Whistle-Blowers In The Post

Just a quick note to call your attention to an article in The Washington Post.

More Step Up To Complain About FAA

Whistle-Blowers Say Agency Ignored Safety Concerns

In the article, you will read about Peter Nesbitt. Peter and I have been talking to each other, via the internet, for years. Invariably, the conversations have been about safety in air traffic control. The conversations have been intelligent and heartfelt. If Peter says it’s a problem -- I bet that it’s a problem. You can too.

This is so infuriatingly typical of the FAA. The people that care -- the very ones that you want looking after your safety -- are treated the worst of all. Because they actually care enough -- to notice the problems, to bring them management’s attention, to insist that they are fixed -- they are branded a “trouble makers.”

Keep your eyes on Memphis -- the Tower, the Approach Control and the Center. Something tells me that this isn’t over.

Don Brown
May 31, 2008

What About Tomorrow ?

It sounds stupid when I say it but it is what it is. Some of the best analysis of the current administration you’ll ever see was on Comedy Central last night. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has done it again. But before I give you the link, let me say a few things.

First, Jon Stewart is a comedian. A good one. I was watching the video of his interview with Richard Clarke again this morning --trying to select some quotes -- when I noticed most of the insight (and quotes) were coming from Jon Stewart.

Second, Richard Clarke, (like most of Jon’s guests) is trying to sell books. His latest book is Your Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters.

(Time out for a personal message: Honey, if you still can’t find my wish list this will do for Father’s Day.)

Where were we ? Oh yeah, selling books. Richard Clarke is trying to sell books. So what ? Is that supposed to negate what he is saying ? It might make you skeptical. I hope it does. Because I want you to listen very, very closely to what he is saying. I listened to the video three times this morning and picked up something new each time.

“So many people have written these books saying the same thing...”

That’s true. The first one I read was The Price of Loyalty by Paul O’Neill back in 2004. As you may remember, Paul O’Neill was Secretary of the Treasury. Even Mr. Clarke wrote one previously -- Against All Enemies. I read that one too. Both were good, solid books.

“They want to be the government so the government doesn’t do anything.”

That is a slight variation of a theme I’ve expressed before and I like it better. Instead of government being the problem that needs to be abolished or whittled down, just make sure it doesn’t accomplish anything that government is supposed to accomplish. While still spending the tax revenues on their pet projects of course. It fits better with the Bush Administration’s actions.

As Mr. Clarke points out, his new book is about where we go from here.

”...how do you get the government to work again.”

I won’t spoil Jon Stewart’s punch line for you but Mr. Clarke is right. Think about what it will take to turn around the FAA. If it takes 3-5 years to train a controller, think about how long it takes to make a supervisor. Or a Facility Manager. When word comes down from on high (hopefully) to turn the fleet around, you will still have the same crew and same captain on the individual ships. And right now -- for the most part -- they hate each other. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’ll turn the ship around. But that won’t make them a better captain. And in case it hasn’t hit you, the FAA has already replaced the crew once before and they’re about to do it again. This is going to be really hard and really painful.

Watch the video.

Don Brown
May 30, 2008

Things That Make You Go...

Things That Make You Go...


Huh ?

US transport secretary visits Baghdad air traffic centre

Duh !

US Replacing Air Traffic Control Radars

For me (and I hope my readers) it’s a no-brainer. NextGen isn’t going to replace radar. Or more precisely, ADS-B isn’t going to replace radar. Please note that this story is about ASRs -- Airport Surveillance Radars. That would be radars used to separate airplanes close to the airports. There hasn’t been any new ARSRs Air Route Surveillance Radars installed since the mid-90s. And all of those were on the U.S. Borders. (nice map at the link.) The main radar I used for 25 years was a ARSR-1. And it’s still being used.

(Think 9/11, NORAD was busy looking “out” instead of “in”, the reason ATC lost track of American 77, billions spent upgrading our security but not on radars and all this is a whole other story.)

What I really want you to note is the location of the radar story -- Defense Industry Daily. Well, you could note several things from that but the one I’m after is that fact that it isn’t exactly what you would call “mainstream.” It’s been out there for days -- since May 22nd. Yet, no mainstream news organization has picked it up. And in the same period of time, there have been dozens of stories about upgrading ATC, à la NextGen. There’s reality and then there’s hype.

