UNCONTROLLED SLEEPING CONTROLLERS

UNCONTROLLED SLEEPING CONTROLLERS, (Frazer Chronicles)

The rash of sleeping air traffic controllers over the past several months has brought the resignation of  the head of the organization that oversees the nation's air traffic control system, Hank Krakowski. The incidents are well documented and the snoozing  controllers have each been reprimanded, suspended and face the possibility of losing their jobs.

Was the sleepy headed controllers lack of professionalism and their seeming penchant for napping  on the job the fault of Hank Krakowski?  Of course not. The poor executive is nothing more then the fall guy for the FAA, which faces  a far deeper problem. Recalling past ills that have dogged the industry since the 1981 decertification of  the original Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) union that represented the more then 17,000 controllers. 

PATCO had started out as simply a professional organization in 1968, assisted by famed attorney F. Lee Bailey. Usually professional organizations might hold annual meetings to air commonly held complaints, to address issues within the organization and to kick back and drink beer. However that all changed during the initial year of the organization's operations, when a "operation air safety" was called nationally. The resulting slowdowns caused numerous flight delays and cancellations.

The United States Civil Service Commission, angered by the action, ruled that PATCO was no longer a professional organization, but in fact was a union.

During the 1970's the newly designated union orchestrated a controlled sickout to protest FAA actions that the union felt was unfair to it's representative members. The result was that the controllers were ordered back to work by the federal court and the government was forced to the bargaining table to address some of the PATCO issues.

Issues continued throughout the 1970's between PATCO and the federal government with regards to safety issues, lack of ATC personnel, pay and a training school for controllers in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Although some of these issues were resolved between the union and the government, many continued to be hotly contested.

Finally in August, 1981, PATCO instructed it's members to strike and more then 15,000 members walked off the job, protesting long hours, (reputed to be the longest in the world) upgrading computer equipment and retirement after 20 years of service.

The move, walking off the job, was, to say the least, "ill advised."  In the past, PATCO held the false impression that they had were above the law so to speak, and they, didn't have to obey  the 1956 federal law that forbid government union workers from striking. President Ronald Reagan ordered the controllers back to work, citing the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act and that the strike was a peril to national safety.

The ATC went on strike on August 3rd. and on August 5th. when the workers refused to return to work, Reagan fired the more then 11,000 who had ignored the return to work order. Not only did these people lose their jobs, they were banned from federal service for life, (later lifted in 1993 by President Clinton).

With little fanfare, the country, at the time, applauded Reagan and his decisions and actions and few realized the long ranging ramifications of this seeming isolated act by a former actor turned politician and president. However that issue and resulting story is for a different time.

We now fast forward to 2010-11 and once again an ATC mess, brought on by a lax attitude towards rules and regulations that govern the nation's air travel system. When somebody tells me that "only one controller is in an airport control tower for an entire shift," I, well, I can't believe it. What in the hell does the guy do if he feels the call of nature and needs to take a number 2 and it turns out to be a "ghost crap," you know, where you grunt and grunt with all your might and nothing comes out, but you still feel the urge. Wow, what a dilemma.

What if a controller has a heart attack, what's the back-up, doesn't anybody take over, some of these guys slept for hours on end. These guys are highly trained professionals, with a heavy job description, where a mistake might mean lives could be lost. What in the hell is going on with the FAA, which employees more then 90% of these people.

Wait a minute, I've got it, light staffing during low volume of flights saves money, that's the ticket. Did you know that the average attendant makes $106,990 a year, more then $52.00 an hour, before any benefits. That's more then six times the amount of some of our nations top airline pilots, how could anybody jeopardize that rate of pay?

Clearly the danger to planes, their crew, passengers and the innocent civilians near airports were lucky during these naps that were taken by these ATC people. I used to drive a semi-tractor trailer and I once drove more then 1000 miles in a straight 24 hour period, so I have an idea of  what sleep depravation is all about. On a scale of one to ten, my driving job, compared to an air traffic controller is like zero. Yet some of these guys fell asleep, go figure.

Although I no longer fly, (my arms get too tired) I do hope for the sake of those that still fly, the FAA will get this part of their act cleaned up. There is no way of telling how many of these naps have taken place, but hopefully with two guys in the tower, one an keep the other awake.