NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION (NATCA)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2008
CONTACTS: Waterloo Tower Facility Representative K.C. Alewine, 319-230-9958; Chicago Center Vice President Toby Hauck, 630-957-7205; NATCA National Office, Alexandra Caldwell, 202-220-9813,
acaldwell@natcadc.org
FAA CLOSES WATERLOO, IOWA AIRSPACE, CITING STAFFING – DUTY GIVEN TO ALREADY UNDERSTAFFED CHICAGO CENTER
WATERLOO, Iowa – Due to a staffing shortage at the Waterloo (ALO) air traffic control tower and TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) the FAA will relinquish control of the 50 miles of airspace surrounding Waterloo tower from 8 P.M. to 10 P.M. to radar controllers in a Chicago facility – leaving a single controller in the tower to manage arriving and departing aircraft.
Despite frequent claims from the FAA that staffing is fine an FAA memo regarding the airspace closure states: “The intent of these revisions is to provide support for Waterloo ATCT (ALO) in the event that inadequate staffing requires the early closing of the TRACON.” It goes on to address that the switch will last up to six months stating, “This should allow sufficient time to address staffing issues at ALO.”
Radar controllers at Chicago Center have been routinely taking over Waterloo’s airspace from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M. when the control tower is closed but because of a severe staffing shortage the FAA has decided to move the radar control to the Chicago facility, already critically understaffed, two hours earlier while Waterloo tower is still open.
The tower controller will be required to contact Chicago Center for aircraft flight plans, runway and weather changes and permission to release flights operating under instrument flight rules (IFR) for takeoff. In addition, the Chicago Center controller will have to be notified manually when IFR aircraft have safely landed at Waterloo airport. None of these procedures are necessary when Waterloo radar controllers are in charge of the airspace so an additional workload will be imposed on the already overworked controllers at both facilities.
Waterloo controllers have received no briefing as to the changes that will occur despite half of the controllers in the facility never having worked a VFR tower before. Said Waterloo Facility Representative K.C. Alewine: “The FAA didn’t ask for input from those who know this airspace the best – the controllers. The controllers are unfamiliar with the new procedures being put into place, not having been consulted on them. We’re opposed to the FAA’s plans – when you take away airspace from those far more familiar with it mistakes are almost certainly going to occur.”
The area of Chicago Center that will assume Waterloo’s airspace is already reeling from a recent airspace change made due to the O’Hare modernization plan. The FAA’s staffing numbers for this area call for there to be 15 controllers available while it is currently staffed by only 11 to 12. Like their Waterloo counterparts, controllers at Chicago Center have also received no training on the new procedures. “In the eyes of the FAA it is better to curtail services than pay overtime and if they continue to staff to budget and shorten training time the margin of safety will be significantly reduced,” said Chicago Center Vice President Toby Hauck.
Though the FAA’s own staffing numbers mandate that Waterloo operate with 10 to 12 controllers the facility has only six CPCs (Certified Professional Controllers) and two trainees, where as recently as three years ago the facility had 12 to 13 CPCs. Three of the facility’s veteran controllers have retired since the FAA imposed work rules on the nation’s controllers nearly two years ago after refusing to reach or ratify a collective bargaining agreement.
Waterloo is scheduled to lose 50 percent of its fully-certified controller workforce with two more CPCs currently eligible for retirement and one who will transfer to an Omaha facility this time next year. The training process now taking anywhere from a year to two years, only one of the trainees set to replace them is close to reaching their certification.
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Faa Closes Waterloo Early
