Monday, September 05, 2011

“I don’t feel as safe as I did five years ago.’’

That's a quote from an air traffic controller talking about flying today. Serious errors reported by controllers in the period 2007 - 2010 increased by 81%. The FAA says we need not worry, as the reporting system has changed in such a way that more errors will be reported. Plus, the current three years have been the safest ever. Howsomever, others disagree.

The number of errors is up 81% while air traffic is down 10%. Some of the problem is due to the number of controllers who have retired over the past few years; about 25% of the controllers are trainees. Some may be due to a change in the firm doing the training; Raytheon replaced the firm that had been doing the training for 20+ years. The IG wrote a scathing report on the quality of Raytheon's efforts.

Is this all an internal squabble where the controllers feel they are understaffed and management is under budgeting pressures?

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