Somebody has lost the flick.

As for Secretary Peters going to Iraq...you’re on your own. I can’t explain that one.

Don Brown
May 29, 2008

Time is Short

Sorry I’m so slow. As is typical in my life, when it rains it pours. No, no rain in mid-Georgia today. No sun either. That means it’s a perfect time for me to get to those flower beds I’ve been neglecting.

Incredibly, it’s only 68 degrees at 1 P.M. here today. Yesterday I was baking in the sun -- planting vinca. When I woke up today and it was actually cool, I decided to plant while the sun wasn’t shining. Marigolds by the mailbox, petunias in the pots and I finally managed to get the tomato plants in the ground. Most people plant tomatoes on Good Friday around here -- if that gives you any idea how late I am.

I’m afraid it won’t get much better this week. My son graduates high school tomorrow night. My wife is knocking herself out, putting together his party. I’m sure she’s trying to keep her mind off the fact that this chapter of our life is closing. My son has been goofing off all week -- as seniors do. I asked him if he needed me to make his lunch to take to school the other day and he said, “No Dad, you don’t ever have to make my lunch again.”

I missed so much of their growing up -- working all the crazy shifts that controllers work. It’s been nice to at least catch the last part -- these last two years. My daughter has been living at home too -- attending a local college. She will be leaving this fall also, transferring to an out of town college.

Damn those flowers -- always making my eyes water.

Don Brown
May 29, 2008

Traveler Tips

Barbara S. Peterson has an excellent summation of the current air traffic control situation in Conde Nast Traveler.

Losing Control ?

There isn’t anything surprising in it for my regular readers but that doesn’t take away from the fine job Ms. Peterson has done. You might want to send it on to your friends.

Don Brown
May 27, 2008

Union Busters ‘R Us

Martinlady over at The FAA Follies has been doing a bit of reading of her own. She’s writing a series on the FAA, following a path detailed in a book she read.

Confessions of a Union Buster by Martin Jay Levitt with Terry Conrow

Part one of her series is here.

Part two is here.

For those out there that might not know that there is a whole industry dedicated to busting unions and preventing unions from being formed in the first place -- you might want to start at Wikipedia for some background. If you read all the way to the notes, you’ll notice that Confessions of a Union Buster is cited numerous times.

Because this subject is near and dear to my heart, I could carry on all day. But I’ll limit myself to one story out of the many that come to mind. Conservative dogma cites Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” as the holy scripture in the church of the free market. There is no doubt that Adam Smith’s book The Wealth of Nations is an important work. One day, I might even read it. But I had heard it cited so many times I decided to browse through it for myself. (Have I mentioned how much I love the internet ?)

The Wealth of Nations
Book One
Chapter VIII
Of the Wages of Labour

“We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labour above their actual rate. To violate this combination is everywhere a most unpopular action, and a sort of reproach to a master among his neighbours and equals. We seldom, indeed, hear of this combination, because it is the usual, and one may say, the natural state of things, which nobody ever hears of. Masters, too, sometimes enter into particular combinations to sink the wages of labour even below this rate. These are always conducted with the utmost silence and secrecy, till the moment of execution, and when the workmen yield, as they sometimes do, without resistance, though severely felt by them, they are never heard of by other people.”

Adam Smith
1776

“...they are never heard of by other people.“ Most of our fellow citizens have never heard that the air traffic controllers are working under imposed work rules. Of those that have, most don’t know that the FAA hired a professional union buster -- Joe Miniace -- to handle negotiations with the controllers. Just in case that didn’t grab you, let me spell it out. Your tax dollars paid for a professional union buster.

I hope that doesn’t make any of my readers feel like I think they’re dense. In case it did, let me make it up to you. Piece together the puzzle.

1) FDR’s election in ‘33
2) The Uprising of ‘34
3) The foundation of The Family in ‘35
4) The Taft-Hartley Act in 1947
5) The PATCO strike in 1981

Keep plugging in the pieces of the puzzle and see if you can figure out how we got here.



The next time you read phrases like “declining wages” or “the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression” or “the greatest concentration of wealth since the 1920s”...you’ll have an idea of how we got here, who brought us and why I’m reading books like American Theocracy, Titan and FDR. And yes (while I’m looking up links), Jeff Sharlet’s The Family is already on my wish list.

