The Federal Aviation Administration’s Approach for Determining Future Air Traffic Controller Staffing Needs (2014) / Chapter Skim
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7 Findings and Recommendations
7 Findings and Recommendations
Pages 143-163
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From page 143... ...
This requirement drives the key functions assigned to air traffic controllers. ATC has been identified as a causal or contributing factor in only a few aviation accidents, according to reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
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From page 144... ...
aim to mitigate the risks associated with controller fatigue. In 2011, the Article 55 Fatigue Risk Management Work Group, which included representatives from FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA)
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From page 145... ...
FAA's Fatigue Risk Management Group continues to investigate and assess fatigue-related hazards associated with controller staffing levels and practices, as well as mitigation strategies, but budget constraints associated with the sequester resulted in a dramatic curtailment of these efforts in 2013. The group no longer has the resources to ensure that policy changes are being enacted throughout the enterprise and are having the desired effect.
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From page 146... ...
One mechanism for such discussions is the reporting of safety concerns by controllers via the Air Traffic Safety Action Program. However, FAA could not describe to the committee a coherent process for using these reports and other safety data to assess staffing, other than examination of fatigue concerns.
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From page 147... ...
Traffic Forecasting Forecasts of air traffic operations are inputs to the agency's controller staffing standards and subsequent staffing and hiring plans. Forecasting air traffic operations accurately is a challenging task.
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From page 148... ...
are mostly reasonable for their purpose, as discussed in Chapter 3. The models relate key markers of the demands imposed by air traffic to requisite controllers' activity in a comprehensible manner, and the results are substantiated and validated by operational data.
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From page 149... ...
. The intent is to use OPAS as a consistent basis for informing both the development of staffing plans at FAA headquarters and the creation of work schedules at individual facilities.
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From page 150... ...
The committee's analysis showed that staffing levels would increase by about 9 percent if the agency staffed to the busiest traffic day (the 100th percentile day, i.e., the facility would be expected to meet traffic demand at all times) and would decrease by about 8 percent if it staffed to the median traffic day (the 50th percentile day, i.e., traffic flow through the facility would need to be limited one-half of the time)
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From page 151... ...
The generation of service unit input is another aspect of the staff planning process that does not appear to have a consistent, established, and clearly understood basis and thus can appear to be an arbitrary adjustment to the mathematically generated staffing standard process. STAFF PLANNING AND EXECUTION OF STAFFING PLAN FAA uses the output from its staffing models to develop a staffing plan that specifies how many new hires and net transfers (transfers in minus transfers out)
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From page 152... ...
First, career progression opportunities within the controller workforce are limited, particularly since there is no clear policy with regard to controllers from lower-level facilities who attempt to qualify at higher-level facilities but fail to do so. Under these circumstances, many controllers are unwilling to take the risk of failing to qualify.
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From page 153... ...
In the committee's judgment, the full benefits of a careful and informed staff planning process will only be realized if FAA headquarters and the individual facilities use the same scheduling tool. The tool should incorporate general and facility-specific constraints, as well as overarching requirements for safety, including policies aimed at mitigating risks associated with controller fatigue.
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From page 154... ...
However, the agency makes no explicit allowance for the demands placed on controllers by NextGen-related activities in developing its controller staffing plans. The staffing standards used by FAA headquarters do not make any provision for NextGen and how it might affect future staffing levels, even though a significant number of controllers are involved its development and implementation.
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From page 155... ...
Some elements, such as the staffing standards for towers and TRACONs, are clearly documented, but others, such as the methods used for generating service unit input, are confusing because of the lack of clear, consistent documentation. In addition, the outputs from the planning process presented in the annual updates to the controller workforce plan are not all clearly explained.
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From page 156... ...
. After ALA develops a hiring plan, ALA and ATO work together to reconcile differences in facility staffing estimates between the staffing standard outputs and the service unit input and to develop the final staffing plan, which incorporates new hires and transfers.
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From page 157... ...
Source: Controller head counts were provided by FAA (personal communication from ALA) ; operations data are from FAA's Air Traffic Activity Data System online database.
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From page 158... ...
In light of these observations about the changing nature of the controller workforce and the traffic to be managed, more detailed examination of staffing levels at individual facilities is needed to investigate reasons behind the apparent drop in controller productivity between FY 2000 and FY 2012. The preceding discussion also indicates that establishing cost-effective controller staffing levels may require different solutions at different facilities.
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From page 159... ...
Plausible reductions in the number of air traffic controllers would result in small savings relative to FAA's overall budget. As discussed earlier, a decision to be less conservative and staff for the 50th percentile (median)
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From page 160... ...
. If receipts to the AATF are less than anticipated, Congress could consider increasing fees charged to the consumers of air traffic services, rather than focusing exclusively on ways of reducing the cost (and size)
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From page 161... ...
There are also different perspectives on the meaning of costeffectiveness. From a budgetary perspective, the most cost-effective controller staffing could be defined as the minimum number of controllers needed to meet expected air traffic demand, but commercial air carriers and GA pilots are likely to have different views about the types and levels of service that ATC should provide.
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From page 162... ...
Stakeholders include but are not limited to the following: • The controller workforce, which needs to engage with FAA in the col laborative development of improved staffing plans and their execu tion to ensure overall cost-effectiveness; and • Congress, which needs to make informed decisions about future budgets for controller staffing. {3-3, 4-2, 4-3} Recommendation 4 FAA should, as a matter of priority, continue its efforts to develop an improved scheduling tool capable of creating efficient controller work schedules that incorporate fatigue mitigation strategies.
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From page 163... ...
2010. Special Report 301: Air Traffic Controller Staffing in the En Route Domain: A Review of the Federal Aviation Administration's Task Load Model.
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