Dallas/Fort Worth

Media Coverage | Fact Sheet

Print

• "Air traffic controllers say lean staffing affecting safety" - AP - Oct. 5, 2005

Television/Radio

• ABC - Total Estimated Audience: 415,733 - Oct. 6, 2005
• NBC - Total Estimated Audience: 678,498 - Oct. 5 and 6, 2005
• CBS - Total Estimated Audience: 424,785 - Oct. 5 and 6, 2005
• Univision - Total Estimated Audience: 68,748 - Oct. 5, 2005
• WB - Total Estimated Audience: 44,478 - Oct. 5, 2005
• Local Cable - Oct. 6, 2005
• ABC Radio - Total Estimated Audience: 176,300 - Oct. 6, 2005
• CBS Radio - Total Estimated Audience: 17,100 - Oct. 5, 2005
  • TOTAL ESTIMATED AUDIENCE COVERAGE: 1,825,642

Associated Press State & Local Wire: Air traffic controllers say lean staffing affecting safety

Thursday, October 06, 2005

DATELINE: FORT WORTH

The Associated Press reported that, "Air traffic controllers accuse the Federal Aviation Administration of risking the safety of air travelers and delaying flights by failing to hire enough workers to monitor all the planes flying into Dallas-Fort Worth International and other Texas airports...The controllers say the problem will grow worse in the next two years as many of their 14,000 colleagues around the country reach the mandatory retirement age of 56. The FAA says it has a long-term plan to replace retiring controllers...At DFW, one of the nation's busiest airports, controllers say that up to one-quarter of the time one person must monitor up to 25 planes instead of the normal 10 to 15 planes because of staffing shortages."

"Staffing shortages lead to compromise of safety; it leads to delays in the system," said Mike Conely, president of the controllers' union local at DFW. "Fewer and fewer controllers are guiding more airplanes."

"According to the union, the tower at DFW, a separate DFW facility that tracks planes within 50 miles of DFW, and a third center in Fort Worth that tracks planes between airports are all far below the levels set by a 1998 agreement between the FAA and the union."
 

WFAA-TV (Dallas): Union: D/FW Airport staff shortage risking lives

Thursday, October 06, 2005

WFAA-TV (Dallas) reports, "A group of controllers said the federal government is risking lives because of a critical shortage of air traffic controllers at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said the risk comes from the federal government not hiring enough controllers to replace retirees...Controllers face mandatory retirement at age 56, and the union said those men and women hired in the early 1980's are now coming to the end of their careers. D/FW could be one of the airports hardest hit by retirements...It takes at least eight years before an air traffic controller is experienced enough to even apply for a job at D/FW, or many of the nations other busiest airports."

"And Mike Conely, an air traffic controller, said that is just the beginning.

'It takes an experienced controller 18 to 24 months to certify in our building,' he said."

"Union President Mike Conely said because of chronic staffing shortages, controllers at D/FW routinely have double the workload their colleagues do at other big airports. Often air traffic controllers look after 25 planes at once, instead of the normal 10 to 15."

Conely said if this continues, passengers will have longer delays and safety will be compromised.