WashingtonWire - 2002-06-24

Int'l Carriers Get DOT Mandate

The Federal Aviation Administration said it will give foreign airlines 60 days to install temporary locks on cockpit doors on aircraft serving U.S. markets. FAA's mandate requires that foreign carriers install reinforced cockpit doors by April 9, 2003. On Jan. 15, FAA published new standards for flight deck doors to protect airline and cargo crews from intrusion and small arms fire or fragmentation devices. More than 6,000 U.S. airplanes will have new doors installed by April 9, 2003. The major U.S. airlines voluntarily installed near-term modifications to reinforce doors soon after Sept. 11, 2001. The International Civil Aviation Organization recently said that its 187 members would install doors that meet security standards similar to those adopted by FAA, but not until November 2003, seven months after the FAA deadline. There is no ICAO requirement for near-term fixes to flight deck doors. FAA estimated that 1,921 foreign airplanes will need to be retrofitted.



Uncle Sam Needs A Few Good Controllers

Thousands of Federal Aviation Administration controllers soon will be eligible to retire, potentially leaving the agency with too few fully trained controllers, the General Accounting Office said in a new report to Congress. Although the exact number of controllers and the timing of their departures are impossible to determine, scenarios developed by both FAA and GAO indicate that some 5,000 controllers may leave in the next five years. This figure equals one-third of the nation's total controller workforce. GAO also found that the potential is high for retirement among frontline supervisors and controllers at some of FAA's busiest facilities. GAO said the agency's strategy for replacing controllers is generally to hire replacements only when experienced controllers leave. GAO recommended that the Secretary of Transportation direct the FAA administrator to develop a comprehensive workforce plan to deal with the emerging situation. "This report says it all," said the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. "We're going to lose one in every three controllers in the next five years, and the Federal Aviation Administration's plans are inadequate to make up the shortfall."



Amtrak Mortality Probed

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will seek a Senate hearing to explore ways Amtrak can avoid shutting down. McCain and new Amtrak president and CEO David Gunn recently exchanged frank letters on Amtrak's financial condition. Early in June, Gunn wrote to McCain, saying that the national rail line will be forced to cease operations in July unless it can raise $200 million more in operating funds. Unlike predecessor George Warrington, Gunn said any shutdown of Amtrak would involve the whole company, not just the long-distance trains. Gunn, on the job since May, already has announced a major reorganization of Amtrak's management, returning the company to a Washington, D.C.-based centralized management structure and reducing the number of vice presidents to 20 from 84. Amtrak is requesting $1.2 billion from Congress for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.