From The Administrators' Desk

Dear fellow aviation professionals,

Doesn't the air smell just a little crisper this morning, as we simulate leading our nation's air traffic control system back to it's previous (and rightful) spot as the gold-standard world's leader?

Minister Of Safety Don Brown has accepted his appointment and penned this very important memorandum on the subject.  Please read Mr. Brown's crucial, significant work.  It will tell you everything you need to know about our renewed commitment to aviation safety and national security.

Effective with my first day in office as Pseudo Administrator please revert to the Green Book NATCA-FAA Contract while I assemble a team to meet with the union and conclude negotiations on a new master agreement.  All bargaining units without a contract will use the Green book and it's associated pay scales until we are able to establish a new, profession-specific document for you.  Congratulations on your new living wage.  You all deserve it.  You are the glue that holds our system together.

First line supervisors---it will take a while to change the culture, but in the short term please try to think of your employees as family members.  Before taking any action, please consider whether or not that action would be appropriate for your mother, father, son or daughter.  We will have more in the coming days and weeks as we collectively struggle to undo five years of a Gestapo-like reign of terror.  Yes, I know you didn't mean it.  I already blogged that, too.  Just knock it off, and make it right.  From this moment forward, you will not be judged on how many employees you disciplined.  You will be judged---by your employees---on how many employees you nurtured, helped, lead, mentored, and taught.

Regional office and Headquarters employees:  I know you are outnumbered by contractors.  That will soon end.  Effective immediately their badges will be confiscated and they will be given temporary paper identification, to denote their expected longevity with the agency.  Please plan to take over much of that work, and of course expect your compensation to increase along with your responsibility.  New positions will be created, and if we have men and women in our agency who can work with you while they recover from illness or injury, that much the better.  We will add their intellectual capital to yours in strong support of the front line workers.  You exist to support the air traffic controller workforce and the national security sensitive, safety-critical work that they do.  I know you will rise up to meet this new challenge with unparalleled enthusiasm.

Thank you for taking the time to read this memo.  There will be many more, and Information Czar Rodney Turner will be broadcasting RodneyVision from the Administrator's office today at noon, so don't miss that.  He will be featuring an interview with our Deputy Administrator Ray Gibbons on new paradigms for operational error reporting.  Instead of punishment we are going with a blanket grant of immunity in hopes of learning something from these near-tragedies.  We are going to rely on NASA, IFATCA and the NTSB to assist us in creating a true safety culture in air traffic control.  Tune in an noon, you won't want to miss it.  If your duties keep you from the webcast it will be available for download in a podcast by one pm.  You can listen to it this afternoon when you take your half-hour early shove.

Very best personal regards,

John S. Carr

Psuedo Administrator

FAA

Comments

[Dropkick]

The "air" smells a lot better to this taxpayer/pilot.

Please explain what perks we won't be giving you for your 5 years of "service" when you depart this position. You "earned" your retirement! Thanks!

Now, what is the previous office holder going to rip us off for on the way out the door? Nice sum, and parting gifts, for destroying the FAA, I bet.

[Ricky]

Congratulations on your new position. Can the "field" facilities expect any new posters anytime soon?

[Don Brown]

John,

Amazing how great minds think alike ain't it ? :)

I posted this on another board about 10 minutes before I read your new post.

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Yep. I forgot to add that to my list. Of course, I figured people stopped reading it before they got to the end of it anyway. :)

100% forgiveness for a deal. No mercy for failing to reporting one.

If you can't separate traffic you wouldn't be there. If you've "lost it", we'll find something productive for you to do.
===========

Don Brown
Minister-in-waiting

[Ray Gibbons]

JTB,

I know you prefer this title to Sir, Administrator Carr, Safeair One,etc. I look forward to working closely with you to return humanity and common decency to the world's greatest profession. I am eager to assist with the complete overhaul of Human Resources and return it to Human Relations.

Sincerely,

Ray Gibbons
Deputy Dawg

[sendyourideas]

Here's some ideas for Sec. Brown to run with. I'm sure the real experts in the field have thousands of ideas that have been blown off by the current higher skill sets.

