PRESIDENT'S PAGE

Home Page

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Wally Pike, NAATS President

Please note – portions of this article have previously been in the NAATS HQ Facility Email Update. If you are not receiving the Update please contact your regional representatives.

We’re using NM Regional Director Don McLennan's Compensation Bulletins as our primary communication to you on these negotiations. Please read Bulletin #14 for the latest details. We’re providing all the information we can to keep you up to date and knowledgeable; we hope to make significant progress at our meeting the week of March 13. Bulletin #15 is included in this newsletter.(Posted on the Pay bulletin page)

NAATS National OASIS Representative Jeff Barnes and I are working on an MOU regarding an initial prototype installation of OASIS at SEA AFSS. Several issues have to be addressed and we’re not sure when, or even if, the MOU will be completed. The DOT budget indicates $23.1M for FY01. Administrator Garvey has told Congress that it’s one of five programs about which she's concerned.

As you will recall the General Aviation Summit made several recommendations that are significant for our option in the future. FAA headquarters middle management doesn’t seem to have gotten the message. In an effort to get the process moving I’ve discussed this with industry and ATS-1 Steve Brown. I also have a meeting with FAA Administrator Monte Belger next week on the same subject. The next GA Summit meeting is the first week of May.

One of the areas I'm concerned about is training. I feel we’re missing an opportunity with Personnel Reform issues because we haven't trained our people on their impact. Another area of opportunity is the CPP MOU. I think most are aware of the move aspects in that MOU but we've never taken full advantage of the bargaining because we haven't adequately trained everyone on what the MOU actually says. I want to schedule training on these subjects as soon as feasible, perhaps at our national meeting in November. We do have a basic/negotiations/grievance training class scheduled for the last part of April conducted by LR Director Mike Doring; more details on this are contained in this newsletter. Please contact your Regional Director is you're interested in attending this training.

A reminder that SO Regional Director Craig Campbell is our representative on the national Model Work Environment workgroup. This workgroup is determining the implementation of MWE for our bargaining unit; this shouldn't be confused with the Human Resources Policy negotiations that Mike Doring is conducting. Mike and I agree that any MWE impact to our unit will be determined by the MWE workgroup, not by the HR negotiations.

EA Region Director Ron Maisel is meeting with his FacRep’s the week of February 21 in Atlantic City. Ron has asked me to address his group on February 23. I plan to be there and I look forward to the opportunity to exchange ideas. My compliments to Ron for scheduling the meeting.

The next NAATS Board of Directors’ meeting will be held the week of February 28. If you have any items you want discussed please contact your Regional Director or me.

Lastly, we sent pictures of our Office Manager Gretna Stefano and our temporary office help Terry Petlowany to John Dibble for posting on our website. I encourage you to check these pictures out and the website in general; John’s doing a great job as our Webmaster.

Top of Page

Constitutional Review Committee Meets

Don McLennan, Northwest Mountain Regional Director

A membership, Constitutional Review Committee meeting was held in Washington, DC during the week of January 24, 2000, to review several specific aspects of our current Constitution and make recommendations to the Board of Directors so they could either approve or reject them. You will remember three people’s names were pulled from a hat at the Convention in Las Vegas to make up the committee. Pedro Munoz, from GNV AFSS, Joe Medina, from CPR AFSS and Gayle Brady, from SEA AFSS were the three members’ who sat on this Committee along with Donna Holmes, ATP Liaison and Don McLennan, ANM Regional Director. Among several administrative changes such as allowing FacRep’s to be Regional Coordinators and vice versa there has been an issue among many of our members about developing a Constitutional article around "delegate conventions." This provision is currently in Article 10 of the Constitution but it is very unclear how to go about conducting one, time frames and who would attend. That is where the Committee concentrated the bulk of their efforts.

