NATCA Bookshelf

��� NAT ION A LVi ew poi nt Paul Ri nal d i T ri sh Gi l be rt national office NATCA was moved off an important list last month. But it was one of the most gratifying things that has happened to us in a 2012 filled with positive developments. When the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced its annual ���most wanted��� list of safety improvements, fatigue and pilot/controller professionalism were not on it. This is validation of the progress that NATCA and the FAA are making in working collaboratively on both issues. However, reducing the aviation safety risks that come with aggressively addressing both issues is a career-long commitment. Our work is never done. But we���ve come a long way and devoted many resources to making our profession stronger, and the National Airspace System safer. Our members made their voices heard loudly for many years and have petitioned the agency to address fatigue, long before the current Administration recognized the legitimacy of our concerns and sat down with us to get to work. We made quite a positive impression on the NTSB in May 2010 during the Board���s special meeting to look at professional standards. Led by Garth Koleszar (ZLA), now our Professional Standards co-lead, and Steve Wallace (ZMA), we announced our intentions to formally launch a groundbreaking National Professional Standards Program for air traffic controllers and other safety-related positions. It���s this program that has helped make the case to remove professionalism off NTSB���s most wanted list. It���s a great start but we know we can do even better. NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman, using the analogy of cooking Thanksgiving dinner, said fatigue and professionalism were pots now being ���put on the back burner. And, while those back-burner topics are simmering and still have our attention ��� and might need more later ��� our new Most Wanted List directs attention to those hot issues boiling in the front.��� One of those issues is distractions in the workplace, across all modes of transportation. We are working with the FAA to take a proactive, aggressive approach to addressing that issue as well. The FAA/ NATCA Collaborative Steering Committee has assembled an important new workgroup to stay ahead of maintaining the integrity and safety of the flying public by advocating for an elevated commitment to eliminating electronic distractions in the operational environment. We will model this initiative after a Department of Transportation (DoT), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and more than 140 other organizations that are tackling the dangerous practice that puts millions of Americans at risk when texting and driving. Their initiative can be found at ItCanWait.com. So far this year in the U.S., there have been an estimated 1,200,151 crashes involving drivers using cell phones and texting. (Source: National Safety Council: Cell Phone Crash Estimate Model) In 2008, 25 passengers lost their lives and another 102 were injured in a tragic train accident in Southern California when the engineer failed to respond to a signal to stop because he was texting. And in 2010 in Philadelphia, a ���duck boat��� tour boat was overrun by an 80-yard long barge when both the tour boat and tugboat (responsible for pushing the barge) were distracted by texting and phone calls respectively which caused the death of two and injuries to many more in the tour boat. In a world where there are often no clear-cut answers and where principles are often diluted, adherence to safety must remain uncorrupted and unconditional. Members of the flying public believe that truism each and every time they fly. The workgroup is creating a plan to increase the workforce's focus on the distraction cell phones and other electronics can cause in the operational environment. We do not ever want a co-worker to cause an incident, or worse, an accident because they were distracted by texting, calls, videos, surfing, tweets or Facebook. While multi-tasking is a common characteristic of a good air traffic controller it should not ever be consciously or subconsciously a justification to move focus from the operation to electronics prohibited while working operational positions. We are professionals, we take our responsibilities seriously and the public trusts that there will be, as far as safety is concerned, no compromises, no distractions and no second measures. Air Traffic Controller Fall 2012 3

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