Don Brown
May 27, 2008

Midway in FDR

Just a quick note to let you know how much I’m already enjoying FDR by Jean Edward Smith. I’m only up to the period of Roosevelt’s first 100 days as President and I’m already enthralled with the book. The period of Roosevelt’s youth was so different -- he was raised in such alien (to me) conditions of wealth and privilege -- that the parallels between the economic crisis of the 1930’s and the current sub-prime-mortgage-inspired mess make for fascinating reading.

It is troubling to read how FDR was showered with adulation -- and power. He had to know the dangers of that power. He referred to Huey P. Long (Louisiana’s “Kingfish”) as the second most dangerous man in America -- second only to General Douglas MacArthur. Yet he embraced all and used them for his purposes.

I’ve read extensively about FDR. He’s my favorite President. It’s early -- but not too early to tell you that this book is a winner.

Don Brown
May 26, 2008

FAA History Lesson -- May 25

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”May 25, 1979: An American Airlines DC-10 crashed into an open field near Chicago's O'Hare airport after its left engine and pylon assembly separated from the aircraft on takeoff. The engine and pylon rotated up and over the left wing, taking part of the wing’s leading edge with them and damaging the control system. The ensuing crash and fire killed all 272 persons aboard the flight and two people on the ground, an unprecedented toll for an airline accident within U.S. airspace.

Early in its investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board discovered the presence of a fatigue fracture of a pylon forward thrust link attach bolt. On May 28, FAA Administrator Langhorne Bond ordered all airlines to keep their DC-10s on the ground until they had completed certain visual inspections. The next day, after learning that these checks were turning up potentially dangerous deficiencies in the pylon mountings, Bond grounded the entire U.S. DC-10 fleet pending a more comprehensive inspection. His order included U.S.-certificated Airbus A-300s because of the similarity of their pylon to the DC-10's.

As these inspections progressed, evidence mounted that the problem might lie in American Airline's non-standard use of a forklift to dismount and remount engine and pylon as a single unit during maintenance. Similar cracks had been found on DC-10s operated by Continental Airlines, the only other carrier using the forklift method. On Jun 5, however, the discovery of cracks that appeared unrelated to the forklift procedure strengthened evidence that seemed to suggest the existence of some more fundamental problem. On Jun 6, Bond suspended the DC-10's type certificate indefinitely. He then ordered three parallel investigations into the DC-10 issue.

Thirty-seven days later, FAA's investigative teams concluded that the aircraft destroyed in Chicago had indeed been damaged by the forklift procedure. This was also the cause of the other cracks found in the pylons of DC-10s operated by American and Continental. (The two airlines later received civil penalties of $500,000 and $100,000 respectively for using the procedure.) Other findings of the teams supported the conclusion that the DC-10 should be returned to service, and FAA therefore lifted the grounding order. The agency required a stringent program of inspections, however, and directed the manufacturer to redesign certain engine mount components. ”

The accident investigation was quite complicated and centered on the maintenance procedure used by American. You might be interested in the side issue of the controllers working the flight. When it comes to aviation, controllers often have front-row seats to disasters no one wants to witness.

Witness to American Airlines Flight 191

I’m glad I worked in a Center.

Don Brown
May 25, 2008

More Cool Maps

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this site before or not. They have some way-cool animated maps -- including a “new” one on:

The March of Democracy

In case I haven’t mentioned them, they have more at:

Maps of War


Don Brown
May 24, 2008

A Hole In Our History

A few days ago, as I was poking fun at my heritage, I was reminded of a bit of history that I believe worth sharing. In the mid 1990s, PBS showcased a documentary film entitled The Uprising of ‘34 on their series P.O.V. (Point of View).

I was absolutely dumbfounded by the program. The event itself was amazing but what stunned me was my complete lack of knowledge about it. I was in my mid-30s, I’d lived in the area of the event my entire life, I had helped start a union and yet -- I was completely ignorant of the largest strike in American history.

This quote from The Uprising of ‘34 highlights my point.

