’s rallies of 2006.
Whipped in to a frenzy by the controller/NATCA hater Snakey, Bush’s hand maiden at FAA, the true believers like JohnMe spout the FAAMA talking points.
Call Obama JohhMe ?
I won’t have to.
When Babbitt gets confirmed and takes one look at A)the ratio of managers to controllers in the ATO and B)the lousy rates of certification the unscreened zero experience new hires have achieved, he’ll get some idea of the magnitude of the problem(s) he has on his hands.
Fats cats you say ?
More like dead cats at my facility. You can’t swing one without hitting a newly minted FLM or some other manager, without hitting one making 200K a year.
80% CIP, and full base pay raises since Janaury 2007.
I know where the “fats cats” are curled up…..in the nooks, crannies and cubicles where I work.
April 19th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Well we have one curled up in good ‘ole ANC/A11.
Of course, he is on a paid vacation this week. Oh wait, that is redundent, since he is on a 52 week paid vacation. With bennies. Brags about it even.
MC/ANC
April 19th, 2009 at 6:40 am
There will always be those that dig holes under others to make themselves appear to be taller. Pity them, they don’t have what it takes to shine on their own!
April 19th, 2009 at 9:59 am
John MeBoy is just another IRRELEVENT SUPERVISOR, who has absolutely NOTHING TO OFFER TO HIS PROFESSION. A carreer TRAFFIC-DODGING WEAKSTICK trying to pretend he is smarter than the average bear, all the while DESPISED BY THE PEOPLE WHO WORK UNDER HIM. NOTHING BUT A SIMPLE, LITTLE MAN.
April 19th, 2009 at 10:23 am
John MeBoy, I am sure your peers are so very proud to call you one of their own. Please explain this sentence from your diatribe,”reading this blog is more a comedic even than anything even close to reality”, were you high when you wrote this dribble or are you just an idiot? Hey SUPCOM and FAAMA I am glad he came here and shows what kind of people you have in your ranks. I only hope that NATCA forwards these comments to the new Administrator to show the need for change at the top.
April 19th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Paul,
Loved your use of the word “who’re” in reference to FAA management in the second to last paragraph.
You may have started a trend!
April 20th, 2009 at 6:07 am
I doubt that John Meboy is even in ZSE but if he is tell all the nice ladies in the center to watch out he could be kin to the Green River guy. Maybe he/she is frustrated.
April 21st, 2009 at 8:36 am
I just love it when people who aren’t allowed to think for themselves get on here and write comments that show there real intelligence. Way to go JohnMeBoy! Keep it up, your stuff is hilarious!
April 21st, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Who makes $175k/year? Get your head out of Mica’s a$$!