NATCA Bookshelf

NIW Today | 43 Additional Staffing Concerns: • REDUCED CAPACITY A further staffing reduction could have an immediate and detrimental effect on capacity, meaning fewer planes in the sky and greater potential for delays. • DEPLOYMENT OF NEXTGEN Understaffing hinders facilities throughout the NAS from deploying and training for NextGen programs, procedures, and equipment. • OVERTIME Critically-understaffed facilities require controllers to work mandatory overtime to provide adequate coverage of all needed positions. Some facilities may lack sufficient staffing — even with mandatory overtime and extended workweeks — to open all positions. • FATIGUE These extended workdays and workweeks can lead to significant fatigue problems for the workforce. The National Transportation Safety Board has identified fatigue as one of its highest priority safety concerns. Although NATCA and FAA, along with other stakeholders, have worked collaboratively to develop a fatigue awareness and education campaign called "Fully Charged," which is part of the collaborative Foundations of Professionalism program, the only long-term solution is sufficient staffing. CPC: Certified Professional Controller CPC-IT: Certified Professional Controller in Training (fully certified elsewhere, transferred to a new facility and began training there) DEV: Developmental (trainee) AG: Graduate of the FAA Initial Classroom Training Academy in Oklahoma City, newly hired, and started at their first facility as a trainee AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER STAFFING: 2011-2019 Source: FAA Finance Staffing Data Snapshot, FAA Controller Workforce Plan Number of Certified Professional Controllers 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019* ON-BOARD 15,236 15,063 14,461 14,059 14,010 14,050 14,009 14,285 14,331 CPC 11,639 11,753 11,522 11,192 10,833 10,619 10,544 10,483 10,423 CPC-IT 965 1,143 1,187 1,200 1,218 1,259 1,205 1,320 1,373 DEV (INCLUDING AG) 2,632 2,167 1,741 1,667 1,959 2,172 2,260 2,482 2,535 AG 676 671 440 665 936 878 883 980 1,009 RETIREMENT ELIGIBLE 3,064 3,224 3,077 2,982 3,355 2,915 2,410 1,842 1,965 FAA PLANNED TO HIRE 829 981 1,315 1,286 1,772 1,619 1,781 1,701 1,431** FAA ACTUALLY HIRED 824 925 554 1,112 1,345 1,680 1,880 1,786 293 *As of December 21, 2018, one day before 35-day shutdown and before end-of-calendar-year expected retirements. **FAA adjusted hiring target down from 1,431 to 907 following the shutdown.

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