Biennial Delegate Conventions Proposed

Their recommendations of what needs to be added to make this constitutional provision a viable one are to hold a delegate convention at least every two years at a location to be established by a majority of votes at the previous delegate convention. The Board of Directors may schedule additional conventions/meetings upon 90 days notice to the members. The purpose of these conventions will be to propose recommendations, concerning Association policy, for consideration and resolution by the Board of Directors and propose changes to the National Constitution for ratification by the General Membership. The resolution of all proposals by the Board of Directors will be through a recorded vote and written notice of those results provided to the membership, normally within 120 days. Notices of such conventions and meetings shall be mailed to the Facility Representatives for posting in facilities at least 120 days prior to the scheduled event. Conventions may coincide with, occur during, or be a part of a national membership meeting. The Board of Directors will also schedule national, educational, training seminars for officers and facility representatives. The President shall act as chairman at conventions and may invoke the rules in the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, to govern formal discussion or debate at such assemblies in order to insure orderly process. In the event of a tie vote the President will cast the deciding vote.

Delegate Selection Rules

They also set up rules to govern the selections of delegates. At delegate conventions each facility shall be entitled to one delegate. Each delegate shall be entitled to cast 1 vote per member in good standing at his/her facility. In the event the delegate cannot attend an alternate may attend. The delegate and alternate shall be selected by secret ballot vote as set forth in the national constitution at least 90 days prior to each delegate convention. The Facility Representative at each facility wishing to send a delegate must notify the National Office of the name(s) of the facility’s delegate and alternate no later than the sixtieth (60^th) day prior to the commencement of the scheduled convention.

Procedure for Proposing Constitutional Changes

The Committee then developed language that enumerated the rules to follow in proposing changes at the delegate convention. At least 60 days prior to a scheduled convention, delegates may submit to the National Office, in writing, proposals for adoption by the convention. Only those proposals received in a timely manner will be considered at the convention. Such proposals shall articulate a problem or issue, with a recommended approach, that the proponent wishes the membership to address. The National Office shall compile and disseminate all such proposals, to all delegates, no later than 30 days of the commencement of the convention.

The Committee felt that to assure the Board of Directors, who would be resolving any proposals agreed to be presented at the conclusion of the delegate convention, and to insure there was an informed decision-making process then the Board of Directors must attend the conventions. Additionally they recommended that members may also attend conventions but only delegates may address the floor, and vote, on convention proposals.

Since the delegate convention would be mandated by the Board of Directors the Committee recommended that the National Office provide every duly designated convention delegate with a MI&E per diem allowance at the current union rate. This would be for at least up to three days when attending conventions, or meetings during which a convention is to occur, to cover travel to and from the convention and at least one days attendance.

More to Come

This is just a preview of this constitutional issue as the BOD has not even seen this proposal yet. Further, the NAATS legal counsel has yet to make any recommendations and Arthur Fox always makes a proposal much better after he has had a chance to offer a few suggestions. I pass this along to you in the vein of trying to keep the membership updated on BOD activity.

Top of Page

National Training Class:

Basic FacRep Training

Instructor:

Mike Doring, LMR Consultant

Dates:

April 24, 25 & 26, 2000

Site to be announced in next issue.

NAATS Wants YOU!

If you are interested in serving as a NAATS representative on work groups or committees please forward your name and area(s) of interest to NAATS HQ. These work groups/committees vary in length from one day to regularly scheduled meetings monthly. Some degree of travel is normally involved.

If you are interested in serving as a NAATS representative on detail to FAA Headquarters please forward your name and area(s) of interest to NAATS HQ. These details are usually NTE one year so please do not volunteer for this unless you are willing to move to Washington, D.C. for a minimum of one year.

Top of Page

AIR TRAFFIC PROCEDURES ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Visiting the Naval Air Museum

Our 98th meeting of ATPAC convened on Monday, January 10th, 2000 at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, FL. We had a VIP briefing and tour of the Navy’s Air Traffic Control Operations Training Division. They have a 16-week basic course, and then three advanced courses in air traffic control, and will be starting an ATC management course this summer. The three advanced courses are; Carrier ATC, which lasts 6 weeks for ATC operations aboard an aircraft carrier, Amphibious ATC for helicopters and amphibious aircraft also on ship, and Advanced Radar ATC which is like the radar class at OKC for approach controls. The Navy places the enlisted sailor in the class most suited to the sailor’s abilities. The Carrier class is considered the elite. We toured each classroom with their respective simulators, and got to watch a class run a problem for the Carrier ATC. That was fascinating, with the controllers guiding in the aircraft with one and one half mile IFR separation standards, and each aircraft hitting the deck and clearing every 45-60 seconds. We also saw the Navy tower simulator, which is like the one at OKC with fairly realistic daylight and night scenes. One of our Air Force representatives on our committee got brave and tried running ground control for a bit! Finally, we toured the Naval Air Museum, which is awesome! They have a wonderful assortment of airplanes including Pappy Boyington’s F4-U Corsair from the Black Sheep Squadron, and a genuine Japanese Zero from WWII, plus fighter planes from WWI, including the Sopwith Camel, (complete with Snoopy!) If ever in the Florida panhandle, this museum is a Must See.

