There Is No Backup

I’ve been toying with the idea of writing this blog for days. How many times can I say that there is no backup in air traffic control before people that agree get tired of it ? How can I find a different way -- a more effective way -- of saying what I have said a dozen times before ?

Fix On Fail

”To sum it all up simply, the FAA has no viable backup plan. Without extensive training (something that is virtually impossible to do when your ATC system is already understaffed), the controller workforce will become less and less capable of handling a serious equipment outage (radar site, URET , radar scope, telecommunications or computer). Without an adequate number of technicians, a serious equipment outage becomes more and more likely. “

How can I spur Randy Babbitt into action ? Surely -- if he knew and understood the problem -- he would act. Ditto for Congress and the President. Surely if they understood that the career, upper management at the FAA is either ignorant or incompetent, they’d find somebody to fix this problem.

How about this ? Just ignore the retired, old, grumpy ex-safety rep and listen to the new guy that is untainted by the past, believes in technology and hasn’t been around long enough to become jaded by it all.

Zero

”Pilots practice stuff like this at least twice a year. We should be using strips at least that often so that, when something happens, we can deal with the actual problem, not our lack of proficiency with our backup system. This may be unpopular, but en-route controllers should spend time working busy traffic with strips enough so that it doesn't feel completely foreign if we need to use it in an emergency. This practice may be impractical working live traffic, as beneficial as I think it would be, for, say, a week at a time, once or twice a year. At least make us spend some quality time in the simulators with strips. How about include it as part of refresher training? If nothing else, it will be a good history lesson for the newer generation. “

If you think what he is saying sounds a lot like what I am saying...that would be because we’re saying the same thing. I see the problem from a perspective based on the past. He sees if from a perspective based on the future. He knows that one day he’ll face the situation and he has no way to make it work. I know he’s right because I was around when we had a backup system that did work and it was destroyed.

Don Brown
December 8, 2009

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