Profits erode safety in crowded airways

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average of 80 planes take off or land every hour. When landing planes are hurtling toward a runway at 200 miles an hour, pilots cannot see a plane below or behind them. They must depend on a controller on the ground to be their eyes and ears.

A controller is like a traffic cop trying to direct traffic at a busy intersection where the cars criss-cross from all directions at tremendous speeds. Even a moment's distraction by a controller puts the planes under his or her guidance at serious risk.

Over 200 near mid-air collisions were reported in the first six months of this year. Many more go unreported. A near collision is an incident where two planes traveling at least 200 miles an hour come within 500 feet of each other. A controller has to have iron nerves, split-second reflexes, and years of experience to avert near disasters like these.

Reagan fires controllers

In August 1981, President Reagan abruptly stripped the air-control system of 80 percent of its experienced controllers. Over 11,400 were fired because they had gone on strike. They had not struck for higher pay, but to alleviate intolerable working conditions and stress that were wrecking their health and endangering the life of every air traveler.

Now 14,000 controllers, many of them trainees or inexperienced operators, are attempting to cope with an air-traffic flow at least 10 percent greater than five years ago when 16,000 experienced controllers had problems. The result is the same stress and tension that drove the former controllers to strike.

At busy airports a six-day workweek is common. One controller is often told to perform the duties of two. Trainees often complain that they are given heavy Spates ON wi..

STRIKE Socia. st Aclion/Joe Hyan Reagan fired 11,000 controllers because they struck over working conditions and unsafe skies.

12 SOCIALIST ACTION responsibilities before they are fully prepared. Most confess that they have made at least one "operational error" where they have put two aircraft perilously close together.

The controllers all agree that their boss, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), has no sympathy for their problems and is concerned only with squeezing maximum production out of them. The FAA has been designated by one congressman as "the most encrusted bureaucracy of any I have found."

The FAA was set up in 1958 after two planes collided over the Grand Canyon. Its task is to raise safety standards in the industry. But the agency has repeatedly failed to enforce safety rules that put a burden on the profits of the airline companies.

Rodney Stich, an FAA jet air-carrier inspector, found that his reports of safety violations by United Airlines were ignored by FAA headquarters. At a meeting to discuss these violations, Stich was told, "If we push this, United will buck us and not do anything." Stich was also warned, "United had your predecessor removed and they can do the same to you."

As related in his book, "The Unfriendly Skies," Stich faced a barrage of lies and evasions when he carried his fight to compel the FAA to enforce safety standards all the way up to Congress. Ultimately, he was forced out of the FAA.

New union drive Control-tower personnel have responded to the FAA by organizing a new union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). Over 4000 authorization cards have been signed, enough for a representation election. This will put the FAA almost back to square one-1981—when it confronted the old PATCO union.

The FAA says its difficulties are due to a shortage of help. FAA officials complain that too many controllers are retiring or quitting, and bright young people are not attracted to the profession. Their proposal for recruitment is to lower the standards for applicants.

Meanwhile over 11,000 fully qualified, experienced controllers are standing by. A vindictive administration and FAA say these controllers will never work at their profession again. They would rather NOVEMBER 1986 FAA COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT endanger the flying public than put these experienced workers back in the control towers where they are so sorely needed.

Aircraft-collision device

When the Aeromexico jet collided with a small plane over Los Angeles, the con - turned off at busy airports—just when it is needed most. The FAA is planning prototype tests, but these are a year behind schedule now, and critics say there is no assurance against further delays.

Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kan.), who headed up a subcommittee on air safety, says he was assured five years ago by the FAA that a collision avoidance system was all ready to go. "Nothing has happened," he says. "Frankly, it hasn't happened because the FAA has not pushed it and because some folks in the aviation industry don't want to deal with the cost of it."

Executive jets

The blind arrogance of some of the richest men in America is another obstacle to air safety. The owners of private aircraft fiy in and out of our major airports virtually uncontrolled. When the Aero -mexico plane went down, two private planes were trespassing on its airspace.

After the San Diego crash in 1978, also involving a private plane, proposals were

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troller was distracted for two minutes by a third plane asking instructions. In' those to deal with the cost of