Air Traffic Control: Are Trainees a Safety Issue?

A Mesa Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700, flying under the name United Express, experienced a near collision with a Cessna 172 on a runway in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Cessna had just landed and missed its exit point onto a taxiway. Before it had missed its exit point, the Mesa CRJ was cleared for takeoff on the same runway. While on the takeoff roll, the Mesa crew saw the Cessna on the runway, and rejected their takeoff at 120 knots. The CRJ swerved around the Cessna, missing the aircraft by approximately 10 feet. This incident occurred on Monday. The air traffic controller handling this issue was a trainee. About 35% of the Air Traffic Controllers in Allentown Tower are trainees. 

The Air Traffic Control system is in a struggle to keep enough staff on hand. They are in a serious crisis, as they are now in a time period when current Air Traffic Controllers are eligible for retirement. According to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 85 percent of U.S. air traffic controllers (14,000) will be eligible for retirement over the next decade. Needless to say, this leaves a serious gap to fill.

For those of you that may have forgotten, or simply were not alive at the time, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization was the main labor union for the United States’ air traffic controllers. However in 1981, the union declared a strike, asking for better pay and a 32-hour work week. (Not bad, eh?) The union violated a law, 5 U.S.C. (Supp. III 1956) 118p., that bans strikes by government unions. Other unions, such as the postal workers, went on strike without facing penalty. President Ronald Reagan ordered the air traffic controllers back to work, citing public safety as a primary concern. They were given 48 hours to return. As a result, Reagan fired the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored the order. Secretly trained air traffic controllers replaced those striking air traffic controllers. Some of them never returned; others did in 1996. 

As a result of Reagan firing many air traffic controllers, the replacements were generally the same age. Present day, we lack air traffic controllers. It’s been reported that the FAA has lowered the standards / rigor of tests for air traffic control hopefuls. Some airport towers have the same trainee ratio as Allentown. Although the NTSB is still conducting an accident investigation, I think it’s fair to say that there was not enough staffing. 

As a pilot, I trust air traffic controllers to guide me through the air safely and efficiently. I am very confident that the trainees and new air traffic controllers are excellent at what they do. The recent event at Allentown has put a spotlight (the economy steals most of it) on air traffic control trainees. Yet, I think it is more important that we focus on the staffing, or amount of people, at an air traffic control facility, rather than the level / age of the air traffic controller. 

Image: flickr.com