The FAA Follies

All the FAA madness we could fit!

That’s okay with me…

Posted by Paul Cox on December 21st, 2009

Don Brown scolded Marion Blakey the other day. She said that the US should follow France’s example and get some government money to the aerospace industry.

Don thought that was pretty hypocritical of her. I think he’s wrong, and that we can go ahead and do that; it’d be fine with me.

Of course, I think we should follow France’s other examples, and move to a new paradigm of employee benefits:

  • 40 days of paid vacation a year
  • 12 paid government holidays a year
  • 35 hour work weeks
  • No overtime

We’d probably have to hire at least 15 or 20 percent more air traffic controllers than we have now, but I’m okay with that.

Seriously, Don’s right. Marion Blakey is the worst kind of political hypocrite; she just says whatever will benefit her at the time, no matter what, and she has no problem harming the nation to do it.

When it comes to paying your employees, getting them time off and holidays and so forth, she’s perfectly happy treating them like crap and cutting their pay and telling them they’re just lucky to have a job- completely the opposite of how European nations look at employees. But when it comes to the possibility of government money, hey, sure, let’s follow Europe’s example and throw around several billion dollars! Woohoo!

13 Responses to “That’s okay with me…”

  1. AS@SCT Says:

    It’s more than just the nonstop lies Snakey spewed when she was at FAA (we’re going out of business, I don’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out because the NATCA contract is too rich), it’s her philosophy Paul. Conservatives like Snakey, who caterwaul about the evil of government spending, are actually fine with “it”, as long as it enriches them, or in this case the client companies Snakey now whores for at AIA. The Blakey “legacy” at FAA ? 214 out of 216 on the last employee satisfaction survey(with a healthy dash of union busting thrown in). A result that Mica(R FL 7), serially mendacious where controllers are concerned, is now blaming on NATCA for the mediated contract we worked out recently with the Obama WH.

  2. TB Says:

    Yah, but we’d never win a war ever again.

  3. zabnut Says:

    I somehow recall an idiot OM tell me, we need to do better and show we can work more efficiently (In my response to working 75% of the Air traffic control staff, no matter the level of our traffic load) or we stand a chance of losing our jobs to a competitor. I laughed in his face and asked him who this competitor was. No response, then I told him HE was the one that needs to worry about keeping his job, because IF we where in a real business, I am sure the first fat they would cut is our bloated management numbers, I was not worried about losing my job.

    Our idiot management (Nationwide) where told one lie after another filtered down from that hag Blakey. They still show Hank Krankhouse videos that spew the same BS as before. When I know there is going to be another mind-washing video from the upper management department I miss briefing and go to the floor and work. Seriously, what do those propaganda videos do? (This was one of Blakey’s strong points remember, mind-washing the weak minded.) I can’t believe the slack jawed looks from my FLM when I even question the INEGRITY of the person giving the message and the lies given in the message. They really believed this CRAP. Lead from the behind, safety culture, Natpro.

    Think about all the things we have morons doing in the national office to prove they are worthy. Ventris putting out a garbage TOP (Table of penalties) that FAR exceeds anything I have ever seen and then requiring you to sign to stay employed. You have being fired as a possible penalty for falsifying a government record on the form you sign, yet MANAGEMENT falsifies CRU-X every single day.

    The idiotic grid that was to replace Lat/Longs that people spent 2 or 3 years off the boards developing. (The concept was there and the project in no way could have taken more than 1 or 2 full days TOPS) It is unusable and idiotic, when airlines file that crap I do everything I can to remove it. (I don’t know if that point is before or after if I give a reroute) I can’t simply LOOK at the flight plan and see a turn by looking at the route of flight, I have to do a route display. I have had some turn unexpectedly, sorry I am an old dog I read routes of flight and can see turns IF they don’t have those KK fixes in there. I was told in briefing that you will come to learn many of these fixes by heart…….yeah right. KK24A is easier to remember than MCI??? This went up and down the management ladder, they ALL thought it was great and nobody question even the NEED for a redundant grid that serves NO purpose UNTIL we where briefed on it.

