NCPASS

FAA removes managers in flap over cover-up of air safety errors

In addition, the Transportation Department's inspector general found FAA managers in Dallas-Fort Worth routinely and intentionally misclassified instances where airplanes were allowed to fly closer together than they were supposed to, the FAA said. Instead of calling them operational errors or deviations from safety rules by FAA controllers, the managers labeled them pilot errors or nonevents.

Story HERE

FAA reassigns inspection chief after testimony

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday reassigned one of its regional managers in the wake of an investigation into growing allegations of ignored safety violations, attempted retribution and cover-ups within the agency.

Thomas Stuckey, an FAA regional chief of inspectors, was given unspecified new duties four days after testimony before Congress focused on violations and other problems at Southwest Airlines, FAA

Full Article HERE

COMMUNICATIONS FAILURE AT AUGUSTA AIRPORT HIGHLIGHTS DEFICIENCIES OF FAA CONTRACTOR

Shortly after midnight on March 30, circuits that feed radar data to the Augusta air traffic control tower failed. A systems specialist arrived the following morning and after attempting to troubleshoot the problem, determined that the outage was FTI related. The specialist immediately contacted Harris to respond to the situation, but had to make several phone calls over a span of eight hours before Harris dispatched a contractor from Atlanta to correct the problem.  The outage occurred just one week before the Masters Cup Tournament and, with over 5,000 flights expected in and out of the area throughout the next week, systems specialists are very concerned about inexplicably long response times should another FTI outage occur.

Full Article HERE

PASS Testimony Before Congress Highlights FAA Culture Gone Awry

WASHINGTON, DC – Tom Brantley, national president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO (PASS), released the following statement regarding his upcoming testimony on April 3 before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on FAA oversight of air carriers:

Full Article of the Statement HERE

A copy of PASS’s (Tom Brantley) full testimony HERE

A copy of Richard Andrews PASS member full testimony HERE

FAA inspectors: Bosses tried to suppress reports on inspections

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A cozy relationship between Southwest Airlines officials and the manager of a Federal Aviation Administration office put passengers in danger of catastrophe, an FAA whistle-blower told Congress on Thursday.

FAA inspector Bobby Boutris testified that his supervisor, Douglas Gawadzinski, repeatedly rebuffed his reports of inspection requirement violations.

Full article here

COMMUNICATIONS OUTAGE HIGHLIGHTS SERIOUS FLAWS AT THE FAA

PASS Concerned About Staffing, Management and FTI Issues Left Unresolved at Leesburg Center

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS), AFL-CIO, the union that represents Federal Aviation Administration systems specialists, are highlighting serious issues uncovered at Leesburg Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) following Monday’s communications outage that lasted an hour and resulted in 60 delays impacting air traffic from New York to Jacksonville.

The culprit for this outage was once again problems directly attributed to Harris Corporation’s Federal Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) system, which provides vital circuitry and communication functions for the FAA. Harris engineering failed to provide appropriate backup, which would have kept air traffic fully operational following the primary failure. “All around the country, we’ve seen very serious issues resulting from Harris’ unreliable services. This failure is no different, yet the FAA continues to ignore the issue while declaring the FTI program a success,” said Steve Garrett, a local PASS representative.

Additional factors also came into play that lengthened the response time of systems specialists in troubleshooting the issue. Perhaps one of the most problematic issues was an administrative error in a database that contains information on all of the telecommunications lines for tracking and troubleshooting purposes. Problems with the circuitry were identified shortly after its installation in late 2007; however, the supervisor at this facility, who is the only person authorized to make changes to the database, failed to address this issue. “When the responding technicians attempted to troubleshoot the outage, the lingering database error led them astray from the real issues and extended the outage by at least 10 minutes,” said Luke Drake, PASS regional vice president.

According to systems specialists at the facility, part of the problem is that this supervisor has also taken on additional duties, such as holding watch and assisting with technical troubleshooting efforts, due to a staffing shortage at Leesburg Center. “The staffing situation at Leesburg Center has reached a critical level,” said Mark Dunlap, PASS regional assistant. “We’re not getting the resources we need to properly operate the National Airspace System.” Currently, Leesburg Center has two systems specialists to maintain all the communications systems for all flights in the area. “In this case we’re lucky that the impact to air traffic was minimal thanks to the quick response of systems specialists. However, low staffing and poor contractor oversight has led to thousands of delayed planes for the American flying public, and they should be outraged.”

Recently, the FAA allowed staffing of systems specialists to drop below 6,100, the figure agreed upon by PASS and the FAA as the minimum number needed to maintain the system safely.

PASS Pride March 2008

There is a flyer that will be distributed on a monthly effort to communicate issues that are happening in PASS. The National President or VP will author an update to be distributed to all bargaining unit members, not just the Membership. We have asked the PASS Reps to utilize the provision in Article 64 section 4 of the agreement that allows them to place literature into the FAA mail slots of bargaining unit employees. We have asked that the PASS Reps print copies of this document and put one in each mail slot of all bargaining unit employees at their facility (or work center/SSC). We believe that it will not only benefit our Membership, but will give those that do not currently support us an opportunity to reconsider, based on facts.

PASS Pride March 2008

Next generation air traffic system aimed at cutting cost, pollution

NextGen represents a large-scale transformation of the control system in response to the expected two- to three-fold increase in air travel demand by 2025. Much of that change will occur as a result of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system (ADS-B), currently under development. When completed, the ADS-B will use precise navigation and location information provided by GPS satellites to give pilots and air traffic controllers more precise, real-time information regarding their position and those of nearby aircraft. The $1.8 billion contract for developing ADS-B was awarded to ITT in August 2007.

Full article at www.govexec.com

The PASS Pride

There is a flyer that will be distributed on a monthly effort to communicate issues that are happening in PASS. The National President or VP will author an update to be distributed to all bargaining unit members.. not just the Membership. We have asked the PASS Reps to utilize the provision in Article 64 section 4 of the agreement that allows them to place literature into the FAA mail slots of bargaining unit employees. We have asked that the PASS Reps print copies of this document and put one in each mail slot of all bargaining unit employees at their facility (or work center/SSC). We believe that it will not only benefit our Membership, but will give those that do not currently support us an opportunity to reconsider, based on facts.

February PASS Pride

50th. Annual Convention

NC State AFL-CIO 50TH ANNUAL CONVENTION SEPTEMBER 20 – 21, 2007

Holiday Inn Bordeaux 1707 Owen Drive Fayetteville, NC 28304

Reserve your rooms now: (800) 325-0211 or (910) 323-0111 www.ichotelsgroup.com – Group Code

“AAC” Room Cost: $87 per night plus hotel tax. Cut off date: Before midnight August 19, 2007.