Jetwhine

Aviation buzz and bold opinion

pilots

August 3, 1981 – PATCO Strike Remembered 38 Years Later

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Ed note: It was 38 years ago today that the U.S. aviation system was turned upside down out. What have we learned in those decades since? Many controllers today are again working 10-hour days six days a week.

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JDA Solutions photo

I remember the morning of August 3, 1981, vividly as I turned on the TV to find news stories of air traffic controller members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization-PATCO-marching with picket signs at the base of the tower at Chicago O’Hare and other airports all over the nation. They’d simply run out of patience with their employer the FAA and took matters into their own hands.

Many of the people I saw on TV were friends. Most lost their jobs later that week when they refused President Reagan’s ultimatum, “Return to work or you will be fired.” Few ever returned to air traffic control again, in fact.

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There’s little point today in talking about how the strike could have or should have been handled. PATCO stuck its neck out and lost. It’s done, it’s over.

What is interesting about our nation’s air traffic control system today nearly three decades later is how little the agency that runs the system – the FAA – seems to have learned from their own mistakes of that era.

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Adding More Bold Opinions

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Adding More Bold Opinions
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Jeff DanielsWhen I created Jetwhine wayyyyy back in 2006, the tagline was pretty simple … “aviation buzz and bold opinion.”

Since then, some 650 stories of fact and aviation opinion have appeared on these pages. Some of them have have driven readers simply crazy, like some we’ve written about air traffic controllers and the FAA for instance. Some haven’t raised so much as a speck of dust anywhere. But that’s life.

The stories written by our editor Scott Spangler though are often much more controversial than mine. The difference of course is that Scott’s style is so smooth that he makes his point without seeming to point fingers in people’s faces. I’m still hoping he can teach me that trick.

Now as we enter 2014, I think it’s time to add a new element to Jetwhine … more audio.

Today we’re rolling out Episode One of The Aviation Minute. AviationMinute10These podcasts (scroll down) are designed to briefly capture the essence of a single topic. They’re also designed to create enough interest for you to seek more information on your own. It’s the only way you’ll ever stay informed on the ever changing world of aviation. And let’s be serious … this is not the aviation world I came into when I soloed a Champ in 1966 around the patch at Champaign Airport, IL (CMI).

Our first show is devoted to the pilot shortage. And if I stay on top of things, we should have a brand new episode each week that tantalizes you just enough on one topic to make you think.

And of course, I also hope these will someday bring my delivery up to the standards of Scott Spangler … but I still have a way to go.

BTW, we’re always on the lookout for fresh topics that we should keep an eye on. Some of the best of the best have been suggested by you our readers … and listeners now. So please feel free to send along your ideas and comments to me … rob@jetwhine.com.

For those of you who have come to expect complete technology savvy shows, let me mention there will soon be a separate RSS feed and iTunes account to subscribe to only The Aviation Minute should you choose. More on that soon.

Enjoy,

Rob Mark, Publisher

See and Avoid: Airplanes and Partisan Politics

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Since the FAA issued the list of contract towers it will close to satisfy the self-inflicted sequester, I’ve been reading a lot of wailing and gnashing and incredulous screeds of how could they? Common to everything I’ve read so far is the pointy fingered whine of put-upon victims. Let’s get real here. We got what we voted for. All of us.

AIMOur elected officials—all of them—embody the ideological narcissism that has, over the past three decades, grown bitter in many of us and turned America’s future into a zero-sum game. If one side can’t win, it will do its upmost to guarantee that the other side will lose. We gave them power—we encouraged their behavior—every time we voted, every time we raised our fist in support or condemnation of candidates who promised to govern in our best interest but only answer to and serve those who finance their duplicitous endeavors.

Before air traffic controllers took to towers to help pilots make their way to and from airports safely, we all learned that as the pilot in command, we alone are ultimately responsible for the safety of our flight, to see and avoid other airplanes that could compromise this sacred responsibility, something we all too eagerly surrender to others, whether they be in an air traffic control tower or an elected office.

If we’re not happy with the world we have created with our votes and political support, only we can change it by seeing and avoiding those who have done our bidding and brought us to today’s place in history. Changing course, if that’s what we as a collective whole really want, will take time. We didn’t create this problem overnight, so we will not rectify the situation as quickly as we might like.

Time will tell if we have the gumption to summon and sustain the unified focus and the willingness to sacrifice in the name of compromise because we accept that in zero-sum situations, we all lose. In the meantime, let’s stay safe out there. As we should when flying to and from any airport when VFR, we should have our heads up and rotating, systematically searching our surroundings for traffic on an unfortunate trajectory. (This essential see & avoid maneuver should work as well when it comes to those who want to serve as our elected officials.)  And if it’s been awhile since you’ve flown to a nontowered airport, before you fly, add this to your preflight planning:  Aeronautical Information Manual, Section 3—Airport Operations. — Scott Spangler, Editor

Mr. Babbitt Needs to Get in Shape

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Some functions come naturally to most humans, eating, sleeping, even defending ourselves … at least most of the time. But the message the House of Representatives just sent FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt with passage of the European Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011 is pretty clear. Our administrator needs to find a sparing partner and get himself in shape for the scuffles ahead with Europe.

For years, the European Union has promoted its plan to reduce aviation’s carbon footprint anywhere in the group’s 21-nation states, despite the fact that research shows this industry contributes far less to global warming than just about any other segment such as automobiles — between two and three percent by most calculations.

No matter. It’s their union and they are free to make their own choices. Problem is that this new EU plan will significantly affect our industry here in the states because the EU intends to hold every country responsible for complying with their carbon trading scheme if they fly into EU airspace.

Most other countries are having a little heartburn with the plan, as is ICAO, the United Nations body focused on aviation that believes one country or one region setting it’s own standards – higher or lower than the rest of the world – is a rally bad idea, and one that will be enormously difficult to enforce. [Read more…] about Mr. Babbitt Needs to Get in Shape

AF 447: Final Moments, a Few Thoughts

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I have always felt I’d be doing my flight students a disservice not to mention that while soaring aloft is an unmatched experience, it can and will snuff out a life in a moment if the pilot becomes too complacent … no matter how sophisticated the aircraft’s on-board equipment.

We’ve been reminded of the seriousness of that warning again as the investigation into the crash of Air France 447 continues. A CNN story Friday highlighted some of the elements again, but also walked listeners through a few of the final words of the pilots in the cockpit two years ago, moments before the aircraft hit the water after a 4 1/2 fall from 36,000 ft. The words were part of a new book written by French journalist Jean-Pierre Otelli that includes yet unheard portions of the crew’s cockpit conversations. Granted, Otelli is known as a bit of an ambulance chaser, but the words we hear are what’s important, not necessarily his motivation is recording them.

Having read the other transcripts, this one too seems to confirm that the crew was indeed overwhelmed by the cacophony of lights and aural alerts they must have been confronted with a very short time span. I was saddened just to listen, but also well aware that this could have been any of us in this situation and also, that there is much yet to learn from this watershed accident. [Read more…] about AF 447: Final Moments, a Few Thoughts