Air-traffic controllers union asserts safety, pushes for controlled naps

[Omaha Steve]

Source: USA Today

By Alan Levin,

The union representing air-traffic controllers says it will continue to press for carefully controlled naps and other measures to reduce fatigue, despite the insistence by transportation officials that such measures will not be allowed.

National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Paul Rinaldi also defended the safety of the air-traffic system, which has endured a withering spate of bad publicity in recent weeks. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating six incidents of suspected sleeping by seven controllers and also suspended a controller for watching a DVD while on the job.

"It is safe to fly. It has never been safer to fly," Rinaldi says in a release.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/04/air-traffic-controllers-union-asserts-safety-pushes-for-controlled-naps/167208/1

[Taitertots]

1. Question: Do air traffic controllers have long periods with no incoming/outgoing flights?

If yes: Is letting them do something (Sleep, DVDs...) during inactive periods going to make them more effective during periods of high activity? I would rather pay someone to sleep than make them sit for hours doing nothing, mentally shutting down.

[EmmettKelly]

10. I think that's been the problem with the "sleepers"

They've been on the overnight shifts when for noise and other reasons takeoffs and landings are minimal.

Another problem seems to be the rotating shift work rules that have been negotiated in the spirit of "fairness" to the workers but in my opinion only screw up the sleep patterns. Last time I worked in a Union environment we bid shifts and schedules by seniority. That left those of us at the bottom with the crap hours, hell it was 5 years just to get two days in a row off. You could end up starting at 4 PM one day, have a day off and going in at 4 AM the next.

[HillbillyBob]

11. Traffic is slower at night in some towers, but most control

complexes are off site and cover regions, the towers at airports are more for the traffic at that airport.
The shifts are the problem you work several weeks(not sure the length of the cycle is now but it used to be 2 wks on and then 3 5 days off.

What is happening that we hated then was the working 12 hr shifts then having to come back in 6 hrs. Now its 8 on 8 off then 8 on again so you are working 2 full time shifts in a day.

[Heywood J]

2. I'd settle for having two of them working, so that one can go take a leak

when necessary and not have to leave the tower unattended.

[Sherman A1]

5. Agreed

There should be 2 on duty at all times. You know if nature calls and one needs to use the restroom, just who is going to respond to the incoming or outgoing aircraft?

One on at a time is simply beyond stupid.

[Pterodactyl]

20. Better yet: A $10 per hour assistant to keep the controller awake and bring him coffee.

[MineralMan]

3. Regular hours would help even more.

From what I understand, scheduling for air traffic controllers is chaotic in some places. It's a lot easier to stay awake on the job if your schedule's regular and predictable.

[HillbillyBob]

4. The same thing as we were striking for that the rat bastard fired us all

When are we going to rally gang together to put the right down like the rabid dog it is?

[Sherman A1]

6. Precisely

it's Deja Vu all over again.

[defendandprotect]

8. But they couldn't have done it without cooperation of our corporate press ... !!

And/or does anyone remember elected Democrats making a huge outcry about

the safety issues at that time?

I don't -- but I could be very wrong????

[FLyellowdog]

14. So sorry that you lost your job....

Hope you were able to move on and enjoy your life. That was a really tough time for anyone with family/friends who were closely affected. :hi:

[defendandprotect]

7. Financial well-being is also part of the workers' lives ... especially controllers!!

No one can keep their mind on their work --- or driving -- sufficiently

well when they have financial problems and financial emergencies.

When they are worried about their families, their children --

and, of course, these problems create a great deal of stress within families!

[former9thward]

9. The Obama administration is correct. Sleeping should not be allowed.

Being paid to sleep is ridiculous. The only reason this has come about is that the controllers demand a schedule where they work a day shift and come back 8 hours later and work a midnight shift. This gives them a three days off but puts the flying public at risk. It should not be allowed.

[HillbillyBob]

12. Sleeping is not allowed not even on your break.

Its hard to stay awake when you are constantly being shifted to another shift.
A controller is responsible for up to 25 planes at a time. I used to be one its a harrowing job and pukes think that jsut by making up silly ass rules that you should stick to it. I don't see them missing many meals or naps.

The righttards have been cutting pay and time off for years and requirement that there be at least 2 in the tower (should be 3 2 on the screens and one to catch what they might miss. 50 to 70g is not big $ for the shit you have to put up with.

[former9thward]

13. I know sleeping is not allowed but the union is pushing for it.

The union has the last word on schedules and wants to keep the 2-2-1 schedule. This puts the flying public at risk.

[FLyellowdog]

15. But some Area Ops Managers don't "police" the break rooms

and therefore what they don't see they don't have to repremand. Sometimes management can act like human beings. Just saying...

[SoapBox]

16. Oh if everyone only understood the screw-ball scheduling that airlines subject...

...their Pilots and Flight Attendants to.

Day...Night...Day...Night...

It's exhausting and makes a mess out of your health and body.

Add to that high altitude flying, radiation exposure (don't even think for one moment that the tin that aircraft are made out of are protecting you!), lesser O2 levels, and on and on.

The FAA and airline management do their very best to keep all of that quiet and out of the press...oh ya, the press couldn't give a shit about what it's doing to Americans.

[sulphurdunn]

17. It would make more sense

having one guy, working back to back and mixed shits, alone in a missile silo than in an air traffic control tower. Hell, if takes two people to agree to launch a nuke, it should take at least that many to monitor and control air traffic.

[madrchsod]

18. the steel mill shipping departments i worked had controlled naps...

lowest seniority hookers worked while the highest seniority guys slept on third shift.....

[lib2DaBone]

19. This is an Onion Article..Right?

Corporations will push you until you drop dead of a heart attack.. cheat you on your pay stubs and throw you on the trash heap when you collapse.

Ask any truck driver... ask anyone who works for an hourly wage. Ask American workers what they think?