Union Calls Air Traffic Center Problem-Plagued

A narrowly averted collision of two airliners earlier this week is only a drop in the bucket of troubles plaguing air traffic controllers in Palmdale, which union representatives say is the most understaffed air traffic control center in the nation.

Federal aviation officials Thursday confirmed the near collision, but said the cause of the incident and the staffing issue are still under investigation.

The Palmdale facility, which handles much of the air traffic for the western U.S., is also beset with equipment failures stemming from thunderstorms and human error that have knocked out radar and cut communications, said Hamid Ghaffari, the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. representative for the Palmdale facility.

On Thursday, the union representative called for a federal investigation into all operations at the center after a communications cable was accidentally cut late Wednesday, halting conversations between controllers and pilots for 26 minutes. Because of the failure, all flights departing from the Los Angeles basin and San Fernando Valley were delayed up to an hour.

Controllers also are ill-equipped to monitor weather conditions, which makes their jobs particularly vexing during the continuing thunderstorms, Ghaffari said. A succession of troubles “is a common occurrence here. It’s not something that just came up,” he said.

In a letter Thursday to Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), Ghaffari called for an independent federal investigation into problems at Palmdale, contending that staffing at the Palmdale center is “a serious problem” that is “unacceptable and unsafe.”

On Monday, the two airliners came within eight seconds of a collision when an on-board electronic warning device and a controller in Mazatlan, Mexico, simultaneously issued a warning, according to reports.

The planes, both moving at 25,000 feet toward each other, veered away at 40-degree angles when they were 2 1/2 miles apart, said Mitch Barker, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the incident. The minimum separation permitted by the FAA is five horizontal miles and 1,000 vertical feet.

“The controller immediately was taken off of air traffic control duties and an investigation was begun which continues,” Barker said Thursday. The investigation will include an analysis of the staffing, he said.

While the FAA has authorized 309 controllers for the center, the facility has a current staffing level of 274, of which only 238 are at a full-performance level, Barker said. An additional 22 trainees are scheduled to join the center by Oct. 13, he said.

Just prior to Monday’s incident, the controller, who was working alone, had requested assistance and said he could not handle any more traffic, Barker said. Air traffic was particularly heavy because flights out of Los Angeles headed east were being routed farther south than normal to avoid thunderstorms, Barker said.

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One supervisor at the Palmdale center immediately called for a slow-down in air traffic entering the busy sector while another supervisor summoned a backup controller who was taking a break, Barker said.

The incident at 3:40 p.m. Monday involved Delta Airlines Flight 550 from Los Angeles to Atlanta, an L-1011, and Alaska Airlines flight 257 from Mazatlan to Los Angeles, an MD-80.

The planes were on a collision course at about 30 miles southeast of Julian in San Diego County. The pilot of the Alaska flight had earlier declined to comply with an order to climb 1,000 feet. The pilot’s reason for rejecting the order is not known, but may have been weather-related, Barker said.

Officials at Alaska Airlines said the airplanes, despite reports, were never in danger of colliding. Pilots of the Alaska flight had received a preliminary warning from an on-board electronic device, called a TCAS, that monitors potentially conflicting traffic, said Lou Cancelmi, spokesman for Alaska. The pilots were prepared to change course just as they received the warning from controllers, he said.

“The system worked and worked well, as it was supposed to work. Our guys really value it.”