NY Tracon sees improvement under hand
By Perry Flint, ATW online | Jan. 26, 2006
FAA yesterday said it has saved $1.4 million in overtime expenses and achieved a 75% reduction in operational errors at the troubled New York Terminal Radar Approach Control facility since reasserting authority over scheduling practices and taking a more hands-on management approach there (ATWOnline, June 3, 2005).
Under an "ill-advised" agreement dating back to the late 1990s, the local chapter of the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. previously performed scheduling, according to Deputy FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell. In a conference call with reporters, he claimed that the NATCA-designed schedule "maximized staff on two nonpeak weekdays and maximized unnecessary overtime" to work the busy periods.
After taking back "full control of all aspects of the [work] schedule," overtime at the Tracon decreased 76%, with monthly overtime costs dropping from $360,000 in June 2005 to $73,000 in December, according to Bruce Johnson, VP-terminal operations for FAA's Air Traffic Organization.
Schedule changes "increased supervisory presence, [and] more over-the-shoulder supervision" also has boosted controller time "on position" from 3:39 hr. per 8-hr. shift to 5:02 hr., Johnson said. Simultaneously, the number of operational errors dropped from 119 reported in February 2005--at a time when FAA was cracking down on overtime abuse, the agency stated--to just three in December. The number of hours lost owing to injury and sick claims plunged 66% between March and December.
Sturgell also said that contrary to statements by NATCA that the facility is understaffed by nearly 70 controllers, four separate studies over the past year have determined the Tracon should have "no more than 190 controllers," while the most recent study, by Mitre Corp. concluded the staffing level should be between 163 and 180 controllers. Currently the facility has 206 fully certified controllers and 11 developmental controllers.
The release of the report occurred against a backdrop of contentious negotiations between FAA and NATCA over a new labor contract. In a speech to the Aero Club of Washington Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the union's current contract proposal "would cost FAA more than $2 billion in additional personnel costs and expenses over the next five years." NATCA disputes this claim.