Close calls

This is become more rampant. A symptom of a broken system. Training, inexperience: makes for a multitude of problems.
ZDV Close Call

NATCA Election

Well, the NATCA election is upon us. I voted already and I highly encourage everyone else to do the same. I know everyone has an opinion, or if you don't, its because you've been swayed by the media blitz from the candidates. Here's who we have for National President: Pat Forrey, the incumbent, Paul Rinaldo, the current EVP, and Dr. Ruth Marlin, DPA, the former EVP under John Carr. For EVP, we have Rich Santa, the FacRep from ZDC and Trish Gilbert, the head of the Legislative Committee (and from ZHU).

I personally have not endorsed any candidate, but I think I will on here. Not that it matters, no one reads this damn blog anyway!

I think Ruth Marlin will do best for National President and Trish Gilbert for EVP. I like Trish who has gone out of her way to bring a personalized approach to her EVP candidacy and also to my own person (through Facebook and my own work on the safety committee). I think Ruth Marlin is the best person for the National position, mainly based on her own experience at the national level and her work on her doctorate. She has also been contacting me and giving me suggestions and support for my own PhD work.

I could I would be remiss in not support Tim Smith for NSW RVP, though he's running unopposed. Personally, I think anyone would be better than Darrell.

CJC3407

Those of us who work in aviation know about the DH8Q (labeled Q400 by the media) that crashed on approach into BUF a few months ago. Those of us in aviation (particularly pilots and controllers) know that regional pilots are usually low paid and relatively inexperienced (just like controllers these days). Well, the NTSB is having hearings on the crash. From FoxNews and CNN, the NTSB has discovered that Captain Renslow had failed five check rides (though he had passed the previous one) and had no training on icing conditions and procedures for recovering from a stall, aside from classroom training (no simulator training; i.e. you learn by doing). FO Shaw (who made only $20,000 a year) was heard on the CVR as complaining that she was congested and should have called in sick. Additionally, she had to catch a redeye flight in order to be able to fly the doomed flight into BUF.

Those of us who work in ATC can already see the comparisons. Low time pilots (or controllers), poor qualifications (if you cannot meet the standard, lower the standard; train to succeed), glossed over, poorly designed training (URET, ERAM, ICAO flight plans), pressure from management (presumably, I'm guessing here, but it seems likely, CNN and the NTSB has also speculated) to not get a second job and to show up for work regardless of your condition.

FAA misdirection

The save by RSW with N559DW was absolutely phenomenal. The pilot, Doug White, was grateful to the controllers for helping him set the BE20 down.

"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." You can read this at CNN's website.

Focus FAA, at the FAA's employees site, also had an article. FAA Follies in particular liked the article. However, Focus FAA forgot one important, and glaring, portion of White's quote.

“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.”

It would appear that the FAA, in leaving out the quote regarding our, admittedly, divisive pay issue, doesn't want to appear to give any credence to NATCA's article. John Carr says something very similar.

AIG

All right, I have to spout off on the AIG debacle. The AIG bonuses were a contractual obligation, as much as we might hate to say it. Congress must have known about it because there was a closed door session where the provision was included to allow all contractual payouts that were agreed before Feb 11, 2009. AIG (or someone else?) obviously wanted it in there. Because of the circumstances involved in the closed door session and the date, either Congress is trying to backdoor the American public or they had no clue what the bill said. Either way, we have a major problem in Congress.
Sorry, its not ATC related, but a blog is all about therapy, right?

Safety at KDEN, D84, and ZDV

A recent FAA memo from the acting manager at ZDV emphasized the need for care because of inexperience, mainly at D84. You can read and download the memo from John Carr's blog http://themainbang.typepad.com/blog/2009/03/more-evidence-of-faailure.html.
Someone leaked the story to Denver's CBS affiliate who ran with it. You can read it here: http://cbs4denver.com/investigates/dia.faa.delays.2.960876.html.
One comment in particular is glaring and further emphasized the utter lack of regard or understanding that high level FAA management has for safety culture:
"As the letter is written, I would agree with you it sounds alarming," said Kathryn Vernon, the FAAs Director of Western Terminal Operations. "And I understand the letter makes it look like we had a situation we had to get under control. I would disagree with that," said the FAA official. "There is not a safety issue in the Denver airspace and Colorado airspace."
The FAA's proverbial catch phrase: safety was never compromised......

Human Factors

Does anyone in upper management at the FAA know what human factors is? To put it simply, it is the concept that, as humans, we are subject to error. Humans are error prone. "To err is human" etc. etc. etc. etc. Human factors started out as ergonomics and has evolved into a holistic approach.

So, if a given person works in a complex job such as air traffic control where 99% of the error is caused by some sort of human error, then it only makes sense to train people on that error, even if its only educational in nature. To punish controllers for having a deal when its clearly a human fallibility is absolutely idiotic. The FAA obviously knows about human failures: a CRM (crew resource management) video put out by HQ details the above statistic. CAMI (Civil Aeromedical Institute) research has been studying controller error for the last several years. Nearly everyone knows that its not a behavioral issue. If my daughter throws water on her sister, I punish her. If she accidentally spills water on her, I attempt to reassure her and ensure that it doesn't happen again. OEs should be much the same.

I have heard that many facilities are taking the former approach (OE punishment with a stick). You are only exacerbating issues that should be approached much differently. And you are not getting to the core of the problem.