NATCA Bookshelf

FAA BRIEFING ON FAA ORDER 8500.4A On July 18, the Agency notified NATCA that it intended to make changes to FAA Order 8500.4A, Administering the Minnesota Multiphasic Personal Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) Test to Air Traffic Controller Specialist (ATCS) Candidates. A briefing was held on Sept. 9. The Agency explained that the main change to the policy was to Section 2.3, Scheduling the Test. Currently, potential new hires who need to take the exam are given the name of a proctor in their geographic area. Under the new policy, potential new hires would be given the entire proctor list so that they can select a convenient proctor. This change was intended to make the process faster. The Clearance Instruction Letter (CIL) will explain the process to the new hires. POCs: former National Training Representative Tom Adcock, National Training Representative Jamaal Haltom, Acting Director of Labor Relations Nicole Vitale, and Labor Relations Attorney Suzanne DeFelice. AVIATION SAFETY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT (ASKME) On Aug. 6, NATCA was briefed on the Aircraft Certification (AIR) initiative called Aviation Safety Knowledge Management Environment (ASKME). ASKME automates the airworthiness certificate application processes. The FAA has used a paper application since its first documented type certificate in 1927. To modernize and keep pace with advancing technology, the FAA has developed integrated IT applications called Airworthiness Directive Development (ADD); Airworthiness Certification (AWC); and Compliance and Enforcement Actions (CEA). These three applications make up the ASKME system in automating the airworthiness certification processes. AWC use will become mandatory on Jan. 1, 2020. The FAA has begun AWC briefing at the district offices in Wichita, Kan., Fort Worth, Texas, Phoenix, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. The CEA will be phased into the Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Seattle MIDO; the Certificate Management Office (CMO); and the Boeing Aviation Safety Oversight Office (BASOO) happened the week of Sept. 23, 2019. The rollout schedule for ADD is being finalized. The ASKME audience is both internal and external to the FAA. Although the FAA will recommend and encourage external applicants to use the AWC system to file for type certificate, the FAA cannot make it a requirement. Thus, Form 8130-6 can still be used to initiate the certification process. In such a case, an Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI) will upload the applicant's information into AWC. POCs: Scott Odle, Keith Ladderud, Marc Ronnell, Thomas Twitchell, and Labor Relations Staff Representative Melinda Kim. NATCA PREVAILS IN ARBITRATION CASE REGARDING ALLEGED CARELESS WORK PERFORMANCE AND INATTENTION TO DUTY On July 30, Arbitrator Matthew Finkin mitigated a five-day suspension to one day in resolution of a grievance taken to arbitration by NATCA. The Agency disciplined the Grievant for alleged careless work performance and inattention to duty. The Arbitrator determined that the Grievant failed to perform certain duties as assigned and opined

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• SAFETY AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
• RUNWAY SAFETY
• Bridget Singratanakul (Gee) (DFW) is NATCA's Runway Safety Action Team (RSAT) Rep. She also serves as the Article 114 Rep to the Runway Status Lights (RWSL) Program. Her report is below:
• Runway Status Lights (RWSL) -
• BOS -
• o Phase 2 - Lighting computer replaced. JAI was scheduled for August 2018, and ORD for September 2019.
• o Phase 4 - Planned IOC date was June 2019. All testing checked out well, however there was still more construction work being completed on the airfield. The system is online, but the additional arrays were not available until June.