”Kathy Lamb, a former mill worker's daughter, is flabbergasted that her father never mentioned the strike. "I can't understand why my Dad didn't tell me. He could talk about the war and about people being blown to bits, but he couldn't talk about his neighbors being killed. It's like somebody trying to hide a dirty secret about their family, like they're ashamed. They ought to be proud of them. They stood up when other people wouldn't." “

I find it incredible that a society has so completely obliterated a historically significant event. The Haymarket Massacre in 1886 provided us with the lasting legacy of “the bomb-throwing anarchist” but a strike involving 400,000 people -- in which six picketers were killed in Honea Path, South Carolina -- has been wiped from our collective conscience. My grandparents lived a couple of counties over, in another of the endless mill villages in the Piedmont. That entire side of my family had worked in the cotton mills -- after coming out of the coal mines in southwest Virginia. I had never, ever heard a peep out of anybody about this strike. I just knew that unions were talked about only in whispers -- as if such talk was dangerous.

I urge you to explore this forgotten piece of history. I was going to buy the DVD of The Uprising of ‘34 so that I could refresh my memory -- until I found out it was $500 dollars. (Yes, it is curious.) I guess I’ll wait for PBS to run it again.

In the meantime, you can read more about the strike at Wikipedia.

Textile workers strike (1934)

While you are at Wikipedia, you might as well read about the Battle of Blair Mountain too. For the aviation fans (assuming any are still with me), you can read how General Billy Mitchell planned to use airpower to disperse the strikers. (Warning: Read more than one account of the story before you start quoting anything as gospel. What General Mitchell said and what he did are two different things.)

After you read all this, please sit down and do some serious thinking. Ostensibly, companies always fight unions to keep costs down so that the company remains in business. Looking at the cotton mills of the South, the companies successfully crushed any thought of unionizing. Wages stayed low -- and unions stayed out -- even into our times. As a matter of fact, wages stayed low until the cotton mills left for even poorer people in greener, foreign pastures.

What did the workers get ? I know what the mill owners got. Their children went to the nice schools, went to the good colleges and still live off the money their parents made -- until this very day. What did the worker’s children get ? Some got out. My family is living proof of that. A lot didn’t. What did their children get ? Besides another generation of poverty ?

Contrast that with the auto industry or the steel industry. The unions negotiated good wages and good benefits. They didn’t live in poverty. They became the middle class. Which was better for our country ?

There needs to be a balance between workers, company owners, corporations, citizens and our government. Finding that balance is never easy. It seems easier to judge if there was a healthy balance in the past. The problem is, we need to determine if there is a healthy balance now. I don’t believe there is. And I don’t believe we should wait until things are so bad that the government is shooting its citizens, before we act.

A little over the top you say ? Too far in the past to be relevant ? If you’re my age, ask your kids what they know about Kent State. “Kent State ?”, my daughter asked. “Never heard of it.”

Don Brown
May 23, 2008

FAA History Lesson -- May 23

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”May 23, 1981: At its annual convention, in New Orleans, PATCO set a Jun 21 deadline for reaching agreement on a new contract with FAA. PATCO President Robert Poli said if agreement was not reached by that date the union would poll its members for a strike vote. Newspapers quoted Poli as vowing that the "the skies will be silent" if FAA's negotiators did not "come to their senses." (See Apr 28, 1981, and Jun 18, 1981.)”

NATCA has their convention this year -- in September. It is shaping up to be an historic event.

You may not know it -- I’m not sure most controllers realize it -- but this is a perilous time. The conditions that controllers are suffering right now cannot continue. Something will change. And very different groups of very clever people have very different ideas on how to make change.

Pat Forrey is the current president of NATCA and he is under tremendous pressure. Controllers want the conditions of their workplace improved. Controllers are not patient people. Either Pat will deliver or they will find someone else who can. Or the situation will spiral out of control. Pat is not stupid. He knows this. The question is, “Do you ?”

This post is supposed to be another history lesson. I write them in hope that I can pass along some knowledge that will make us all smarter if not wiser. If you haven’t read The Pressures of PATCO let me encourage you to do so. Read it with a critical eye. Do you remember what I wrote about yesterday -- ERAM ? It a nutshell, it’s technology. Do you remember that I’m retired ? You’ve got to ask yourself on occasion, “Why do I still care ?” The answer to that is complicated but it’s obvious that it isn’t the money. A lot of people -- a lot of controllers --think it’s the money. It isn’t.