More on NOTAMs

A big topic concerning us in FSS again was the NOTAM system. OASIS funding appears steady at $11.5 million. Yet what is planned for OASIS still does not include a national database for all NOTAM (i.e. Local NOTAMS). We discussed the DOD NOTAM website and the question was posed, why can’t FAA adopt a system for all NOTAMS modeled on the DOD’s website? The current NOTAM system, while able to deliver plain text NOTAMS, has a limitation to doing all NOTAMS in a nationwide database due to WMSCR’s capacity limitations, and no money will be spent on upgrading that. After further discussion, ATPAC recommended that FAA channel its limited resources into developing a plain text NOTAM system that integrates all NOTAMS into a single system. We also recommended the FAA model the existing DOD Internet NOTAM system as a replacement for all NAS users. I have seen the DOD’s NOTAM system, and while there are some problems popping up here and there, by and large it looks like a way that can give the pilots what they need to meet their FAR 91.103 requirements; all NOTAMS, all at once. Check it out at www.notams.jcs.mil.

PIREPs

Dissemination of PIREPS was discussed again. ATPAC formally recommended that the FAA improve the PIREP collection/dissemination system with a common database for controllers, pilots, FSS specialists and dispatchers. Copies of a JSAT briefing were provided with some recommended ways of doing this. Contact me if you want details. ATP-300, FSS Division is charged with responding to this recommendation.

AWOS/ASOS ALSTG

An AOC was introduced regarding having alternate ALSTG minima published for airports with a single source unattended AWOS/ASOS. Concern was expressed that if that AWOS/ASOS was OTS, then there should be published approach procedures using an alternate ALSTG. The general consensus among the committee was this was unnecessary because the ALSTG is very reliable, usually being the last thing to break on an automated system. The additional expense of developing these procedures, and the charting congestion is probably not worth the effort. However, this was deferred with a request for further clarification from the controller who submitted the AOC through his membership in AOPA. In the same area, I received a concern from one of our members from HNL AFSS, that when a link for an AWOS/ASOS goes down, and the weather data is not available long line, that it is not NOTAM criteria. He believes a pilot might feel this information would be useful, since then seeing that the link is down as a NOTAM would cue the pilot that the information would still be available by either telephone, or on frequency. I asked the committee, especially the pilots if they have any feelings, or requirement by FAR for this information prior to flight, and they after much discussion determined that a NOTAM stating the link was OTS was unnecessary; especially since a NOTAM is issued when either the AWOS/ASOS frequency, or telephone number is OTS, or the whole system is OTS. The FAR is fulfilled because a pilot has to review all available information, and if the information is not available, the pilot is not held liable for it. So, based on the discussion, I withdrew the AOC, but it did generate about 20 minutes worth of intense discussion. I appreciate all concerns and will follow through with any requests and get back with whomever communicates with me.

Other Issues Addressed

For you pilots, an AOC was brought forward concerning responsibility of read back procedures. We will get a briefing on the interpretive rule, which seems to place all responsibility for correcting incorrect read backs on the pilot’s shoulders. Stay tuned. Other items we covered that would be more interesting to pilots concerned missed approach procedures. While on a visual approach, can the pilot go back into IMC, or are they expected to remain clear of clouds? Is IFR separation provided? Apparently between the AIM and 7110.65, it is not crystal clear. An in-depth LAHSO briefing provided some new changes coming; one change will be a minimum threshold to intersection distance must be 2500 feet or more. Contact me if you want more details.

