Sisters and brothers,
It has been a very busy few months as we continue to roll up our sleeves and work with the FAA to revise and introduce new training programs and various collaboration initiatives. We have also gone through a proposed government shut down and have been the focus of various negative media stories associated with fatigue and the air traffic control profession.
The past several weeks have been a very difficult period for all of us as things were changing by the hour as so many folks from outside of the FAA offered their help in directing how the FAA should address these various issues associated with fatigue. I am deeply thankful to the leadership demonstrated by Paul and Trish along with Phil Barbarello and Bryan Zilonis as they dealt with the constantly changing directives that were coming out of Washington on an almost hourly basis.
Last week, NATCA Executive Vice President Trish Gilbert asked me to join her and Deputy FAA Administrator Michael Huerta as we visited Oakland Center, Northern California Tracon, and Reno Tower. We also brought with us Garth Koleszar, who is my Facility Rep from Los Angeles Center and National Training Rep/Professional Standards National Rep as part of a Call to Action meeting with various facilities across the country.
Both Trish and Michael covered the effects of the negative stories on the Hill and also focused on the very positive work that all of you do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. On behalf of Trish and the entire NATCA National Executive Board, I would like to thank all of you for your continued efforts in keeping the skies safe and making 2010 a year that had no fatal commercial accidents; you are truly the unsung heroes that keep our skies safe. The media and our country rarely hear from us when we’re providing routine services to the 70,000 take offs and landings every day, unless something has gone wrong, which is why I would like to ask for your help with a couple of issues.
Number 1 - Team work - it is such an essential part of the job we do throughout the Air Traffic system. So now more than ever, team work is extremely important in making sure that we are providing the best service possible to the flying public within our NAS in order to rebuild the trust and confidence of the flying public.
Number 2 – Mentoring - as we welcome the new generation of controllers, it is essential that we take that extra step to mentor them and share with them the tricks of the trade and how best to deal with the stress and the fatigue associated with being a safety professional within the NAS. Our union, in concert with the FAA, has developed a joint fatigue workgroup that will also help us deal with fatigue management.
Number 3 - PROFESSIONALISM - a topic that was covered at our last membership meeting in San Jose just last month. You are all proud and dedicated professionals and for that, we thank you. From time to time though, we need to take a step back and re-double and reinvigorate our efforts to focus on professionalism, teamwork, and mentoring. We are asking you to help us re-focus and re-double our commitment to being the proud professionals that we all are. Once again, I would like to thank all of you for the many sacrifices that you and your families make in ensuring that we have the safest aviation system in the entire world.
Please do not talk to the media unless you have first cleared it through our Communications Director Doug Church, Mike Hull, or myself. Also keep in mind that there are those in the media that would like to keep the negative stories alive, so some may be trolling various Facebook pages, accessible ATC parking lots, etc.
I did want to take this opportunity to brief all of you on the various projects that I am currently leading on behalf of the NATCA National Executive Board and our great organization:
Flight Deck Training - I have been working with FAA representatives for the past year and a half in order to implement the Flight Deck Training program. We have had to overcome many obstacles such as the DOT IG, the Transportation Security Administration, Air Transport Association, and the internal bureaucracy that the FAA for which they are so famous. Chris Boughn (ZDC), Will Wills (ZAU), Garth Koleszar (ZLA), and myself met in Las Vegas with agency representatives to finalize the order. The only thing that remains is working with the FAA to finalize a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and developing a roll out schedule for Flight Deck Training. I hope to have the MOU signed and an implementation schedule finalized in the coming weeks, as long as there are no last minute issues that detract the FAA from finalizing this Agreement on training.