From The Pressures of PATCO

” Finally, advancing technology played a key role in both the cause and the resolution of the strike. Controllers, for the most part, paid little attention to the implications of automation on their occupation, although PATCO occasionally faulted the FAA's emphasis on equipment instead of people. Most controllers believed in the centrality and necessity of human skill and judgment to the system. Indeed, they welcomed almost any equipment or programs that might assist them in their work. At the same time, though, an overwhelming number of individual ATC complaints singled out stress as a primary motive for striking. Greater air traffic volume and increased demands on ATC capabilities made possible by new technology, coupled with faulty equipment and autocratic management that limited workplace autonomy, were the obvious causes of such stress. Yet neither PATCO nor the controllers made this connection explicit or strongly challenged management privilege to decide the nature and purpose of computers in air towers.

Meanwhile, FAA officials clearly saw automation as a means of eliminating dependence on skilled controllers. As an editorial in “Aviation Week and Space Technology” commented, "few federal bureaucrats have the chance to fire 70% of their departments and replace the victims with lower-salaried recruits--or with computers and black boxes." In 1982 J. Lynn Helms (head of the FAA) announced a twenty year program costing between $15 and $20 billion to replace the system's aging computers and further move towards automating air control.“

Let me quote myself a couple of times so I can make sure I’ve made the point.

“Instead of using technology to assist controllers, they keep trying to make it replace controllers.”

“They’re trying to turn controllers into ‘mouse-clicking monkeys.’ “

But it’s so much easier to focus on the money. It’s easier to explain, easier to understand and easier to assign blame. It’s easier to emotionalize. “Greedy bastards !” “Slave wages.”

From The Pressures of PATCO

” A critical component contributing to and ensuring the acceptance of this view was PATCO's own demands and rhetoric. Poli's emphasis on economic benefits served to subsume the basic struggle over power in the workplace; mask the links among stress, autocratic management, and workplace control; and undermine the moral position of the strikers in the eyes of the country. By basing a strike on an action critique of specific FAA techniques rather than an ideological and theoretical critique of managerial control and its relationship to stress, PATCO earned few supporters and the basic issue of manager-labor power remained unaddressed.“

(Emphasis added)

As I said, these are perilous times. Somebody needs to get the flick. Unfortunately, I don’t think that will be Bush, Peters or Sturgell. Do you ?

And there’s one more thing (isn’t there always ?) that you might want to plug into the equation.

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”Jan 7, 1980: John F. Leyden resigned as president of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association (PATCO) after a bitter struggle for control of the organization with Robert E. Poli, a regional vice president. Both Poli and Leyden had submitted their resignations to the PATCO board, but the board accepted only Leyden's resignation. Leyden resigned effective Feb 1, and Poli became interim president on that day. Poli subsequently was elected to a three-year term on Apr 24. (See May 4, 1979, and Apr 15, 1980.)“

Perilous indeed.

Don Brown
May 23, 2008

ERAM Update

For those that don’t remember, ERAM stands for En Route Automation Modernization. Not that it will help you much, but the FAA’s babble-speak about ERAM is here. ERAM is to be the computer guts of the air traffic control system. It’s the software and hardware that will crunch the bits and bytes so that the airplanes don’t go crunch. Unfortunately, that may be the literal truth. Responsibility for the traveling public may be changing hands from thousands of air traffic controllers to a few computer programmers.

The problem is that we don’t know. Put your thinking cap on. This isn’t simple. You need to hold several thoughts in your head to follow along and you’ll need to remember what has been transpiring in the FAA for the last several years.

First, air traffic controllers -- in the form of NATCA -- were kicked off all the controller liaison positions three years ago. In order to understand how ignorant that leaves you (the Public), think about how little you would know about aircraft inspections at Southwest without union members blowing the whistle. If local FAA managers were doing the inspections you still wouldn’t know about it and the Administration would still be protecting their plausible deniability.

Next -- like everything in the Government these days -- the work is being done by contractors. They get paid bonuses for delivering “on time.” In addition, the FAA has instituted “pay for performance.” You don’t get paid a bonus for saying “Hey !...wait a minute...this isn’t right.” You get paid for throwing the switch and turning it on. The rumor is that ERAM will be on time and it will work -- no matter what the reality.

