"High Ratio of Trainees to Controllers"

Sunday, October 21, 2007

High Ratio of Trainees to Controllers
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) - Here are three air traffic control facilities where the
National Association of Air Traffic Controllers says a high ratio of
trainees to fully certified controllers has delayed on-the-job training and
left trainees unable to help carry the workload.

   At Chicago's terminal radar approach control (TRACON), 11 of 17 trainees
can't work any position alone without being supervised by one of the
center's 75 fully trained controllers.

   At the Las Vegas TRACON, eight of 15 trainees can't work any position
without being supervised by one of the 25 active fully certified
controllers.

   At the Miami en route center, which guides planes between airports, 62 of
102 trainees cannot work traffic alone without supervision by one of the 197
fully certified controllers.

Union spokesman Doug Church said Miami is so short-staffed that trainees
have had to wait months to get any training and nine have resigned this
year.

In an Oct. 9 resignation letter, trainee Shesly J. Gonzalez said he arrived
at Miami in February 2007 and would "not begin training sessions until May
of 2008."

"Never have I seen such a careless and callous attitude toward the training
of new employees," Gonzalez wrote. "The staffing crisis has reached a point
that forces fully certified controllers to work 10-hour days, six days a
week. The controllers are exhausted, causing morale to be low and making it
a very negative atmosphere to work in, not to mention the adverse
implications this has on safety."

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown denied the use of
trainees has impaired safety.

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