Comments on: Three out of 10 air traffic controllers equals chaos http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/09/14/three-out-of-10-air-traffic-controllers-equals-chaos/ now with extra source Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:16:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Gavin Moodie http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/09/14/three-out-of-10-air-traffic-controllers-equals-chaos/#comment-37796 Gavin Moodie Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:53:11 +0000 http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/09/14/three-out-of-10-air-traffic-controllers-equals-chaos/#comment-37796 Possibly one of the reasons why AirServices Australia has 'air traffic manning issues' and 'services remains undermanned' is because there is no female air traffic controller. Incidentally, are women as seriously under represented amongst air traffic controllers as they are amongst pilots? Possibly one of the reasons why AirServices Australia has ‘air traffic manning issues’ and ‘services remains undermanned’ is because there is no female air traffic controller. Incidentally, are women as seriously under represented amongst air traffic controllers as they are amongst pilots?

]]> By: Chris Kennedy http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/09/14/three-out-of-10-air-traffic-controllers-equals-chaos/#comment-37592 Chris Kennedy Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:02:11 +0000 http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/09/14/three-out-of-10-air-traffic-controllers-equals-chaos/#comment-37592 Ben, Normally I'm a fan of your work... But why so high on the 'drama'. Whilst I was not on duty, I can presume that these "wide ranging" holding patterns and departure routes were certainly not conducted in an ad-hoc manner; but simply follow the procedures used for minor delays and use those procedures for longer than normal periods of time. It is a disgrace that ASA has been unable to fix the staffing crisis and it's only going to get worse. Get yourself a copy of the Civil Air submission to the green paper particularly note the bit about staffing. This document was submitted mid 2008. Greg Russell CEO of ASA promised to fix the staffing crisis in April 2008, later shifted to June then August 2008. August 2008 has been the longest month on record, it' now August 379. The company PR spinners will claim that they are recruiting controllers like never before; up to 100 a year. This number has been significantly reduced in reality due to the lack of staff and facilities to train them. The staffing crisis is likely to get worse not better as new facilities at places such as Broome, Karatha, and numerous others will require 'extra' controllers too. This on the back of 320 or so retirements in the next 5 years; where at best 100 trainees a year gives you an additional 300 controllers (due to pass rates) in the corresponding period. Remembering in reality they aren't training 100 a year... If the minister doesn't actually ask the question he won't know the answer... Commercial decisions have outweighed business continuity for a long long time. It would appear that both sides of politics doesn't care about ASAs decisions, just as long as they keep getting the $50M+ in company dividends every year (after tax). Ben,

Normally I’m a fan of your work… But why so high on the ‘drama’. Whilst I was not on duty, I can presume that these “wide ranging” holding patterns and departure routes were certainly not conducted in an ad-hoc manner; but simply follow the procedures used for minor delays and use those procedures for longer than normal periods of time.

It is a disgrace that ASA has been unable to fix the staffing crisis and it’s only going to get worse. Get yourself a copy of the Civil Air submission to the green paper particularly note the bit about staffing. This document was submitted mid 2008.

Greg Russell CEO of ASA promised to fix the staffing crisis in April 2008, later shifted to June then August 2008. August 2008 has been the longest month on record, it’ now August 379.

The company PR spinners will claim that they are recruiting controllers like never before; up to 100 a year. This number has been significantly reduced in reality due to the lack of staff and facilities to train them. The staffing crisis is likely to get worse not better as new facilities at places such as Broome, Karatha, and numerous others will require ‘extra’ controllers too. This on the back of 320 or so retirements in the next 5 years; where at best 100 trainees a year gives you an additional 300 controllers (due to pass rates) in the corresponding period. Remembering in reality they aren’t training 100 a year…

If the minister doesn’t actually ask the question he won’t know the answer… Commercial decisions have outweighed business continuity for a long long time. It would appear that both sides of politics doesn’t care about ASAs decisions, just as long as they keep getting the $50M+ in company dividends every year (after tax).

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