You’ve read my thoughts about URET. That system takes away a controller’s ability to “see” traffic without radar. It forces the controller to rely on the computer programmer’s ability to see traffic. You might think that sentence is phrased kind of funny but it is phrased exactly as I intended. “The computer” doesn’t think. Nor does it feel or learn. Somebody is making the decisions. If that person isn’t a controller then it’s a programmer.

Now toss in the fact that the FAA is losing it’s experienced controllers. A new controller that has never read a flight progress strip outside of the fantasy world of simulation doesn’t know a thing about “projecting.” He doesn’t know what the traffic will look like before it shows up on his radar. He just knows what the computer tells him. Correction -- He just knows what the programmer is telling him. Project that line of thought onto ERAM -- a program that is being designed without controller input. I’m sure there are managers working on it that used to be controllers. If you think that is the same thing as a controller you haven’t been paying attention.

Now turn the computer off.

The software that ERAM will replace was the biggest program and the most complicated software ever written up until that time. Do you think ERAM will be any less complicated for its time ? Do you think it won’t crash ?

Remember, the last time the FAA tried to replace this software was the complete and utter failure known as the Advanced Automation System. One of the sub-stories behind that failure was the inability to meet the human factors concerns. The technological part was daunting enough. The human factors part proved impossible. Those pesky humans -- always getting in the way.

In listening to controllers discuss ERAM, it’s clear that they’ve been cut out of the process. They’re picking up their information second and third-hand -- even as the equipment is being installed in their facilities. That, in of itself, ought to make you nervous.

In my day, the FAA told us the Advanced Automation System would make us airspace “managers” instead of controllers. They were wrong. Today -- with ERAM -- it sounds like they’re trying again. Another controller summed it up better. They’re trying to turn controllers into “mouse-clicking monkeys.” If the computer is “green” you’re good. If the computer is “red”, click the mouse until it turns “green.”

Controllers might have to worry that the programmers are right but you have to worry about what happens if they’re wrong. Those programmers and FAA managers won’t be sitting in front of a radar scope when it breaks. And none of them will be sitting next to you in that airplane when the “red” won’t go away and the mouse won’t click. You’ll be on your own.

You might want to make sure ERAM works. Don’t ask me how you can do that when controllers don’t know. I guess you’ll have to ask the FAA. I sure hope they’re better at inspecting computer programs than they are at inspecting airplanes.

Don Brown
May 22, 2008

Good Grief

It’s a good thing I don’t have a job (still.) Otherwise, I’d never be able to keep up. I just finished writing today’s post and on my first pass through the internet I’ve got a week’s worth of blogging.

A plain and simple letter to the editor from my good friend Chuck Adams made it into Google News. It’s just like Chuck -- respectful, sincere and straight to the point.

Clear Senate FAA bill for takeoff

Chuck is a rock. He’s a controller in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He’s the kind of guy that makes me proud to have been a controller and the kind of guy that makes you proud to be an American. I could go on all day but I’ll leave it at this -- he’s one of the finest people I know.

I barely know Dick Smith but he made it into the news in Australia.

Low pay 'forcing air traffic controllers out of jobs'

”The former chair of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) says there is a dangerous shortage of air traffic controllers in Australia.”

I bumped into Mr. Smith on the ‘net a few years back. He is a very interesting individual. He also has a wicked sense of humor. I’m not sure if it’s a fair (much less flattering) comparison, but for Americans...imagine if Ted Turner was passionate about aviation and became Administrator of the FAA. I really need to visit Australia. It sounds like loads of fun.

This doesn’t though.

”Radio and radar systems were down for three hours early this morning. Up to 24 planes were affected. Had it occurred at peak time, one controller said, the danger 'would have been incalculable.' “

That is from yesterday’s L.A. Times. You might be noticing a troubling trend. No system is fail-proof. That is the reason air traffic control (and aviation in general) has so many backup systems and so much redundancy. What is troubling me is the radios and the radars going out at the same time. And it isn’t the first time it has happened.

I can’t tell you what is wrong but I have my suspicions. Whatever it is, it needs to get fixed. Pronto. It’s beyond dangerous.

Now I really have to go do something. I can’t sit and type on this computer all day.

