Aviation Today :: Stretched to the Limit'

Testimony of Ruth Marlin, NATCA executive vice president, to House Aviation Subcommittee, June 15 (extracts):

"In the FAA's projection, 450 controllers will retire this year, 437 in 2005, 537 in 2006, and 757 in 2007 - a total of 2,181 in the next three years. Even under the most conservative estimates, it takes 3.1 years to train a controller to the full performance level ... At a one-for-one rate of replacement, the FAA will hire only 887 controllers in 2004 and 2005, assuming all of them qualify in minimum time, we will still be nearly 1,300 controllers short even as more and more begin to leave the system.

"The statistics, as revealing as they are, do not tell the full story:

Los Angeles Center (ZLA) is authorized 309 controllers but has only 276 on board ... It expects the number to drop to 206 by 2005.

Las Vegas TRACON, the 18^th busiest in the country with over 600,000 operations a year, is authorized 56 controllers but has only 34 fully qualified controllers - three controllers have already retired and a fourth is pending.

Newark Tower requires 40 controllers ... yet it has only 29 fully certified controllers. Of these, six are eligible to retire in the next five years.

"The current controller workforce is stretched to the limit and we cannot call up the reserves. There are no reserves."

ACCIDENTS & INCIDENTS
DATE/SITE	AIRCRAFT & REGN	CIRCUMSTANCES	DEATH & INJURY	PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS2 Imagery at http://www.iasa.com.au/190704.htm
Date TBA Mar 04 Fuerteventura A/P	757 of Britannia	Weather+ATC+low fuel caused crew to declare Mayday for landing priority.	Nil	Lanzarote Spain to Fuerteventura A/P Canary Islands. 3 approaches to get in
29 June Kuwait Intl A/P	C130 of Ohio National Guard	Due to main gear failure, crew cargo-chained the gear down for landing.	Nil / 59 pax / 6 crew	179th AirWg deptd Balad AirBase Iraq. MLG accessible from rear cabin.
02 July Kaoshiung A/P Tw	MD-90 of Eva Air	Skidded off runway 27 on landing coming to rest in soft ground.	Nil / 66 pax / 7 crew	Operated by Uni Air of Taiwan.
06 July Amsterdam Intl. Netherlands	L1011-500 of Dutch Caribbean Excel	CS-TMR blew at least seven MLG tires when it aborted its heavy-weight takeoff at high speed.	Nil	Minor damage.
06 July 1010CDT Milwaukee, Wisc.	Beech 1900D of Skyway Airlines	Flt 1851 was damaged during landing roll-out when the left main gear rotated.	Nil / 19 o/b	Deplaned on runway and a/c towed to hangar.
09 July 0930L Put-In-Bay, Ohio	BN Islander 766 PIB Mailplane	Pilot took a gull full in the face at 155mph at 800ft after takeoff.	1 inj	20 stitches after landing nearby Middle Bass A/P.
09 July Pescara, Italy	757-200 of Air Scandic	Shutdown #1 eng for fire indication & diverted (enrt Greece-Manchester UK).	Nil	MyTravel sub charter (a short in the fire detection loop).
09 July 1245L Norfolk Intl A/P, Va.	Dash-8 of Allegheny	Right eng failed enroute in cruise. Crew circled to reduce weight for landing..	Nil / 42 o/b	No further details. Pax flew out later that afternoon (another Allegheny a/c).
09 July Saltsy, Russia	TU22-M3 Backfire of Russian Air Force	Backfire crash follow-up reveals a nasty design feature (flat battery leads directly to an escape failure outcome).	4 fatal / 4 o/b	Generator failure led to a total electrics & then an escape system elec failure (Go while you've still got the volts).
10 July night Tobago A/P	767-300 of Excel Airways	TF-ATU took a birdstrike in the RH engine on approach Trinidad A/P.	Nil	Required spinner nosecone, 7 front fan-blades, parts for cowling.
