Surf’s Up (Again)

The latest wave of news is out. Let’s get right to it.

AVweb broke this story about the FAA’s latest bit of madness.

Controllers As Airspace Police?

” The FAA has apparently ordered controllers to violate pilots for any and all errors and has threatened to discipline them if they don't file the reports. “

There’s no telling the thought process of whatever genius came up with this one. I suspect there could be many an unintended consequence because of it though. The rank-and-file controllers haven’t got the briefing from the FAA yet -- but if you know anything about the process, you know that it will be interpreted as many different ways as there are FAA managers. The only thing I’m willing to say for certain is that the folks at NASA’s ASRS will be busy. This could get ugly.

Over at Government Executive you can read a story about “credit hours” an alert reader sent me.

Judge: FAA owes air traffic controllers overtime pay

”A federal judge has ruled that the Federal Aviation Administration's personnel authorities do not allow the agency to compensate air traffic controllers who work overtime in credit hours and compensation time instead of paying them standard time-and-a-half rates, as required under the federal 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. “

“Credit hours” are a method for the FAA to avoid paying overtime while allowing controllers to swap shifts to get a day off. Controllers haven’t been able to get spot leave (unscheduled time off) since long before I left the FAA. They’d ask a buddy (who was off that day) to work for them so they could attend their sister’s wedding (or whatever.) The buddy would get “credit hours” -- leave that he could use whenever the FAA decided they could let him off the schedule (without using overtime to cover his shift, of course.) It was a perverted system to cover the FAA’s staffing shortage without paying overtime. I called them “crack hours.” Everybody knew they were bad for the system but if that was the only way you could get a day off...take another hit from the pipe. Rehab will be expensive.

And to top it all off, there has been a rash of accidents and incidents -- in Minnesota, Oregon, New York and now California.

It’s enough to make you wonder if we’re still in “the safest period in the history of aviation.”

Don Brown
August 7, 2008