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FAA Controllers Looking Out for Safety: You're Dismissed!
By NATCA
Posted: 10-17-2008
07/01/2005
In a move that further jeopardizes the safety and efficiency of America's aviation system, the Federal Aviation Administration has terminated a vital program that ensured critical cooperation between America's air traffic controllers and the agency. The move, which comes against the recommendations of the Government Accountability Office and coincides with a House of Representatives' vote against reckless agency cuts, is just the latest attack on the previously productive partnership between air traffic controllers and the FAA.
The FAA's action, delivered to NATCA this week in a terse, 79-word fax, confirms the termination of its controller liaison program. The remaining nine controllers from an original group of 30 will be sent home July 29. The controllers had been working on vital technical projects with the agency, from the en route modernization program to runway safety technology like the Airport Surface Detection Equipment.
The move is a shocking rebuke to the GAO, which, in a November 2004 report entitled, "FAA Needs To Ensure Better Coordination When Approving Air Traffic Control Systems," emphasized the need to involve controllers "early and throughout FAA's ground systems approval process." The report found that when the FAA did not involve controllers and technical experts, its new air traffic control systems experienced cost over-runs and schedule delays.
The FAA's decision to terminate the liaison program also comes despite the fact that the program has routinely demonstrated success and has been commended by FAA management officials themselves. NATCA liaisons have previously been described by FAA management as, "an integral part in getting many projects deployed" and "an asset to the program."
FAA Controllers Looking Out for Safety: You're Dismissed!
