National Air Traffic Controllers Association

• National Air Traffic Controllers Association Afl-Cio and Professional Airways Systems Specialists, Afl-Cio, Appellants v. Federal Service Impasses Panel and Federal Labor Relations Authority, Appellees., 437 F.3d 1256 (D.C. Cir. 2006)

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 04cv00138). William W. Osborne, Jr. argued the cause for appellants. W...

• Federal Circuits

• National Air Traffic Controllers Association: Faa to Controllers Looking Out for Safety: You're Dismissed

WASHINGTON, July 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA): In a move that further jeopardizes the safety and efficiency of America's aviation system, the Federal Aviation Administration has terminated a vital program that ensured critical cooperation between America's air traffic controllers and the agency. The move, which comes against the recommendations of the Government Accountability Office and coincides with a House of Representatives' vote against reckless agency cuts, is just the latest attack on the previously productive partnership between air traffic controllers and the FAA.

• U.S. Newswire
• July 01, 2005

• National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. United States, Defendant-Appellee., 160 F.3d 714 (Fed. Cir. 1998)

William W. Osborne, Jr., Osborne Law Offices, P.C., of Washington, DC, argued for plaintiff-appellant. With him on the brief were Francis R.A. Sheed, ...

• Federal Circuits

• US Airline Pilots Association Supports National Air Traffic Controllers' Efforts to Mitigate Controller Fatigue.

Union also presses for pilot rest rule reforms CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA), representing the pilots of US Airways, ...

• Business Wire
• June 06, 2011

• Odd Work Schedules a Health Risk

Experts: More safety steps needed at airport towers to address sleeping workers WASHINGTON -- It will take more than adding a second air traffic controller to overnight shifts to address the problem of workers napping in airport towers, aviation experts say. Many of the government's 15,700 controllers work schedules that allow no realistic opportunity for rest, and their record for errors on the job has grown sharply over the past several years. The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Randy Babbitt, has decided to end the practice of single-staffing some towers where traffic is light between midnight and 6 a.m. The change was in response to at least four incidents in which controllers fell asleep on duty. Thomas Anthony, director of the University of Southern California's Avia...

• Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque)
• April 18, 2011

• Statement by National Air Traffic Controllers Association President John Carr

WASHINGTON, July 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a , commenting on today's House Aviation Subcommittee hearing investigating the June 9 incident within the Washington Air Defense Identification Zone: On June 9, as is true each and every day, federal air traffic controllers were extremely vigilant in their duties. They were in contact with the Kentucky governor's aircraft and knew the plane's transponder was not working. They followed their training and procedures by alerting their Federal Aviation Administration supervisors.

• U.S. Newswire
• July 08, 2004

• Faa: Tired Air Traffic Controllers Can Skip Work

WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration announced new steps Friday to help prevent air traffic controllers from falling asleep on the job, including allowing controllers to use sick or annual leave time if they are too tired to work. Controllers also will now be allowed to listen to the radio and read during overnight shifts when traffic is light under an agreement between the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

• Charleston Gazette
• July 04, 2011

• Taking Flight

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has known for some time that it would have a staffing problem. The majority of its air traffic control workforce was hired in the early 1980s after President Reagan fired 10,438 of them for striking. Now, 27 years later, these hires are hitting retirement age, and the FAA has launched a number of initiatives to recruit and, in some cases, retain key staff in high-traffic areas. By establishing more face-to-face contact with new recruits and increasing manager training, the agency believes it can deflect the increasingly loud criticism lodged by the air traffic controllers union. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association is questioning whether the staffing shortage is affecting public safety. The issue that the FAA's HR staff must address ...

• Workforce Management
• August 27, 2009

• Faa Tests Stars Fix On Live Traffic in Detroit While Testing Lab Sits Idle, Says National Air Traffic Controllers Association

DETROIT, April 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System is designed to revert to a backup system when problems arise, such as incorrect identification of planes, which is now plaguing STARS in the Detroit Terminal Radar Approach Control room. But in a case of bad policy, not bad technology, the Federal Aviation Administration is testing possible fixes not in a simulator but with live traffic on the STARS system itself, which remains plugged in while Detroit's backup system sits ready and free, but unused. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association today called the FAA's stance an inexplicable and unnecessarily risky decision that is putting controllers and the flying public in jeopardy, likening it to performing critical maintenance on a car with th...

• U.S. Newswire
• April 08, 2004

• Air Traffic Controllers' Mishaps Continue

Recent blunders by air traffic controllers -- including one caught watching a movie instead of the airspace over the region that includes Pittsburgh -- have damaged the public's trust in them, an official with the nation's 20,000-member controllers union conceded Tuesday. It is most distressing to us to know we have likely lost the confidence of the flying public," said National Air Traffic Controllers Association spokesman Doug Church. "The only way we are going to earn it back is by recommitting to professional standards. Our minimum acceptable standard is perfection, and rightly so.

• Tribune - Review / Pittsburgh Tribune - Review
• April 20, 2011