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STAFFING CRISIS continued does not fix the staffing crisis, it does allow experienced controllers to move to busier facilities where they are more likely to certify than Academy graduates. Subsequently, it allows the FAA to place Academy graduates in the less complex and less busy facilities where they are more likely to certify. Previously, Academy graduates were often placed in busy towers and radar facilities upon graduation, which resulted in dismal success rates. BACKGROUND The air traffic controller workforce is in the midst of a staffing crisis. Sequestration forced the FAA to institute a hiring freeze and shutter the FAA Academy between March and December 2013. The hiring freeze compounded an already tenuous staffing situation in which the FAA had barely been able to replace retiring controllers. Even increased hiring in 2015, 2016, and 2017 did not make up for the attrition experienced from 2013 through 2017. As a result, the FAA remains unable to adequately staff many facilities. New hires who are admitted into the FAA Academy beginning in June 2018 will require two to four years of training before they become fully trained and capable of separating traffic on their own. Moreover, of those who are admitted, currently only 60 percent of students in either the Tower/Terminal or En Route options will successfully complete their Academy training before moving on to train at their facility. Fully certified air traffic controllers (known as 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 mandatory overtime and a six-day work week to fully staff all positions) are facing a dire situation, as retirement-eligible controllers continue to retire at a high rate, and those left on the job begin the time-intensive process of training Academy graduates. The FAA's 2018 Controller Workforce Plan (CWP) is problematic for a number of reasons and is another example of how the FAA's bureaucracy is negatively affecting operational staffing. In particular, the CWP ignores the staffing targets that NATCA jointly developed with the FAA's Air Traffic Organization to meet the agency's operational needs. The CWP also relies on actual on-board "headcount" staffing numbers used by FAA Financial Services, which lump together CPCs with CPC-ITs (previously certified controllers who reenter training due to a transfer to another facility) and developmental stage trainees. These issues, in addition to others, render the CWP inaccurate and misleading. Additional staffing concerns are as follows: • 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. NiW Today n a t c a . o r g / n i w 46

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