1) Require (or use the budget savings from eliminating contractor waste) ALL acft to install a simple LED assembly in clear view of both pilots in the flight deck. This light will activate everytime their microphone is keyed. If their mic button sticks, THEY will know it and correct it. No more scary minutes of stuck mic mahem in the air!
2) For the enroute dispalys, install a simple momentary switch that a controller can press and hold to momentarily suppress conflict alert. Sounds minor, but there are many areas where conflict alert is continously activating due to proximity to terminal areas, etc., resulting in multiple targets flashing. By momentarily suppressing, controller can actually see what is going on and determine if there are any real conflicts.
3) Develop a simple system so when a flight gets their flight plan printouts or clearance, they are also given a list of frequencies and fixes that they can use to KNOW what frequencies they need to be on while in flight. Saves on lots of frayed nerves in the FAA and the Homeland Security offices. Can also develop a procedure whereby when a flight changes frequencies to the next sector, all the pilot needs to do is press the ident button to acknowledge they are on frequency. This would save MUCH frequency time. I already do this on my own for busy sectors and it is extremely effective.

Little things like these can go a long way to improving safety and effeciency. And yes, these ideas have been presented to FFA management many times. Of course, if they really knew the job, they would have worked on getting some of these things changed.

[Martinlady]

Damn, it's fun to dream. ;-) I only disagree with two/three points thus far...

JTB: The screening should come OUT of the facilities and go back to OKC with a reinstatement of the non-radar screen (with a living wage and per diem). Our facilities are NOT equipped to dealing with screening the newbies, even more now with the staffing the way it is and it's an incredible waste of our resources at the local level.

CTI's should definitely have the first chance of slots at OKC, but getting rid of off-the-street would eliminate talented people who either can't afford the school or, as in my instance, decided a little later in life (but prior to age 31) that the career would fit and wouldn't have time for the schooling before age 31.

The truth is that CTI schools have different priorities and weeding out those that truly don't have the ability is not one of them. It is not fair to those of us already working our butts off in the system to put that time and energy into people, who may be very intelligent and hard-working, but just don't have "it". And it's not fair to those same people to waste a year or two of their lives in training to find out they really don't have "it" either.

Don: As a terminal controller, TIPH and LAHSO are useful, safe tools and you can bet I'd be in your face, loudly, if necessary to keep those tools. The truth is that LAHSO was actually SAFER before the FAA made those changes about 10 years back. And I can tell you that TIPH was far SAFER before the latest changes in February. Grab your headset, come train with me in your virtual training facility and I'll prove it to you. ;-)

That's my two cents until you guys add more to your platform.

Either way, it would be one hell of a ride!

[Bravo_Echo_November]

OMG, if this was true, I would pee my pants.

[Get Over The Screen]

I'm about sick and tired of hearing about the Non-Radar Screening that so many had to go through. That screening does not prove you can be a Controller. When is the last time any of you worked Non-Radar like that in the field? It is a complete waste of time. Get over it. Other than that post, sounds good to me JTB!

[Mica For Congress]

Real, qualified aviation professionals running the FAA? It'll never work!

[ExATC]

Get Over The Screen,
Back in 81 when I went through the screen the rate was Academy: 60% pass, Field: 95% pass. The way it is now it's CTI: 95% pass, Field 60% pass. I'd rather weed out the ones who dont have the flick in two months instead of two years.

[Martinlady]

Get Over The Screen said:

“I'm about sick and tired of hearing about the Non-Radar Screening that so many had to go through. That screening does not prove you can be a Controller.”

You’re absolutely right when you say that that screening does not prove you can be a controller; if you passed it, what it proved was that it was a high probability you WOULD become a successful controller. There is a vast difference between doing the bookwork and tests in a college vs. learning new information daily and applying it immediately under pressure. Hmmm, a similar situation to training within a facility…

Personally, I think it’s much easier on someone coming in to find out earlier rather than later that they might be better off pursuing a different aviation-related career with their degree than ATC.

“When is the last time any of you worked Non-Radar like that in the field? It is a complete waste of time.”

I can think of a couple facilities right off the top of my head that work at least some of their airspace non-radar today. And guess what, I went through enroute non-radar, ended up in terminal, and still to this day use some of what I learned during that screen.

Disagree all you want, but I think ExATC expressed it very well.

[Capn Hook]

John,
Will you please appoint Ruthie as our spokes model????

arrrrrgh!!!