NATCA/FAA Placement Workgroup - I have been working with Jay Barrett (MIA), Andrew Lebovidge (ZHU Facility Rep), and Dave Stock (C90 Facility Rep) on the placement workgroup with the task of identifying problems associated with placing controllers into facilities and recommending solutions to the Collaborative Steering Committee (CSC). Our greatest achievement so far has been the recommendation to the CSC to revise EMP 1.14, which restricts training failures who have not achieved D-2 status from being offered other positions within the ATO. EMP 1.14 causes training failures and those who are having difficulty in training to submit employee requested reassignments (ERRs) rather than follow the process outlined in EMP 1.14. The CSC has accepted our recommendation and will be working with NATCA to revise EMP 1.14.
Air Traffic Basics, Enroute Stage II-IV redesign, and Basic Tracon - I have been overseeing the work of our terrific workgroup members on redesigning the curriculum of two academy courses and the Enroute stage redesign II-IV (AT Basics and Basic Tracon) and trying to assist them with any obstacles presented by those who think they truly understand air traffic training better than us (managers/contractors with no ATC operational experience). Each one of our workgroup members are immensely talented and I am grateful to all of them for their terrific work.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them for their very hard work, dedication and commitment to our great organization:
Air Traffic Basics workgroup members: Dr. Dave Bricker (ZAB SW Area Rep) and Steve McCoy (NCT Facility Rep)
Enroute Stage II-IV workgroup members: Aaron Fishman (ZOA), Dr. Leo Kremer (ZNY), Kris Koke (ZFW), and Bryan Neal (ZKC)
Basic Tracon workgroup members: Liz Larsen (GEG) and Lori Rebhan (MIA).
I would like to wish Liz Larsen the best of luck as she prepares to move to Atlanta (from Spokane) and begin working at A80. Thank you so much for your dedication and efforts on the Basic Tracon project.
Training Communications Workgroup - Nate Pair (ZLA), Corey Soignet (LFT Facility Rep), Johnny Temple (ZHU), and I have been working with ATO Training to develop a communications structure between the field and ATO Training to get feedback on all issues regarding training. The feedback will be evaluated and used to improve training to include any revisions to the National Training order (FAAO 3120.4).
Operational Assessment - I have been working with Terminal Mission Support on finalizing the beta test for the Operational Assessment at A80, C90, and SCT. As a reminder the operational assessment is based on an initiative that was used at C90 (Chicago Tracon screen) years ago that was quite successful in measuring a candidate’s aptitude for the job. FAA HR has agreed to the language that will be included on bids for these three test facilities.
OJTI Refresher Training - We are in the beginning stages of getting our workgroup members to meet with the FAA to begin developing an OJTI refresher course followed by the Basic course. Our very own HCF VP Jimmy Lake is the lead on this project.
Controller Refresher Training - Later this month, NATCA National Training Rep Garth Koleszar and I will be meeting with ATO VP of Training Bob Tarter to discuss the creation of a workgroup to develop refresher training for controllers.
NATCA Advanced Rep Training - I will be working with Jay Barrett (MIA), Chris Boughn (ZDC), Mike Hull (SCT and NWP ARVP), and NSW RVP Tim Smith in June to develop the advanced representative training class. We are hoping to have an advanced class ready for the membership by late 2011 or early 2012. This class will piggy-back on our newly revised Basic Representative Training (BRT) class that has been such a huge success that we have had to add extra classes because the word is getting around.
NWP LR Changes - Following a NWP LR Meeting in San Jose, Mike Hull and I are working on revising the structure of the LR team and adding new team members to the LR team and doing some reassignments for some of our existing LR team members. Mike and I are also instituting a Labor Relations (LR) mentorship program. If you are interested in the LR arena, please contact Mike at mhull@natca.net.
San Diego 2016 Convention - The rumor is true, the Western Pacific Region is currently working on a bid for the 2016 Convention in San Diego. Mickela and I will be working with the following members who have volunteered to develop a bid for the 2016 Convention delegates:
Ron Geyer (SCT Facility Rep),
Tom Bowman (CRQ),
Andrea Ortega (SAN),
Matt Parra (SCT),
Rob Reddeg (SCT and NWP Reloaded Lead), and
Maliesa Swinson (MYF).
Fraternally,
Ham Ghaffari-NWP RVP
