So, a background on me...just to help paint this picture. Im a prior air force guy, went in with aspirations of getting training, good experience, then get out and make that money. I KNOW alot of you are in the same boat, so in no way am I trying to disrespect anyone. Anyway, I got out, jumped on board with Serco for the interim, til I got my job with the F'nAA, that I already knew had destroyed the pay scale that I once aspired to be apart of. I did my training in OKC, went to my facility, and 5 $950 paychecks later told them to get real. I feel fortunate enough to have the qualifications to be able to do that and still be able to get an ATC job. So back to Serco I went, and thats where I am today.

So, I read this site often in an effort to stay current on any and all news related to conditions of our beloved career field. Needless to say, good news is not common. How have we all had the patience enough to deal with this garbage the agency is putting us through. I dont claim to be educated enough to go into the politics of it all, and I tend to, no, always, look at things in a common sense fashion, and this situation we find ourselves in makes no sense at all. We are just flat out getting screwed.

So what threw me into a mood tonight, was a simple call to FSS to pass along the weather that our insufficient equipment is uncapable of doing. It doesnt help talking to the FSS people that are making a significant amount more than I am, and again no disrespect to FSS, hey, at least your employer went to bat for you and got changes to be made that resulted in higher pay. So anyway, if its one thing that I cannot stand for much longer, is being stuck with the responsibility of making weather observations and not only recording them on the FAA form, but then updating the SIA (status information area) computer, then cutting an ATIS, then calling FSS. All the while being held responsible for GC/FD, and being the controller in charge. Oh by the way, those of us that do this, get paid 0 dollars extra, but get ridiculed for mistakes made while performing this extra duty, extra but mandatory. I know what youre thinking, weather takes no priority over my ATC duty. I know this. We all know this. But time and time again, another memo is placed in the Read File, "National Weather Service was unable to produce a Terminal Area Forecast due to not receiving the observation from tower at such and such time" followed by the boss telling us that we have to make sure and get this done. So even though we all know it shouldnt take priority over ATC, and it definitely doesnt when its too busy to do it, but we all also know, that errors are made often times when there isnt much going on at all. You get where Im going with all that...I hope.

I could scream right now, cause Ive already written like 1,000 words or something like that and I still havent said half of what I could say. How is this all happening to us We have been tasked with safely controlling nearly every airplane in the sky at any given time and yet the agency constantly kicks us in the junk. No respect. Thats what it boils down to. A lack of respect. The people in Washington forget that without us, doing our jobs as well as we do, the US economy completely shuts down. There arent many jobs out there that carry that kind of responsibility.

Im gonna stop now, I hope at least one person reads this and tells me to shut up and deal with it. Mostly cause I dont know what else to do about it other than shut up and deal with it.

Any suggestions

sincere complainer,

Sudhucker

Bryan wrote: [TO: sudhucker]
I heard a Blackhawk pilot on his cell the other day talking to the FSS, trying to close out a flight plan that had been lost, aparently they had no record of it... then trying to explain the difference between IFR and VFR flight... I was amazed at how calm he remained. I haven't flown since the LM took over the FSS's, and I've never had a flight plan lost. Then, I had a chat with an old high school buddy who's just got his pilot's license. I asked him about how the FSS's were doing these days, and he said he'd NEVER filed a flight plan that DIDN'T get lost. And supposedly, Steve Fawcett used to file a flight plan no matter where he was going, but stopped after all the trouble he was having with the FSS's.