10 July 0830L Jammu, India	737-200 of Alliance Air	Leh to Jammu flight lost an engine to a compressor stall on approach Jammu	Nil / 79 pax	Same snag, same plane 2 July & 4July. Pilots reportedly refusing to fly to Leh.
10 July Heathrow UK	737-800 of Malev Airline	7.5 ton truck wedged itself under wing-tip of a/c parked at terminal.	Nil	Significant damage. Tried to squeeze thru between A320 and 737 wingtips.
12 July 1600Z Atlanta, Georgia	A320 of Ryan International	Returned due to left eng cowling falling off after t/off. Nil inj on ground.	Nil	Cowling recovered by Union City Police. Occurred on other A320s.
12 July 1215L Kuching, Malaysia	Bell 206LR of HornBill Skyways	All six found alive after helo carrying Malaysian Govt Minister went missing	Nil / 6 o/b	On 13th in North Sarawak (flt from Bario in Miri to Ba' Kelalan in Limbang).
12 July Oak Ridge, Tenn.	Air Force One 747 VIP Jet	One port wing-flap found off-track after landing (replacement 757 called).	Nil	One-sided & off-track on the hustings at McGhee Air National Guard Base.
12 July Belfast, N. Ireland	737 of EasyJet	Emergency declared for hyd failure (leak) & gear extension problem.	Nil / 100 pax	Pax deplaned normally.
12 July 1230L Montgomery, Ala.	KingAir N305TT Montgomery Avn	Aircraft slid a short distance on its nose after hard landing collapsed NLG	Nil / 3 o/b	Airport closed and a number of flts affected before a/c was cleared away.
12 July 1117Z Virgin Islands	Convair 440 of Dodita Air Cargo	N4826C declared emerg with eng fire and ditched 30SE of Beef Island A/P	Nil	San Juan (TJSJ) to San Marteen (TNCM). 18degs N & water is warm.
12 Jul 0820L Shanghai China	MD-82 of China Eastern	Flt MU5302 hit clear air turbulence at FL250 on descent into Shanghai.	8 inj	4 remain hospitalized (ex Changsha, Hunan Province). Inj'd were unbelted.
13 July 0545L Jalapa, S.C.	Bell 407 of Meducare	Medevac helo crashed in wooded area after auto-accident pickup on I-26.	4 fatal / 4 o/b	Down about 20 seconds after airborne. Fog in area (possible bird ingestion?).
13 July 0700L West Palm Beach, Fla.	MD-80 of Delta	Flt 1856 returned after 18 minutes with an aft lavatory smoke warning	Nil / 132 o/b	No further details.
13 July 0344L Sheremetyevo, Ru	737-700 of Air Astana (Kazakh)	26yo technician was ingested and killed by an operating engine at Moscow A/P	1 fatal	Similar accident in 2002 at Japan's Kansai A/P (taxiing Air China 767).
13 July 1954L South Bend, Ind.	737-700 of SWA Flt: 993	Diverted in due to smoke in the cabin & pax were transferred to another jet.	Nil / 110 pax	Raleigh Durham for Chicago's Midway A/P.
14 July 1343Z Beckley, W. Va.	Beech 1900 of US Airways	4919 returned, landed Raleigh County Memorial r/way 19 (rt engine failure).	Nil	No further details (USAirways Xpress bound Bluefield Princeton WV)
14 July Amberley Airbase	KC135 tanker of Singapore AF	Diverted into Queensland Australia airbase after declaring Distress Phase.	Nil	Believed to have been due smoke. Amberley is main F-111/RF-111 base.
14 July 1730L Albany Intl., N.Y.	ERJ145 of United Airlines	To Dulles from Albany. On F/A call of "smoke in the cabin" it about turned.	Nil / 39 o/b	Returned to Albany. No further details.
1 Air carrier accidents or other incidents involving serious failures or fatal injuries. 2 DISCLAIMER: These assessments are not intended to assert probable cause or liability, but rather are intended to provide insight pending publication of a final report of investigation. Preliminary analysis by John Sampson - International Aviation Safety Association (IASA).

Stretched to the Limit'

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