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Air Traffic Emergency Expected As Controllers Retire

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By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, The Associated Press

Published: January 11, 2008

WASHINGTON - Experienced air traffic controllers are retiring faster this year than the government projected and their union says the remaining veterans can no longer safely handle peak volumes in major markets.

That's significant locally, because about a third of the passengers flying out of Tampa International Airport head to New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles. The retirement potential also is high in Tampa, where 28 of the 46 certified air traffic controllers are eligible to retire this year.

"I had one controller call me from the golf course Saturday, and he told me he was through," Lee Parshook, the union president of the air traffic control tower at Tampa International Airport, said Thursday.

Patrick Forrey, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Southern California - among the most congested airspace in the nation - now have a staffing emergency.

"We have so few veteran controllers left that we cannot safely handle the volume of aircraft into these major areas during the busiest periods of the day," he said.

"They are being asked to handle so much volume with so little rest and with fewer eyes and ears that they are fatigued, and when you are fatigued you make mistakes."

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said fatal air accidents have declined to record low levels and said FAA measurements show reductions in serious errors.

Tampa's Parshook said the situation Forrey outlined reflects what is happening in Tampa, although it's not as bad here as the worst cases nationwide and less severe than in Orlando.

"We in Tampa are averaging 50-hour work weeks compared with 60 in Orlando," Parshook said. "We are hanging on by a thread. Fatigue becomes an issue the longer this goes on."

Levels Of Training

The FAA has set a staffing range for the Tampa tower at between 57 to 69 controllers, said Kathleen Bergen, FAA public affairs manager in Atlanta. If trainees are included, Tampa has sufficient staffing, she said, but it can take from two to three years for some to complete training, based on their experience.

Tampa has 46 "certified professional controllers" and 19 "developmentals," trainees from FAA-approved college training programs, the military or from towers operated by contract services. There also are four "certified professional controllers" in training, who previously were certified controllers at other facilities. Those four can work independently on certain positions for which they are certified, but the developmental trainees must be supervised on the job by certified controllers.

In addition, the Tampa tower has 10 air traffic supervisors certified and available to work traffic and supervise trainees.

The union estimated 500 veteran controllers will retire during the first third of fiscal 2008, which started Oct. 1. In March, the FAA estimated 695 controllers would retire during fiscal 2008.

The union said 357 already have retired and the rest of the 500 had informed the union they intend to retire by Feb. 2.

Brown said 357 seemed high and might include some supervisors and support workers, but could not immediately provide a different figure. She said the agency had increased its estimate for retirements this fiscal year, but had not yet made the new estimate public.

In 2007, the FAA said 828 controllers retired, 28.8 percent more than the 643 it predicted. At the end of fiscal 2007, it had 14,874 controllers, but that included more than 3,000 still in training. Trainees operate some radar positions but are not qualified for all jobs.

Contract Disputes Remain

Last spring, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended the FAA and the union work together to reduce controller fatigue. Forrey wrote the FAA offering to participate but said the union has gotten only a December briefing on the agency's work so far and has not been asked for its suggestions.

The FAA and union have a long-running dispute. In September 2006, the FAA, having declared an impasse in contract negotiations, imposed its offer on the union. It cut starting pay for controllers 30 percent and imposed new work rules the agency said were needed to adjust staffing to reflect airline mergers and bankruptcies since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Later, the agency targeted all 314 control facilities for cuts of controllers, ranging from 9 to 26 percent.

Forrey said the way to slow retirements would be to negotiate a new contract. Late last year, the House passed a bill reauthorizing the FAA that would force a reopening of negotiations. The Senate has yet to vote on its version, which does not go quite so far.

Tribune reporter Ted Jackovics contributed to this report.

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