For those of us who fly in and around Houston, the 250kt. speed exemption test was again addressed. Some concerns from Houston controllers are that compliance by users is not uniform, i.e. not all will agree to "go fast." I jump seated with Continental Express this trip in their EMB 145 commuter jet and was surprised to find their windshields limit them to 250kts. below 8000 feet. It seems the windshields are the same as on their EMB 120 turboprops, and can’t withstand a bird strike above 250kts. So, they can’t go fast even though the pilots would like to. Other carriers won’t participate for either structural reasons or safety concerns, i.e. popping outside the sides of the Class B airspace, so controllers can’t depend on the 250kt. exemption as a regular tool for getting aircraft up and out. Further tests and simulations are being done before expanding this to other airports, and the committee will get further updates from Flight Standards. We also discussed ground vehicle lighting, runway incursion problems, ATIS content and length, and ILS-PRM approaches. MSP is the only location doing ILS-PRM right now, but SFO is getting ready to purchase the equipment. If you have any questions, or any new concerns about national level procedures, please contact me via e-mail.

NTSB REPORT 2/15/00

Daniel J. Holodick, NTSB Rep.

Well it has been a LONG while since my last NTSB update. The main reason is time, so little time. (I love cut and paste).

I have queried NAATS headquarters for a current list of regional representatives. I have only gotten 1 response. If I do not get updates, I will send an information package out to the addresses I have on hand. I have a small package that I want to send out that is too lengthy to print here. It discusses what I have been up to for the last few years on this issue, and getting access to accidents. I will also explain what you need to do to get (or at least try) a class date in OKC for accident training. I will also include all the correspondence that I have sent to the NTSB, Jim Hall, local NTSB agents (ref JFK Jr. Crash) and the work I have done with the local FSDO. I am still actively pursuing our involvement, and happily accept any and all suggestions.

There have been a few of you that occasionally light a fire under my backside, and I thank you. Sometimes it gets discouraging, cutting through all the red tape. I have a letter composed, and will send it to the Congressional Aviation sub-committee on aviation. I am awaiting a call from our Congressional guru, Hal Gross, Hal, please call…207-848-5411.

So, Please send your info, address etc to: Daniel J. Holodick RR 1 Box 2686 Route 2 Carmel, Maine 04419 or you cam e-mail me at: DHolodick@bigfoot.com. (This is a temporary address, I am in the process of changing my ISP provider.) My new address will be updates in the NAATS Newsletter next Month. Till next time.

ATX Liaison Report

Kate Breen, NAATS/ATX Liaison

Here are a few of the things going on in ATX during the past couple of months. I really didn't have much to update you on for January’s Newsletter, so I figured I'd lump it all into February.

Staffing Numbers

Let me start with the staffing numbers as of December 1999, 2152’s in the Station are 2240, 2152’s in FSDPS 97.  According to the FAA Management staffing standards, the Stations are about 290 individuals below what they should be. Even if management were to fill every possible slot out at the academy this year, they would come up approximately 50 short of the congressionally mandated number of 3000. That 3000 number includes Operational Supervisors and OTCWF (managers, operations managers, administrative officers and such).

There are no staffing standards for the FSDPS that I know of.   It’s not that the FSDPS are not being thought about, NAATS is concerned about the holes in the FSDPS staffing currently and the holes that will continue to develop until the deployment of OASIS.  The problem here is, the academy in Oklahoma City has disassembled the FSDPS training lab and replaced it with OASIS systems.  For you folks in the FSDPS please know that NAATS is working to get some kind of training going to plug those holes until the deployment of OASIS.

IG Says US& Canada Air Traffic Counts Not Comparable

Some folks upstairs want a comparison of services per specialist here in the US and services per specialist up in Canada. Now in my humble opinion, this cannot be done – it would be comparing apples to oranges. There seems to be people from NAVCANADA popping up all over the place, they've been here in headquarters several times and up on Capitol Hill on February 3 to meet with the Subcommittee on Transportation and Related Agencies of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The morning session of that hearing Administrator Garvey and Inspector General Mead of the DOT spoke and the afternoon session the Vice Chairman of American Airlines and the President/CEO of NAVCANADA spoke. The one thing I liked about what the Inspector General said was that you couldn’t possibly compare the air traffic system in the US to that in Canada due to the tremendous difference in the amount of traffic. The one thing I liked about what Administrator Garvey said was that the FAA would all be under a new personnel system (I'm assuming she meant core compensation) by spring. Did someone forget to tell her that the NAATS pay and contract negotiations are still in the works and can't possibly be done by spring?! OOP's!!

