NATCA launches "Fly Us Safe" campaign
NATCA rolled out its nationwide “Fly Us Safe” campaign in late September in an effort to educate the public and members of Congress about the Federal Aviation Administration’s mismanagement of the air traffic control system. Utilizing a variety of resources and tools, including hosting local press events, mobilizing a letter writing campaign and running advertisements, the union’s membership took its messages to the media and to Capitol Hill to highlight the agency’s negligence of issues such as staffing and modernization. The results are impressive with over 28,000 letters sent to Congress, the running of almost 400 print and television stories, and more than 25,000 visitors going to the campaign’s website.
The call to action
NATCA President John Carr kicked off the campaign’s events by hosting a press conference call. “We are serving as ‘canaries in the coal mine,’ warning of risks and hazards before the FAA places passengers in danger or puts our system in jeopardy,” remarked Carr.
“This campaign is designed to do just that and it is in that spirit that we officially launch it. By asking the public to get involved now – before tragedy strikes – we can all remember the past, we can all look to the future and we can all say: lesson learned,” concluded Carr.
The agency’s response was to recycle vague anti-controller statements to the media, often dismissing NATCA’s safety concerns as a bargaining ploy in the face of current contract negotiations. Meanwhile, the “Fly Us Safe” website – www.flyussafe.com – provides public access to a variety of documents that reflect the FAA’s own mismanagement of funding, staffing plans and equipment modernization. Included in the supporting documents are reports of FAA failures as noted by the Government Accountability Office including: FAA hiring projects that do not meet recommendations, agency-proposed budget cuts that will continue adversely affecting air traffic management and the GAO’s repeated advisements that air traffic controllers be actively involved in the FAA’s future planning. From tracking the number of visitors to the campaign website, it is evident that the public is taking an interest in the facts. Thus far, more than 25,000 individuals have visited www.flyussafe.com, with an estimated 2,882 visiting the website at least twice.
In addition to the campaign website launch, NATCA placed internet ads on several major news, weather and aviation websites, and a 30-second television commercial, “Dangerous Act,” that is running on major cable channels along with CNN.
Taking it to the media
In over 30 cities across the country, NATCA members united by hosting either press conferences or conducting interviews with their local media in an effort to educate their hometowns on staffing shortages and modernization problems. The union’s hard work paid off resulting in:
• 338 television/radio mentions with an audience of over 25 million viewers
• 57 print stories with a total estimated circulation of almost 12 million readers
Indianapolis Tower/TRACON Facility Representative Kevin Brown considers the campaign’s press events the perfect way to bring NATCA’s concerns to citizens on a local level. “Representatives from all four major networks were present at our press conference in Indianapolis, which was very successful,” he recalls. “Each did a lengthy piece on their noon, evening and late-night news broadcasts. And the Indianapolis Star ran a lengthy piece the following day.”
In some cases, the campaign’s press conferences also called attention to issues that are specific to each facility. “As the representative for the local tower/TRACON, I was able to discuss staffing and technology issues specific to my facility at length,” Brown adds. “From my perspective, NATCA was very successful in taking our issues to the public, and for the first time, with a local flavor.”
In addition to holding press conferences, several NATCA members wrote letters to their local newspaper editors to bring the “Fly Us Safe” campaign closer to home. Addressing the nationwide issue of inadequate staffing in the Dallas Morning News, Dallas/Ft. Worth TRACON Facility Representative Mike Conley noted that fewer eyes were watching more planes right at home. “The D/FW Terminal Radar Approach Control center is short by 33 controllers,” he noted, adding that “half of the current 84 controllers will be eligible to retire before the end of 2007.”
Miami Tower/TRACON Facility Representative Jim Marinitti echoed the same warnings in the Miami Herald: “The Miami Tower/TRACON is supposed to have 100 controllers, but has only 78 fully certified controllers and eight trainees,” he reported. “By 2008, 50 percent of the controllers will be eligible for retirement. Training takes three to five years, and there aren’t enough trainees in the pipeline to cover the massive wave of retirements that will occur nationwide.”
Similarly, readers of the San Jose Mercury News learned firsthand about the FAA’s failure to keep air traffic control equipment up to date. “At both San Jose and Oakland airports, the biggest problem is that the FAA has decided not to install an ultra-modern ground radar system that the National Transportation Safety Board says would help prevent runway incidents,” remarked Paul Davis, NATCA facility representative at San Jose Air Traffic Control Tower. “According to FAA data, San Jose has had 12 such incidents since October of 1999.”
Taking it to the Hill
In addition to sending letters to their local papers, NATCA members and the public are sending letters to members of Congress urging them to put an end to FAA’s mismanagement. As of December, 9,368 advocacy participants—from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico—sent a total of 28,094 letters to 531 members of Congress echoing NATCA’s safety concerns and supporting the “Fly Us Safe” campaign.
“Persistent education to our elected representatives on NATCA’s issues and concerns is imperative to the union’s legislative efforts,” says National Legislative Committee Chair Trish Gilbert. “A strong grassroots organization is a key component to achieving success.”
In addition to sending letters to the Hill, the union encouraged its members and the public to call Congress at 1-877-FLY US SAFE. As Gilbert observes, “Just supporting or objecting to issues that affect you or your work environment will do nothing to affect change. You have to relay your feelings and concerns to your elected representatives and encourage other like-minded individuals to do the same.”
What are the results?
Though the campaign is far from over, and the FAA still largely ignoring most of its core issues, it does appear that the lapse in technology upgrades may already be making enough waves in the media to catch the FAA’s attention. On Nov. 2, NATCA representatives held several regional press conferences calling on the FAA to install new surface surveillance equipment at the nation’s busiest airports. That same day, mere hours later, the FAA made a stunning public announcement that 14 airports would be receiving Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) – an equipment upgrade that the agency has dangled in front of concerned controllers since 2001, when plans were announced to upgrade 34 facilities to ASDE-X (see FAA flip-flops on ASDE-X).
FAA Spokesman Donn Walker recently told the Los Angeles Times that “this will be a much more powerful set of eyes for controllers to see things that now can’t be seen and to identify specifically what they are. Any time you can give air traffic controllers the most accurate picture of what is on the airfield the better, and that can only help the cause of runway safety.”
Coming from an agency that has recently condemned its safety professionals for reportedly making mountains out of molehills, a statement in support of the crucial role air traffic controllers play in maintaining air travel safety is a rare thing indeed.
