Page 211 - Controller News Today

Traffic controllers, eric bitman is not surprised. he is a controller. >> the job is stressful. it makes you tired right there then you change to midshift, where you stay up all night long, stare at blank cope with no traffic. >> they stresses, such as single parenthood, day care issues and regular overnight shift and you have recipe for fatigue, with at least five controllers found sleeping on the job, the latest saturday in miami, secretary of transportation responded with a flurry of rule cha...

Given. none the less, i understand what youre doing now. i think a lot of people are back here saying, why -- this didnt just start. it may have started in the public mind. but this has been going on for a while. why wasnt it addressed sooner? >> well, i just found out about it, candy. when i found out about it, i was outraged. i called it ridiculous behavior. i called it unconscionable for these controllers to be falling asleep, every one of them has been suspended. there are investigations goi...

Based on all of the studies that we have done. if it is not right, chris, we will change it. we are not just going to sit back and say that because somebody says this. we are going to -- the administrator and the head of the controller union are going to travel the country this week. they will be in atlanta tomorrow morning. interviewing controllers, talking to them about rest time, about work place rules. but also reminding them personal responsibility is a part of their job. safety has to be n...

It appears they are now doing just that. among the changes, that we can see, nine hours between shifts for any one controller and no swapping of shifts will be allowed. they can have long weekends. and -- so they can have long weekends and managers will have to be present at late hours and early hours and there will be hand-off procedures between the regional radar control and individual control towers and, on fox news sunday, secretary lahood, again, expressed his anger over this. here he is: >...

Latest this past weekend in miami. they met here at this facility with a group of controllers to hear their concerns and issue a few messages. part of it was cheerleading saying that 99.9% of the time you guys are professional and do a great job, but any mistake is important, and that is something else they talked about. they said scolding in part, we have to do better. here is part of the administrator babbitts remarks to the controller controller. >> just because 99.9% of us are doing it right...

There is over 15,000 controllers, chris and we received e-mails from them over the last few days. they are also very concerned about this and also concerned about their good name. and they want to make sure that safety is number one and they have people in the towers doing the right thing. they will be the ones in the towers. but they agreed to these three points that i just made, these three changes which are pretty significant changes. and if they are not quite right i guarantee there are furt...

Of what was in their homes. really, really sad. and they come out with just a couple of clothes, maybe a pair of slippers, we saw a guy back there looked down and said those are my slippers. they ended up a couple hundred yards away from his house. it is heart breaking here to see this all unfolding. now it is just a matter of cleaning up. contessa? >> often when you see a tornado go through the woods like that, it rips off the leaves from the trees, killing the trees and youre left withstanding...

Now what theyre doing is theyre adding a one hour rest period, instead of an eight hour rest period between shifts. theyre mandating a nine-hour rest period. do you think the one hour will make a big difference? this problem with fatigue and also morale in the traffic control system has been an endemic problem for a long time and the faa has known it. there have been studies galore, nasa, ntsb, the faa has done studies on fatigue, studies by dot and the transportation industry. they need to foll...

Themselves would not be more responsible on the job. >> were blaming the controller but here is the root of the problem. lets take the new york tray caan, the radar facility, one of the busiest in the world. theyre supposed to be staffed at 270 fully capable controllers in that facility. theyve never been able to staff that, and late last year they had 148. so what does that mean? that means that they have to manage shifts, they have to do double shifts, they have to do overtime. they have to wo...

Any one individual controller. no swapping of shifts. managers will now be on duty during the late night and early a.m.s, and there is also a new hand-off procedure between the regional radar control and the local control tower. but but change that the f.a.a. did not make, shep, they are not going to allow, as you just suggested, for sanctioned napping for those controllers on the overnight shift. >> shepard: they wanted sanctioned napping like at times when jets werent landing or something? >> ...