GAO has said that air traffic controller fatigue that can result from regularly working overtime continues to be a human factors issue affecting runway safety.
In a report on the FAA’s efforts to improve runway and ramp safety GAO said at least 20 percent of the controllers at 25 air traffic control facilities, including towers at several of the country’s busiest airports, regularly work six day weeks.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Union said the report links safety issues and controller fatigue with staffing shortages and longer work hours.
In October it said faster than expected retirements of air traffic controllers are the result of a labor rules imposed by the FAA last September after contract talks broke down earlier in the year that was followed by a pay cut for new hires and staffing cuts at 314 facilities.
Earlier in the year the agency announced plans to hire 1,400 new controllers this year, and it reportedly managed to hire 1,815, for a total workforce of 14,874.
However, the union said the number of retirements was 30 percent higher in fiscal 2007 than the FAA projected at the beginning of the year, leading to a 15-year low in the number of fully certified controllers who are charged with brining along 3,618 trainees currently in the system.
According to GAO, FAA officials said that it may take two to three years before controller overtime can be reduced at some facilities, as the agency acts to replace retiring controllers.
In the meantime, the agency officials indicated that they had no plan to mitigate the effects of air traffic controller fatigue, according to GAO-08-29.
It calls on the FAA to develop an implementation schedule for establishing a non-punitive voluntary safety reporting program for air traffic controllers, as well as develop a mitigation plan for addressing controller overtime that considers options such as shift changes and incentives to attract controllers to facilities with high volumes of air traffic and high rates of controller overtime.