    NATPRO. Good illustration of “Flat Zone” We already know that from past practice. many errors occur After the push rather than during. Force us to do project (The scores where trashed we where told after the fact) the put us in flat zone within weeks of finishing (75% on sectors)

    Marion was in charge of many of these ill conceived projects. I think buzzword bingo became the norm during her tenure. You find thousands of people clamoring to prove themselves making $170K a year and either trying to hide or working on stupid projects to keep their position.

  4. jasper Says:

    Who is marion blakey and what does he look like?

  5. AS@SCT Says:

    “I somehow recall an idiot OM tell me, we need to do better and show we can work more efficiently (In my response to working 75% of the Air traffic control staff, no matter the level of our traffic load) or we stand a chance of losing our jobs to a competitor”

    I had one OM tell me we should privatize and issue stock. I’m not kidding. Some of these guys and gals actually STILL believe the jive that Snakey and Sturgell put out there. FAA under Snakey-Sturgeon didn’t save the taxpayers one thin dime(her incessant caterwauling about the taxpayer not withstanding). The career management cadre took the money Snakey stole from the controller workforce for three years, to include the B scalers, gave themselves full base pay raises, bonuses and the like, and stuffed their ranks like an X-mas goose. And Snakey citing the “French” model, as she whores for dollars(to include her advisory role at NASA), is a scream.

  6. SCT Controller Says:

    I had my supervisor get arrested for Felony DUI. She was gone from SCT for over 2 months ,on who knows what kind of leave, and now she is the OM of the BUR area.
    I will say this….I am not happy with the controllers who took the “Blood money” to stay or transfer either. They helped Blakeys little scheme of disguising “staffing was not an issue.”

  7. AS@SCT Says:

    Party time in Atlanta for FAA maangers on the taxpayer dime:

    http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/party-time-faa-critics-question-million-gathering/story?id=9390933&page=1

  8. Todd Wilhelm Says:

    Blakey is a crook. Not only can she not spell integrity, she has none. There needs to be an investigation as to how top FAA officials jump from their influential positions right to jobs with huge salaries in the private industry. Many times these companies in the private sector were given favors or contracts by these FAA execs.

    18 USC 207, the “revolving door restrictions” purpose was to limit the potential influence and allure that a lucrative private arrangement, or the prospect of such an arrangement, may have on a current federal official when dealing with prospective private clients or future employers while still with the government, that is, “that the government employee not be influenced in the performance of public duties by the thought of later reaping a benefit from a private individual.”

    Marion Blakey, Bobby Sturgell and Russ Chew, all top ranking former FAA officials, have all been rewarded with high paying jobs immediately after leaving the FAA. I submit this is blatant violation of 18 USC 207, yet nothing is done. Criminal cronyism in my opinion!

  9. AS@SCT Says:

    Wow, Krakowski looks drunk and he sounds incoherent. When asked what all of “this” costs, his reply: I don’t have that figure. The head of the vaunted ATO, a Bush appointee, a corporate officer formely of UAL, but he doesn’t have the figure for the cost of the ATL meetings. Hey Hank, I know sh*t when I see it, and you looked and sounded like sh*t.

  10. AS@SCT Says:

    It gets better. Anybody know who the woman is asking Ross to turn off his camera and leave ?

    http://abcnews.go.com/WN/conversation-diane-sawyer-brian-ross/story?id=9402832

  11. Vector Says:

    ^^ Laura Brown, and she added “safety was never compromised.”

  12. justacontroller Says:

    NATPRO? Heard of it, but due to staffing, never got past the first 44 page part of it. That was supposed to be done last year? Wow, I am surprised I have not had a deal in the last year, since I have missed that “Important” training CBI. I have yet to play PacMan.

  13. Alesha Norris Says:

    Thank you for discussing such an insightful article with all of us. I’ve bookmarked your blog will come back for a re-read again. Keep up the good work. We have a Dan Kennedy Copywriting seminar that we offer to our customers you can check it out here Copywriting Course Visit This

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>