Flexible Spending Plans

I could go off on a few other subjects, but I don't want to take up the whole newsletter! One thing I am working on and hopefully will have an article for you next month is Flexible Spending Plans, Rebecca from MMV asked me to check into it. Just briefly, it involves having your medical and child care deductions done before taxes. The other union has a work group on it and President Clinton wants everybody to have an opportunity to participate in it by next year, so as time permits I will compile the information and pass it on to you all.

Laser Eye Surgery: Epilog

Finally for those of you interested in the outcome of my Laser Eye Surgery, it went really well. There was virtually no pain, the vision in my left eye the day after the surgery was 20/20 and 20/30 in the right. By one week I was 20/20 in both and got 5 out of 6 on the 20/15 line. For a few days after the surgery I did have some difficulty reading, but that cleared up by day 3 or so and I have not had any problems driving at night. As far as, halos around lights, I had just a bit right after the surgery and if my eyes get tired at the end of the day. That is getting better by the day; all in all I am very happy that I had it done. The Dr. Rajpal and his staff at the Washington Laser Eye Center did a fantastic job; I wouldn’t recommend someone unless I was very happy with them! If you are in the Washington DC area and would like to check with Dr. Rajpal, tell him you’re a member of NAATS and he’ll give you a 20 percent discount on the procedure. If you’re not in this area, please choose your doctor carefully to help ensure you’re procedure goes as well as mine did.

SAFETY AND HEALTH UPDATES

Suzanne Pellosmaa, NAATS OSH Rep.

New Consoles

This February, I was fortunate that I was able to listen in on the OASIS/Console telecom (Feb 3). I am sure that our ATX folk will give us a thorough debriefing on the OASIS program so I will mention quickly what I learned about the new console installation. STL has already installed their new consoles and SEA/MIA consoles have been delivered but are currently being stored in warehouses, with SEA’s consoles being installed starting this March. The consoles will be installed before the OASIS testing starts in August. MIA’s installation will begin in May or early June. These were the only facilities this fiscal year to receive the new consoles.

A problem was mentioned with the paint on the old consoles – in the fact that there might be lead contained in the paint. There is testing being conducted at ABQ to see if samples of the paint from the old consoles contain lead. If lead is found to be in the paint, then the disposal of the consoles may cost the FAA money because it would be treated as hazardous waste. But if no lead is found then the consoles could probably be salvaged.  It was said in the contract to the manufacturer of the consoles, that no lead paint was to be utilized. But it was explained that many vendors did supply the consoles and that lead paint may have been used. This should not be a problem to the specialists on the floor unless they actually physically digest any of the paint.  A point was brought up that if the contract did specify no lead paint, then the manufacturer should be held liable for the console disposal if lead paint was used.

As far as installation of the new consoles at SEA, it was mentioned that a few issues were brought up, such as the HVAC. But those issues have been addressed. It was said that there could be an electrostatic discharge issue with the new consoles, but it was assured this should not become a problem if the consoles are grounded properly.  The new carpet at STL is ESD-compliant so the facility has no problem.

Lee Raimes (ANI) brought up the next issue. It dealt with the replacement console operations room surveys, which had been sent out last year. Supposedly, 14 facilities had obvious deviations/distractions such as consoles blocking exit doors, security issues, walls being removed, etc. There have been facility telecons to address these 14 facilities and supposedly these issues were resolved and the floor plans adjusted. One major issue is rear access to the consoles.  ARU300 has no official guidelines for configuration of consoles and it is not currently a written requirement.  It was suggested to have another telecon to address floor plans, console configuration, etc.  It was stated that if rear access is required at a facility (by whom?) then there must be a width of 36 inches between the console and the wall or the next set of consoles.  I guess this is an issue between AF/AT at certain facilities, AF feels they need the rear access.  At most facilities now, there is no rear access.

New Chairs

In my previous report, I mentioned a chair survey that I had participated in with my facility manager and so far, I have not been informed of the results.  The chair survey identified "controller chairs" which included NATCA in the survey.  One of the NAATS chair committee members mentioned that there was going to be a committee meeting to be on Feb 4 dealing with the chair issue. But I am not sure of the meeting outcome; no information was afforded to me. Jeff Barnes and the Human Factors Team could possibly give you more information if you would like.   If I do hear any further news, I will be sure to pass it on to you.