Don Brown
May 21, 2008

FAA History Lesson -- May 21

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”May 21, 1958: Senator A. S. Mike Monroney (D-Okla.) introduced S. 3880, a bill "to create an independent Federal Aviation Agency, to provide for the safe and efficient use of the airspace by both civil and military operations and to provide for the regulation and promotion of civil aviation in such a manner as to best foster its development and safety." By the next day 33 Senators were listed as cosponsors of the bill, and Representative Oren Harris (D-Ark.) introduced the same bill as H.R. 12616.

On Jun 13, President Eisenhower, in a message to Congress, recommended early enactment of such legislation to consolidate "all the essential management functions necessary to support the common needs of our civil and military aviation." (See Aug 23, 1958.) ”

Fifty years is an anniversary that calls for a little reflection. Let’s review.

From yesterday’s entry, we know that The Air Commerce Act became law in 1926.

Then came the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938. This entry will highlight a disturbing trend in aviation history.

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”May 6, 1935: A Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) DC-2 crashed near Atlanta, Mo., killing five of the eight persons aboard. Senator Bronson M. Cutting (R-N.Mex.) was among the fatalities. A Bureau of Air Commerce report cited the accident’s causes as the U.S. Weather Bureau’s failure to predict hazardous weather and misjudgments by the pilot and TWA ground personnel. In June 1936, however, a committee chaired by Sen. Royal S. Copeland (D-N.Y.) issued a report alleging that the tragedy was caused by malfunctioning navigational aides and voicing other criticisms of the Bureau of Air Commerce. The controversy gave impetus to legislative efforts that eventuated in the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938. (See Jun 23, 1938.) “

In 1940, the Civil Aeronautics Authority was reorganized into the the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB -- economic regulation and accident investigations) and the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA -- operations.)

After World War Two and the Korean War it was painfully obvious that there needed to be better integration between the military and civilian air traffic control systems. Back then, much like now, it was hard to find the time to focus on the problem and generate the political will needed to make the change. That is when history gets made.

”Jun 30, 1956: A Trans World Airlines Super Constellation and a United Air Lines DC-7 collided over the Grand Canyon, Ariz., killing all 128 occupants of the two airplanes. “

”Apr 21, 1958: An Air Force jet fighter collided with a United Air Lines DC-7 near Las Vegas, Nev., killing both occupants of the fighter and all 47 persons aboard the airliner. Another midair collision between a military jet and an airliner occurred on May 20 when a T-33 trainer and a Capital Airlines Viscount collided over Brunswick, Md. This second accident cost the lives of one of the two persons aboard the T-33 and all 11 aboard the Viscount. The twin tragedies spurred governmental action already underway to improve air traffic control and to establish a comprehensive Federal Aviation Agency. (See May 21 and May 28, 1958.) “

As the last entry notes, obviously Senator Monroney had been working on the bill to create the FAA for some time. You don’t write a piece of legislation that large overnight. In short, the problems in the National Airspace System were well known, solutions had been discussed, but the will to act couldn’t be found. Until the sky started falling.

If you took the time to click on the link for Senator Monroney above, you discovered he was called “Mr. Aviation.” There’s another Congressman that has earned the title now and he too has a bill that is awaiting action. We all recognize the problems we face. We may not agree on the solutions but we all know that what we’re doing right now isn’t one.

The airlines limp from one financial crisis to another. Pay, morale and experience are declining faster than their downward-spiraling profits. They can only afford one parachute per airline because it is golden. Unlike the captains of yore, it is the workers that are expected to go down with these ships.

The FAA is in shambles. A leaderless, mangy mutt -- suffering from a diet rich in pork but with little substance -- the citizens are left wondering if we should rehabilitate it or just shoot it and put it out of it’s misery.

History tells us that this will not end well. Either the citizens (that means you) will motivate their Congressmen to act or we’ll sit around and wait for Mr. Murphy to act -- thereby providing the needed motivation.

What’s it going to be ? Will you write your Representatives and your Senators and change history ? Or will history repeat itself ?

Don Brown
May 21, 2008

FAA History Lesson -- May 20

There are a multitude of entries for today, May 20th, in the FAA’s history. I’ve decided to go with the very first entry in the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996 -- the Air Commerce Act of 1926.

