Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Bait and Switch
There’s a Flight Service controller I’ll call 'David’. At one time he was a Full-Performance Level (FPL) controller at Jacksonville Center. He is also a military veteran. He has been trying to return to Jacksonville to finish his ATC career and earn his retirement.
Jacksonville won’t have him. Instead, they’re hiring new people off the street, forcing him to stay in Flight Service so he can be fired by the FAA, stripped of his annuity, and forced into Lockheed Martin.
David is not alone. Word has filtered down through channels more friendly to Flight Service (or simply appalled at what’s being done to the controllers) that this is based on an edict from on high; when it comes to general openings for controllers in towers and centers, no FSS controller need apply.
The FAA and AOPA repeat ad nauseam that their main concern is the best and safest service for the pilots. I wonder how David’s situation fits into that rhetoric?
Jacksonville won’t have him. Instead, they’re hiring new people off the street, forcing him to stay in Flight Service so he can be fired by the FAA, stripped of his annuity, and forced into Lockheed Martin.
David is not alone. Word has filtered down through channels more friendly to Flight Service (or simply appalled at what’s being done to the controllers) that this is based on an edict from on high; when it comes to general openings for controllers in towers and centers, no FSS controller need apply.
The FAA and AOPA repeat ad nauseam that their main concern is the best and safest service for the pilots. I wonder how David’s situation fits into that rhetoric?
# posted by Skywise @ 8:14 AM 
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Often Flight Service "Controllers", if they have actual air traffic control experience it is because they failed to certify in a tower or center. They simply do not have ATC experience. THAT is how they fit in...the AFSS world has been obsolete for years.
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# posted by 
: 5:05 PM
: 5:05 PM << Home
