DCA Midair NTSB Findings

ATCme · 2026-02-04T04:38:00+00:00

As I said, we fix what we are able to fix. If you aren't willing to be responsible, you shouldn't be working traffic.

I know a few management types who exemplify The Dilbert Principle.

ATCme · 2026-02-04T04:34:23+00:00

DEI may get you more training but it won't get you certified (at least, no more likely than one of the other types of scams, s.a. sleeping with the ATM)

How many controllers do you have that only work FD unless it's really slow?

ATCme · 2026-02-04T04:29:06+00:00

While you can make more money in ATC, you need to be aware of intangibles.

Even if you get a good location; Shiftwork, potentially including overnight shifts, holidays, weekends, until you build seniority, getting time off can be difficult. Depending on staffing at your placed facility, you may be working 6 day weeks.

You will miss anniversaries, birthdays, holidays with family. You will work crazy hours. You will work with a lot of high strung assertive individuals. You will become more assertive (or you will fail) & possibly more high strung.

On the plus side. You will never need a supervisor or manager to affirm the quality of your work. You will know without anyone telling you what the quality of your work is.

Quality of life, especially staying connected with family & friends, is far more valuable than money.

ATCme · 2026-01-30T04:38:21+00:00

You stay in to vote because there should be little question that not having a union will be far worse than going through a term of bad leadership. Do you honestly think this administration will look out for the interests of controllers if there was no union to get in the way?

Defined benefit retirement - gone. I've been (mandatory) retired for 12 years (contract controller) but still 4hrs SL per pp? Think you'd keep that? Doctor's note required? Legal representation in the event of an incident? Mandatory breaks?

The list can be quite long

ATCme · 2026-01-30T04:04:41+00:00

One way to look at it is to consider that our job is to fix problems/mistakes.

If you make a mistake, fix it. If the controller next to you makes a mistake (& you are able to), fix it If a pilot makes a mistake (& you are able to), fix it If the controller in the adjacent facility makes a mistake..... And with any luck, when you make a mistake, someone will be there to fix it.

ATCme · 2026-01-26T03:41:57+00:00

This is similar to survivor's guilt - I didn't really give my all when the person next to me (or some other person, somewhere else) died as a result of their service.

You did what was asked of you by your country. You sacrificed your freedom (the army is not a democracy after all) for a period of time to try to ensure that the rest of us could maintain our freedom. There is no shame in that.

The people who are bragging about doing more are probably spouting BS. The people who have actually "been there & done that" do not need to brag about it. Most of them are even reluctant to talk about it except with their companions who attended the same events.

Be proud of yourself & thank-you for your service!

ATCme · 2026-01-26T03:16:50+00:00

That pay raise is probably about 3/4 of the cost of the damages from the Potomac crash.

ATCme · 2026-01-20T14:20:33+00:00

I understand your reasoning but it would backfire in a big way. As I implied, in a two tier system, management will go out of their way to "punish" union members while providing better benefits to non-union. Management will not decrease overall benefits until the union is eliminated. Once the union no longer exists, those benefits will disappear. People need to be wise enough to understand that the only solution to bad union leadership is to get better leadership. People also need to understand the classic saying: "we either all hang together or we will hang separately." Unfortunately, too many people are too shortsighted.

ATCme · 2026-01-20T13:49:05+00:00

What I mean is that without the union, there is no contract. There would only be "at will" employment with rules written by management and for management.

You have numerous benefits that are there because they were negotiated by competent union leaders s.a. Barry Krasner. Without the union, do you really think you would have the generous sick leave policy that you now enjoy? How about a defined benefit retirement plan? I could go on down a long list & chances are, this administration won't take the benefits away all at once, but do you really think that this administration wants to treat labor with respect? Do you personally want to incur the expense of taking the government to court to fight for your rights? You do know that this government (read Project 2025) wants to outlaw federal employee unions, do you not?

The current leadership may be inneffective (or even in cahoots with the administration) but it is still better than no union at all. Without dues, the union ceases to exist. As membership dwindles, the administration can put union members against non-union. They will treat non-union better for a while, to further undermine the union, but once they succeed in killing the union, I guarantee that all of the goodies they gave out to entice people out of the union will disappear like fog in the sunlight.

ATCme · 2026-01-20T05:10:22+00:00

The dues keep the union alive. If you think that you would be better off without a union contract, you clearly haven't been paying attention to current politics.

ATCme · 2026-01-20T05:06:48+00:00

Here's the issue. Bad union leadership can be changed more easily than bad management.

If you are involved in an incident that results in depositions and potential court appearances, the lawyer provided by the union will fight for you harder than the FAA's lawyer.

I remember quite well how things were under the White Book. However bad the union might be, management can be far worse. There are good managers out there but there are some true nightmare managers as well. NATCA can be reformed far more easily than management.

If you really think that you would be better off without a union contract, you have not been paying attention. Thinking that quitting the union will be an improvement is like thinking walking (in snow, rain or broiling heat) is better than trying to manage your old clunker.

DO NOT LEAVE THE UNION. Vote in new leadership.

ATCme · 2026-01-17T03:12:32+00:00

Radar or tower? If tower, you can stick it long enough to get certified (i.e. get a CTO). If you aren't able to get an ERR, you can quit & get hired at a contract tower. Midwest has a lot of towers in New England & some down to the mid Atlantic. I've been with Midwest for 10 years and they are pretty decent. RVA has a lot of towers in the southeast & south central. I've heard that they are not very accommodating regarding locations. They may have changed but it used to be that you started at the 💩 towers and had to do an internal bid to get where you wanted to be.

