Flight Service Sigmet

If there’s one thing that NATCA President John Carr is good at, it’s ‘complaint.’ This is understandable once you grasp the reality of what passes for Human Relations in the FAA.

What is not excusable is when it crosses over into the realm of ‘hypocrisy.’ In his blog, Mr. Carr has been complaining steadily since July 17th about a shortage of controllers; nothing new, really. Aside from ‘cherry picking’ examples of ‘compromised safety’ (he ignores, for example, separation errors when half or more of the controllers have decided to take a break, or arranged featherbedding for overtime, or de-activate proximity alert systems…) it would be nice for his argument if the FAA were solely to blame. Yet NATCA had an active part in this story as well.

Item 1 - In a contract negotiation long ago in an administration far, far away, NATCA insisted on new ‘bidding’ rules for open controller position in towers and centers. Without going into minute detail, it revolved around a new scheme of awarding ‘points’ for time in Air Traffic Control positions. This necessitated the drafting of a new job ‘bid’ form that minimized the ability of Controllers in Flight Service to obtain positions in towers and centers. What used to be commonplace became increasingly rare. Eventually, novices off-the-street had a greater chance at these positions than any who were more experienced, but in the ‘wrong’ Air Traffic option.

Item 2 – When Flight Service was contracted out to Lockheed Martin last year, Mr. Carr cried the expected crocodile tears and stated that these controllers should be welcomed into towers and centers with ‘open arms.’ This sentiment apparently didn’t make it down to the facility level; word got back to us on more than one occasion from acquaintances in towers and centers that if any Flight Service Controllers reported for training, they’d be washed out as soon as possible.

Keep in mind that, from all available accounts, Flight Service controllers have had a greater success rate in completing training than those from other sources.

To be sure, a few Flight Service controllers have been able to run the joint NATCA/FAA gauntlet and secure controller positions in other facilities. But for someone who constantly whines about a lack of experienced people coming in, Mr. Carr is unforgivably selective in his angst.