FAA Wants EAA To Pay Them To Staff Oshkosh l

[Bill Berson]

If 5000 volunteers work at Airventure for free to run the event, why can't controllers serve for a few hours out of the week like other volunteers?
Is there a shortage of people willing to do this?

I know the controllers do request to be sent for Oshkosh duty, for the fun of it, apparently.

[Jim Heffelfinger]

Great comment Bill. And it would seem as though it would work like AV volunteers. This was thought about when the controllers were being furloughed too. Why not just move people around? The system (controllers) have long and very specific training procedures long before they key a mic.

[Mike M]

Turn off your xpdr. Get in line miles from the airport. Do not talk on the radio. Follow the airplane ahead to the airport. Do not hit each other. If you mess up, depart and re enter. Why do we need ATC for that?

[Jim Heffelfinger]

I offer this.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Nng7l-R_M

this is approach.... tower is equally busy. I hope you get to listen to ATC this coming AV - it is live and then log on to the live field cameras. Way too much fun/

[Jim Heffelfinger]

This from Wiki.... may need editing...
Competitive selection process [edit]

The FAA has staffed a tower at the EAA convention since the 1960s. FAA air traffic staffers (including controllers, supervisors, and managers) compete from throughout the FAA's new 17-state Central Terminal Service Area to work this event. In 2007, 145 air traffic professionals representing 45 facilities volunteered to staff the facilities at Oshkosh (OSH), Fond du Lac (FLD), and Fisk. Sixty-four controllers and 11 supervisors were ultimately selected. Controllers normally can only volunteer for a maximum of seven years at the EAA convention, to allow others a chance to work this temporary duty assignment. However, recent staffing shortages at some facilities have caused the FAA to use a few veteran controllers beyond the seven-year limit.
Teams [edit]

The controllers are divided into teams of four persons each:

• One veteran controller serves as the team leader. Another veteran works on the team as well. Each of these controllers will have three or more years of previous EAA AirVenture experience. Fifty percent of the controller workforce falls into this category.
• At least one member of the team will have one to two years of EAA AirVenture experience. This group is identified as the limited category and makes up 25 percent of the total controller population.
• The final member of each team will be new to AirVenture duty and is identified as a rookie. Controllers in this category total the final 25 percent of the controller workforce.

These teams stay together throughout the convention as they rotate through the control towers at OSH or FLD, FISK VFR Approach Control and the two mobile departure platforms known as MOOCOWs (Mobile Operating and Communications Workstations).
It's important to note that even a "rookie" will have the years necessary to become certified as a Certified Professional Controller (CPC). All controllers, operations supervisors, and the air traffic operations managers are certified for operations at their home facilities.

[MADean]

"...but in a budget-constrained environment..."

And who's fault is that?

Seems to me that if Washington quit spending money on things it has no business spending money on there would be a lot more money available to spend on those things it should be spending money on.

But then I'm not a rocket scientist.

[FlyingRon]

During most of the day operations there are FIVE teams of three controllers each at Oshkosh: two in the tower (9-27 and 18-36), two on the moocows, and one at Fisk.

That's way more than the two guys they usually stock that tower with.

Now if they decide to actually issue the billets to those who demonstrated the ability to work in the Airventure environment (this is the way they used to do it ages ago) rather than doling it out as a bureaucratic perk, then it might be worth paying for.

[FloridaJohn]

If 5000 volunteers work at Airventure for free to run the event, why can't controllers serve for a few hours out of the week like other volunteers?
Is there a shortage of people willing to do this?

My understanding is it is not the cost of the controllers that are actually at Oshkosh, but the controllers back home that have to fill-in for the controllers that are away. Those controllers are working overtime to keep the towers properly staffed while the others are away at Oshkosh. That is where the expenses lie.

[trav8s]

This idea had to come from one person in the FAA. Just fire that idiot and there's the money to pay for the controllers. I'm sure his government salary is more than enough.

[Mike M]

Folks, i was kidding when i wrote my previous "we don need no steenking badges" comment. It was memory of past trips. After seeing what others are writing, i downloaded and read this year's notam. Basically, my jocular comment was right! No adsb, no tcas, xpdrs off. Etc. So. If we have atis, use our heads, look out the window........oh, no, personal responsibility and be adult? Never work. Hold my hand, big brother.

Turn off your xpdr. Get in line miles from the airport. Do not talk on the radio. Follow the airplane ahead to the airport. Do not hit each other. If you mess up, depart and re enter. Why do we need ATC for that?