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”May 20, 1926: President Calvin Coolidge signed the Air Commerce Act of 1926 into law. The act instructed the Secretary of Commerce to foster air commerce; designate and establish airways; establish, operate, and maintain aids to air navigation (but not airports); arrange for research and development to improve such aids; license pilots; issue airworthiness certificates for aircraft and major aircraft components; and investigate accidents. (See Introduction.) ”

As significant as that is, tomorrow is just as significant. This date brought about the straw that broke the camel’s back -- another mid-air collision that finally forced the government to act.


Don Brown
May 20, 2008

King of the Hill -- A History

Two weeks ago I mentioned Kevin Phillip’s book, American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury , in my post Watching the Watcher. Mr. Phillips had an editorial in The Washington Post on Sunday that explains his positions in more detail. As a matter of fact, from my perspective, it was a pretty good summation of the book. In other words, if you find the editorial interesting you’ll like the book.

Speaking of books, Mr. Phillips has a new one out -- Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism . I suspect I’ll wind up reading that one too. Mr. Phillips was a strategist for Richard Nixon. He came up with “the Southern strategy” -- the political strategy that won the South for Nixon and transformed many a “yellow-dog Democrat” into a Republican. Mr. Phillips has since turned on the Republican Party with all the zeal of a reformed sinner.

Mr. Phillips has the gift of seeing into future further than most. Take a look at the editorial and see what you think.

The Old Titans All Collapsed. Is the U.S. Next?

I hope he isn’t as right about the future as he has been in the past.

Don Brown
May 20, 2008

Off Topic Map

Most of you won’t be interested. I just want to be able to reference this map quickly in the coming months. It’s the Congressional Districts for Georgia.



I once heard that the 3rd district of Georgia (my district) has more air traffic controllers in it than any other district in the nation. I wouldn’t know how to check that out but it makes me wonder if we have more retired controllers than anyone else. Retired controllers -- unlike active controllers -- can fully participate in the political process. I’ve already started. How about you ?

Don Brown
May 19, 2008

Are We There Yet ?

Once again, John Carr has one of those posts up that have made The Main Bang famous. I never can figure out where John finds the time -- but he does. It’s a long and detailed post. Everybody finds something different in it. Here’s what I found.

”Last 7 days we have had 35 CAT A errors, and that was the terminal option only.

Operational errors are 100% preventable. It’s one clearance at a time, and make sure to get that read back. Don’t go to the next task until a proper read back has been obtained. These sloppy techniques are getting us into trouble. “

I told you everybody finds something different. Most people “find” stuff like this:

”Only avenue left for NATCA is to sue the FAA in court. Not sure if they will go that far. “ (Author’s note: I’m sure they will. I’m not sure why the manager is not sure. NATCA has been trying to get to court for 624 days. The reason the Bush appointees have been dragging their feet -- refusing to issue rulings -- is to keep NATCA from getting to the courts.)

”Retention and re-hired annuitants: the FAA is thinking about re-hiring our retirees. “

”The Academy standards are being raised. There was some concern that New Hires have not been properly trained in the Academy, resulting in low ATC knowledge “

”Mulitple landing clearances will be coming to an end. “ (Author’s note: An end to “anticipated separation” for those that know what that is.)

Supposedly these are notes from a supervisor’s meeting (convention ?) in Denver. I have no reason to doubt that they are in that I heard exactly the same advice at least 10 years ago. I can see a guy named Russ saying those exact words in a training session and most of the room (full of controllers) laughing at him.

”Don’t go to the next task until a proper read back has been obtained.“

If taken literally -- even if taken in the spirit it was intended -- it would mean the biggest slowdown in air traffic control since PATCO. (Mind you, that wouldn’t bother me at all.) Controllers are lucky if they can get an adequate readback much less a “proper” one. As I told you on Saturday, no one that I know of has a program in place to ensure pilots use “proper” phraseology.

Let me show you how this goes. A restriction controllers issue hundreds of times a day goes like this.

”U S Air one twenty three cross SHINE intersection at and maintain one one thousand at two five zero knots Charlotte altimeter two niner niner two” (The lack of punctuation is intentional)

What controllers will typically get back is:

”Eleven and two fifty at SHINE one twenty three “

Actually, because of “clipping”, we’ll hear this:

̶