FAA Seeks 1,000 Additional Air Traffic Controllers
Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole announced Thursday that her agency wants to increase the number of air traffic controllers by about 1,000 in the next two years and to add 500 jobs for aviation inspectors within three years.
Dole said the federal work force of controllers and inspectors would be expanded to meet demands from sharply increased air traffic--not in response to the recent series of aviation accidents.
“We have the finest air traffic control system in the world,” Dole said, adding: “I think we’re doing everything we can to make a safe system even safer.”
The secretary insisted that “flying continues to be one of the safest forms of transportation” and noted that about 14,000 scheduled airline flights carry an average of 1 million people a day in the United States.
But concerns have been raised after the deaths of more than 1,500 persons worldwide this year in airline accidents, including 329 in the crash of an Air-India plane over the Atlantic last June, 136 when a Delta Airlines jet went down in Dallas on Aug. 2 and 520 when a Japan Air Lines jetliner crashed near Tokyo on Aug. 12.
In the past, the Reagan Administration had been sharply criticized by members of Congress and others who complained about an overtaxed U.S. air traffic control system and increasing problems such as the number of near misses in the air. A recent House committee report reiterated earlier charges that controllers are overworked and that morale is low.
However, FAA Administrator Donald D. Engen disagreed with those charges at a news conference Thursday, saying: “It’s a very positive, upbeat feeling throughout the system.”
14,000 Now Employed
A total of 14,000 air traffic controllers currently work for the Federal Aviation Administration at regional air traffic centers and airports nationwide. Before a walkout by air traffic controllers in 1981--nearly all of whom were fired by President Reagan--there were about 16,400 controllers.
Dole presented a status report on air safety to the President and Cabinet members Thursday afternoon and then outlined her plans at a news conference. The Transportation Department, she said, hopes to add about 40 controllers a month to the existing work force for fiscal 1986, which begins Oct. 1, and fiscal 1987. These jobs would be created in addition to vacancies caused by normal retirement.
The department’s essential task now “is to ensure that the controller work force is maintained at a level that will be fully responsive to present challenges,” Dole said.
300 Slots Unfilled
The current budget includes funds for about 300 controller slots that are unfilled. In addition, the agency has already asked Congress for money for another 100 positions in fiscal 1986. The remaining controller jobs will be included in the agency budget request for fiscal 1987.
In considering applicants for the new controller positions, Dole said that none of the fired controllers will be rehired. She said talks with current controllers have convinced her that returning fired controllers to the system would create serious morale problems.
“It’s like mixing oil and water,” she said.
Meanwhile, the current work force of inspectors includes 674 persons assigned to inspect major air carriers and 936 detailed to general aviation. The department has asked Congress for $7.5 million for the first 150 additional inspector slots.
