FAA Wants EAA To Pay Them To Staff Oshkosh l

[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.

[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?

[Chuck Arnold]

Frankly, the idea that controllers should be expected to work Oshkosh for free is laughable. That is their work and their livelihood. I'm willing to bet that the volunteers who show up to help park airplanes and drive the shuttles don't spend their working days parking airplanes and driving shuttles. Providing ATC services to those of us who are well enough off to fly airplanes costs money. If it doesn't come from taxes, it has to come from somewhere. Everyone seems to think smaller government is a terrific idea, at least until the stuff THEY like gets cut.

[Bill Berson]

Most of the volunteers at Oshkosh are retired, and all choose to be there, of course.
I don't see any problem having some retired controllers volunteer for a few hours each (for one day or more), or as they choose.
In any case, nobody is expected or forced to volunteer.

[Bill Berson]

Rereading the news clip, I think I misunderstood.
Apparently 64 controllers "volunteer" to work the Oshkosh show. But they always get paid for time and expenses. ( so not really a volunteer, in the usual sense)

Apparently this year, the demand from the FAA is for travel and other expenses, they will still be paid for time.

The whole situation seems trivial and perhaps political. But if a change in compensation is needed, I think the controllers that really like to " volunteer" for Oshkosh, should be able to afford to pay their own travel expenses like everyone else.

[Floatsflyer]

I think the controllers that really like to " volunteer" for Oshkosh, should be able to afford to pay their own travel expenses like everyone else.

The controllers should have all their expenses paid. They're compulsary, they need to be there...you don't.

[JimRice85]

The controllers should have all their expenses paid. They're compulsary, they need to be there...you don't.

+1

[Mike M]

The controllers should have all their expenses paid. They're compulsary, they need to be there...you don't.

Compulsory? Only because FAA says FAA is compulsory. And without paid ticketholders, there would be no show. Both ATC collision-avoidance advisors and spectators have reason to be there, but without the many the few would be superfluous. So yes, we need to be there - or they don't.

Keep perspective - cooperate, have fun.