ASSOCIATED PRESS:
FAA, Reno air controllers at odds over ill worker
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AUDIO)
by Sandra Chereb
RENO, Nev. – An air traffic controller taken ill while on duty in Reno sparked a volley of words Wednesday between the controller's union and the Federal Aviation Administration, with each accusing the other of using the incident for political gains.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, in a press release issued late Tuesday, said the veteran controller had been forced to work alone in the radar room at Reno-Tahoe International Airport when he suffered a heart attack late Monday afternoon.
Ian Gregor, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles, on Wednesday said the controller suffered a severe bout of heartburn – not a heart attack.
“It's unfortunate that the controller union's leadership didn't bother to check their facts and then used this gentleman's medical misfortune to try to further their political goals,” Gregor told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
When told of the FAA's comments, Rich Ferris, the association's Reno representative, responded with sarcastic laughter.
“They haul a guy out of here in an ambulance and it's heartburn?” Ferris said, though he later amended his description of the stricken worker's ailment to “apparent heart attack.”
Regardless of his ailment, Ferris said the incident underscores staffing shortages at the airport tower.
“They're playing a game,” he said of the FAA. “The airport firefighters responded. He said he was having chest pains. They treated him as a heart attack victim. He went to the emergency room.”
“What struck this individual, it doesn't matter,” Ferris said. “We just don't have enough people certified.”
What's important, he said, is “the urgency of the situation that transpired.”
Airport spokesman Brian Kulpin said there was no disruption of service and safety was maintained during the incident.
The controllers union and the FAA have sparred for years over staffing levels at airports around the country.
In Reno, the union said normal staffing for the shift in the radar room is three controllers, or two controllers plus one supervisor. Only the one controller was working radar Monday afternoon, though there were other controllers in the traffic tower.
“The FAA has left us in a position where we cannot provide the level of service that Reno needs,” Ferris said in the written released.
Controllers in the radar room keep tabs on and communicate with aircraft passing through airspace, while controllers in the traffic tower assist planes that are taking off and landing.
Gregor disputed the association's allegations that Reno was understaffed.
“We normally staff only two radar positions during the busiest times. We have always staffed to traffic and if there's only enough traffic for one controller, it doesn't make sense to have two controllers working the radar room,” he said.
“There have been absolutely no delays or safety issues in or around Reno due to staffing levels,” Gregor added. “The controller union leadership is very good at making dramatic, alarmist pronouncements, but not so good at providing evidence to support their claims.”
KRNV 4 (Reno, Nev.):
FAA and controller's union are accusing each other of "playing games"
Reno air traffic controller take ill while on duty has sparked a feud between the controller's union and the Federal Aviation Administration because of rumors of understaffing as the reason behind the controller's illness.
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration says the controller suffered a severe bout of heartburn -- not a heart attack, what was originally thought.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said late Tuesday that the veteran controller had been forced to work alone in the radar room at Reno-Tahoe International Airport when he suffered a heart attack late Monday afternoon.
The controllers union and the FAA have sparred for years over staffing levels at airports around the country
FAA, Reno air controllers at odds over ill worker
