Aviation Safety: Opportunities Exist for FAA to Refine the Controller Staffing Process

Details

• Corporate Creators:
  United States. Government Accountability Office
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Air Traffic Controllers Air Traffic Controller Staffing Process Air Traffic Growth Attrition Models Forecasting Long Range Planning Manning Requirements Specialized Training Staffing Needs Staffing Standards Strategic Planning

  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  GAO/RCED-97-84
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.21949/1403251
• Resource Type:
  Research Paper
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Government Accountability Office
• Abstract:
  The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is responsible for managing the nation's air transportation system so more than 18,000 aircraft can annually carry 500 million passengers safely and on schedule. Because of significant hiring in the early 1980s to replace strikers who had been fired, many of FAA's more than 17,000 air traffic controllers may become eligible to retire within the next decade, raising concerns that FAA could be left with too few fully trained controllers. Congress asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to (1) identify the key variables FAA uses to project future controller staffing needs and evaluate their reasonableness; (2) determine whether the agency has identified a sufficient number of controller candidates to satisfy its short- and long-term staffing needs and evaluate FAA's plans to train new controllers; and (3) identify impediments that hinder FAA from staffing air traffic control (ATC) facilities at specified levels. This report discusses the GAO findings and recommendations.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:723c625d8da9a9f11f18759ed78b68eea1478518373935cee9b0cef80b6107e66c4ade8b3b941f06263812a9221a0edff43e53e871c15f2fbc2627f389d2c211
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12789/dot_12789_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 406.76 KB ]