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ISSUE The NAS relies on trained air traffic controllers and aviation safety professionals to operate the safest, most efficient, and complex airspace in the world. These aviation safety specialists are the backbone of the NAS. Neglecting the human component will affect the safety and the efficiency of the system in both the near and long term. Without enough fully certified air traffic controllers, the FAA cannot properly: • Train new hires • Develop and implement technology, including NextGen • Maintain the efficiency of the system Current air traffic controller staffing numbers: • Total controller workforce today: 13,902 • Total workforce in May 2013: 14,793 • Controllers lost between May 2013 and April 2015: almost 1,000 • Certified Professional Controllers (CPCs – fully certified): 10,993 • Certified Professional Controllers (CPCs) eligible to retire: 3,025 • Controllers in training, not yet certified: 1,680 BACKGROUND The air traffic controller workforce is in the midst of a staffing crisis. Sequestration forced the FAA to institute a hiring freeze and shuer the FAA training academy between March 2013 and December 2013. Due to the lost year of hiring, even maximum hiring in 2015 and 2016 will not make up for the arition seen in 2013 through 2016. Likewise, the FAA will not be able to adequately staff facilities in the near term. The hiring freeze compounds an already tenuous staffing situation in which the FAA has barely been able to replace retiring controllers. New hires who were admied into the academy beginning in January 2014 require between two and four years of training to become fully trained and capable of separating traffic independently. Fully certified air traffic controllers (CPCs) must train these new hires, often taking those controllers away from their primary job of separating traffic. Thus, facilities that are already at critical staffing levels (defined as requiring overtime and six-day weeks to fully staff all positions) are facing a dire situation, as some of the retirement-eligible controllers begin retiring and those left on the job begin the intensive process of training academy graduates. Additional staffing concerns are as follows: • REDUCED CAPACITY A further staffing reduction could have a detrimental and immediate effect on capacity, meaning fewer planes in the sky and greater potential for delays. • DEPLOYMENT OF NEXTGEN Understaffing hinders facilities throughout the country from deploying and training for NextGen programs, procedures, and equipment. • OVERTIME Critically staffed facilities require controllers to work overtime to provide adequate coverage of all needed positions. These facilities may lack sufficient staff — even with overtime — to open all positions. • FATIGUE Extended workdays and workweeks lead to significant fatigue problems for the workforce. The National Transportation Safety Board has identified fatigue as one of its highest priority safety concerns. In response, NATCA and the FAA have developed a fatigue awareness and education campaign called Fully Charged that is part of the collaborative Foundations of Professionalism program. MESSAGE Fully staffing our system is a top priority. This requires resources for hiring, training, and employee placement. NATCA is deeply concerned about any action that could hamper this process, including the potential for future furloughs and another closure of the training academy. FULL BACKGROUND n i w . n a t c a . n e t MAY 18-20, 2015 25

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