Quick Study: Air Traffic Control (page 3 of 3)

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Pilots With Problems

Shortly after 10 a.m. on February 13, as Go! Airlines Flight 1002 made the 214-mile hop from Honolulu to Hilo, Hawaii, air traffic controllers were becoming frantic. Getting no response from the captain and copilot, they began yelling over the radio as the 50-seat jet overshot the airport by 15 miles at 21,000 feet. Finally, the pilots responded. The FAA is now investigating whether they fell asleep. (Oh, and the airline fired them.)

The episode brought to light a hidden danger in the cockpit: pilot fatigue. The problem began after 9/11, when demand for air travel plunged and many pilots' salaries were cut by 30 percent. Pilots are paid for every hour they fly, so they've taken on more flights to compensate.

Financially squeezed airlines are also pressuring pilots to fly more hours so they can employ fewer of them. Under current regulations, pilots are permitted to fly 100 hours per month; many are reaching that number. "You need recuperating time, and now people are pushing it to the limit," says Mark Seal, a pilot for United Airlines.

"It used to be you'd do one international trip per week," says John Prater, president of the Airline Pilots Association. "Now it's not uncommon to do six of those a month. There is never time to catch up." This summer, the FAA is convening a conference of pilots, doctors, and airline representatives to discuss the fatigue factor and potential solutions.

Another issue: Pilots have less experience than they used to. "When I got hired with Continental in January 1978, I had over 5,000 hours. At this point, the industry is hiring pilots with 250 to 500 hours," says Prater. This is partly because fewer pilots are being hired from the military, where historically they gained thousands of hours of experience. (The military has fewer pilots now and does a better job of retaining them.) But with low starting salaries (from $18,000 at a regional airline to $40,000 with a major carrier), it's tough to recruit anyone but recent flight-school grads.

The bottom line: A pilot shortage looms. The airline industry will need to hire 100,000 new pilots by 2020 to keep up with demand, according to Air Inc., a company that tracks pilot hirings; this exceeds the current capacity of flight schools. "The jobs aren't attractive anymore," says Juergen Haacker of the International Air Transport Association. "Being a pilot is like bus driving now."
From Reader's Digest - July 2008
 
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THE FAA TURNS 50! The Bone-Yard Of Bone-Heads, And “50 Ways To Fire Sturgell”. A copy of this message with accompanying photographs is posted at: http://ejectsturgell.blogspot.com http://removesturgell.blogspot.com http://indictsturgell.blogspot.com http://SouthwestAirlinesAlmostKilledYou.blogspot.com “50 Ways To Fire Sturgell ‘The problem is all inside your head’, she said to me ‘The answer is easy if you take it logically I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free There must be 50 Ways To Fire Sturgell’ She said ‘It’s really not my habit to intrude Furthermore, I hope my meaning won’t be lost or misconstrued But I’ll repeat myself, at the risk of being crude There must be 50 Ways To Fire Sturgell 50 Ways To Fire Sturgell” To recap recent postings on the above-cited blogs, on Friday July 18, 2008 Quiet Rockland scooped the story that FAA temporary Acting Administrator “Bobby” Sturgell told senior aviation personnel that he had already given notice of his November-or-sooner departure from his post as failed FAA Head, and that FAA’s Ruth Leverenz would be acting in his absence. Quiet Rockland’s response? That’s Not Soon Enough. We want Bobby Sturgell lawfully and forcibly removed from office now. He could possibly hurt and even kill people if left in office for 4 more months. It is in the public interest that he take his ball and go home now. Hence this blog. Some of the items of publicist-swill spewing out of the Failed Aviation Administration (FAA) would actually be funny, but for the fact that it emanates from the habitually-death-defying turkey-vultures comprising that Tombstone Agency and the 3rd-rate publicists that seek to enable them and feed from their trough. This latest one is simply UNBELIEVABLE! Witness the State Fair-esque pomp-and-circumstance of FAA’s new “Birthday Celebration” publicity balloon issued to the aviation press, indubitably complete with office sheet-cake marking the occasion internally, and reading in relevant part: http://www.verticalmag.com/control/news/templates/?a=8225&z=6 “The FAA Turns 50! Monday, July 28, 2008 / FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is having a 50th birthday party - and you’re invited! Starting August 1, the FAA will offer reporters an exciting range of media opportunities to highlight the agency’s extraordinary achievements since 1958 in making air travel today’s fastest and safest means of mass transportation”. Of course, the most astounding part of FAA’s “Birthday Celebration” is the FAA’s own glorification of the wreckage and human agony FAA itself caused over the past 50 years. One must ask why would the FAA need a “boneyard” as a physical exhibit, if air travel is indeed the “safest means of mass transportation”. I kid you not - the following text is literally FAA-planted ghoul-text, in an aviation publication: http://www.verticalmag.com/control/news/templates/?a=8225&z=6 “Roam the ‘Boneyard’. The National Aircraft Accident Investigation School at the FAA’s Aeronautical Center has trained aerospace accident investigators since 1963. Report from the “boneyard”, where a wide variety of wreckage and aircraft/rotorcraft parts are available to examine. School instructors will be available for informational briefings and interviews. Additional details at: www.tsi.dot.gov/divisions/Aviation/default.aspx Get up close with an airport firefighting and rescue truck. Airports around the nation and the world use sophisticated,

By jtormey3, on 08/01/2008
With over 24 years of ATC experience, I have 252 days left and WILL NOT be taking any FAA bonus offered. Draconian work rules A 5-year pay freeze for veteran controllers, new controller pay bands reverted back to 1998 pay scales, while the Nation’s costs have risen, leave very little incentive to stay. So readers know, that bonus has caveats, it is broken down over time (26 pay periods), and if the FAA decides they do not need your services anymore, the agreement is terminated. In today’s FAA,

By snowman8, on 06/23/2008
As a pilot for over 40 years, I've seen new technology introduced. This always costs more but It does make flying safer. What happens when everyone goes to the gas station at once, tries to get on the freeway at the same time, schedules 10 aircraft to depart at 0900? Technology cannot solve any of the above examples. Build another runway or another airport is the simple answer. That will cut the delay in half.

By plcreary, on 06/23/2008
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