National OSHECCOM

At this point, I would like to mention that I am no longer a member of the FAA National OSHECCOM, the official NAATS member is NAATS President, Wally Pike.   I did attend the last national meeting but my function was as NAATS OSH advisor. The union did pay for my travel although I used annual leave to attend.  I have not been invited to the Feb 24 national meeting.

If anyone has any facility safety and health issues/concerns, please address them to your facility safety committee.  If your facility does not have a committee, please seek advice from the NAATS Regional OSH Representative; your Regional Director should have his/her name.  If your concern is more of an immediate nature, file a UCR (Unsafe/Unhealthy Condition Report) for documentation and give it to the first line supervisor.  If you cannot reach your Regional OSH Rep., please contact me at your convenience.  Know that I am available to answer any safety and health questions that you may have and if I do not have the answers, I will surely try to find them.

Regional OSHECCOM

As a member of the Great Lakes Regional OSHECCOM Committee, one of our committee’s major issues has to deal with committee member safety and health training.  Most of our regional members were trained with the OSH-600 course but soon funds were depleted and substitute training has to be found.  We do need to get our field committees trained – especially to recognize facility hazards.  The AGL OSH Committee is working on a combination CBI/CD Rom training package that will be safety-specific to each option (AF/AT).  Hopefully, there will be an instructor available to answer any questions or concerns of the committee member.  I do ask one favor of all regional NAATS OSH Reps, could you please fax/send me copies of your regional committee meeting minutes? Mark Boberick (Alaskan Region) is already accomplishing this task.  As the NAATS National OSH rep, I am very concerned and curious to see how other regions are faring in their safety and health tasks and issues.  My address and fax number are found on the back of the newsletter.  Thank you for your cooperation.

Federal Worker 2000 Presidential Initiative Program

I still have been participating in weekly telecons with the President's Worker 2000 Initiative Program and a few strides have been made by the FAA to accomplish the program's goals.  The Initiative Program primarily concentrates on OWCP and in trying to reduce costs and cases and also seeks to get the "injured worker" back to work as quickly as possible, even if in a light duty status.  From what I have heard at the telecons, is that some of the controllers are abusing OWCP privileges with stress related incidents such as "separation errors," "near misses," etc., and that they are taking the 45 days without proper medical documentation and evaluation.  I did mention the fact that the FAA/Unions do have a process called CISD (Critical Incident Stress Debriefing) that should be helping the controllers to deal with their stressful situations.  I am really curious to see how many controllers actually do "abuse the system."

Some of the suggestions of this committee have been:

Analyze accident data to determine safety program focus

Ensure that only claims involving lost days or medical reimbursements are submitted to OWCP

Review DOL quarterly report to identify cases belonging to other agencies than the FAA

Share effective strategies between regional, center, and headquarters stakeholders

Develop medical intervention strategies to encourage coordination with employees’

private medical providers to facilitate timely return to work

Identify additional light duty assignments

Educate employees of their responsibilities for observing safe work practices

Provide appropriate safety and health information and training to employees at the

targeted high injury sites (Westbury and Cleveland)

Develop a training plan for supervisors and managers so they are informed of their

responsibilities under the occupational safety and health program

Plan electronic submission of claim forms to DOL

Integrate OWCP issues into the national and regional OSH compliance committees to maintain program emphasis.

These are just a sampling of what the committee came up with.  If you do have any ideas or questions, please feel free to contact me.

Joan Boushey Extends Her Thanks to NAATS Members

by Joan Boushey of Seattle AFSS. John Knauff’s obituary follows the letter.

Thank you so much for your support with your Annual Leave donations. My husband, John Knauff, passed away on January 5^th.

Your generosity made it possible for me to stay home and care for him during his last two months. That was a very special time for us. I was also able to take some time afterwards for myself to recover before going back to work.

I always though that being a member of the union was the right thing to do, now I know so.

Thanks again,

Joan Boughey

John donated his body to the University of Washington for Medical Research. Memorial services were held on January 8^th at Trinity Lutheran Bible College in Issaquah, Washington. Rememberances may be made to the Issaquah Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, or ATWORK.

Top of Page