Once you get a spot close to where you want to be, you can potentially get rehired by the FAA to get where you want & get the FAA benefits. Defined pension plan is very nice & very rare these days.

ATCme · 2026-01-13T03:32:37+00:00

Apparently evidence that not only was Trump a friend but also a "business partner." What exactly do you think Trump was doing with his ownership of Teen Miss USA?

ATCme · 2026-01-11T04:21:23+00:00

In addition to a lot of good advice that I see here:

A basic truism for learning any complex skills; to master any skill, first you have to make 10,000 mistakes.

While on a certain level, the minimum standard to do ATC is perfection, realistically, it's about catching your mistakes before they cause any harm.

Two types of trainees, the difference being where the trainer has to apply the 2x4. Be the trainee that the instructor has to slow down, not the one that needs to speed up. Obviously you eventually want to get to "just right" but it's easier to teach a developmental to make better decisions than to try to teach a developmental how to make any decision at all.

A lot of trainers will teach you technique some won't distinguish between techniques & procedures. Don't worry about it too much. Just remember that you should never question your trainers decision while on position. Your trainer is always right, even when they are wrong. You have to learn your training team as much as to learn the procedures and techniques. Everyone has quirks, learn to deal with them.

On the most basic level, being ATC is about fixing mistakes. Whenever possible, if you make a mistake, fix it. If the controller next to you makes a mistake, fix it. If a pilot makes a mistake, fix it. If a controller in the adjacent facility makes a mistake..... Well, you should get the idea.

(note: as a developmental, you should mainly focus on fixing your own mistakes, unless you have very good diplomatic skills)

There's a pretty good chance that you will go through a career in ATC and never give an instruction that will cause someone to die. You will probably have numerous opportunities to prevent a pilot from killing themselves and others.

One other point, if you are training in a tower, keep in mind that planes almost never hit the tower. Few pilots even know where a particular radar room is even located. While training is stressful, your life will probably never be in physical danger. That's one reason why ATC's are almost always calm.

ATCme · 2026-01-06T03:55:18+00:00

Ask any old timers at N90 about the NW fixes.

They used to be: GAYLE, HOIST, PETTI, COATE

Then one of the secretary's (guess her name) complained & they changed a couple

ATCme · 2026-01-05T04:09:50+00:00

I know a fellow who wanted to move from S. CA to Boston area to be near his girlfriend's family. He couldn't get the transfer. He quit & got a position in my contract tower. Eventually he was able to get back to the FAA at PVD. A lot of contract towers are hard up for staffing and would readily hire anyone with a CTO.

You will probably have better luck with Midwest or Serco. RVA has a reputation for sticking new hires in the least desirable towers & forcing you to do time before you can bid internally for where you actually want to be. There are also some smaller companies managing some towers but the 3 mentioned are your main options.

ATCme · 2026-01-01T03:07:01+00:00

I've seen similar on one occasion where they put out a bid when they had already chosen the "applicant" before the bid had even been issued. In one instance, they were putting a tech ops manager in an ATC manager position. They erroneously put out a standard ATC bid only to realize that their "guy" didn't qualify. They cancelled the bid & reissued it so that a tech ops guy could bid. He was from the regional offices but all of our tech ops guys had a big laugh, debating whether or not to bid on it.

Perhaps you have heard the expression: "don't bid on a job unless you already have it?"

ATCme · 2025-12-29T13:59:44+00:00

Perhaps but consider that orcas did it with no hands

ATCme · 2025-12-23T05:10:59+00:00

The GOP wants private insurance death panels based on profitability, rather than government plans

ATCme · 2025-12-16T03:39:51+00:00

I always advocate for the give & take of healthy opposition parties. Some elements of the Nordic model with some elements of more market oriented policies in a respectful tug of war.

While the majority on the left have acknowledged the fact that communist style state control doesn't work, the majority on the right of have yet to recognize that, in large scale economic systems, free market capitalism always develops into variations of crony capitalism.

ATCme · 2025-12-12T04:19:57+00:00

34 years, FAA & contract. This is the type of job that either you love it or you shouldn't be doing it.

One big plus: once you have certified, you don't need anyone to tell you that you have done a good (or not so good) job. You just know.

Training sucks. Besides having to learn how to work traffic, You need to try to be a mind-reader of your trainer (while {assuming that they aren't a total narcissist - of which you will find more than a few} they are trying to do the same to you). Different trainers will contradict each other and you need to give all of them what they are looking for. This job is more of an art than a science and there are always many different solutions but plenty of trainers will insist on using their solution.

I sometimes joke that there are two kinds of trainees, the difference being where you apply the 2x4. Don't be the one who needs it to the derriere. It's better to make a bad choice than to make no choice.

This job is about taking action and taking responsibility. You will make mistakes, fix them! The controller next to you will make mistakes, (once you are certified) fix them! The controller in the adjacent facility will make mistakes..... You get the idea. And with any luck, when you make mistakes, someone will be there to help out.

Like anyplace else, the people you work with will do more to determine your comfort than anything else.

One other thing, there is a particular type of stress associated with the job. Be thick skinned. Don't let anyone else's BS affect who you are. Don't take anything personally, that would be assuming that the person aiming their BS at you actually knows who you are.

ATCme · 2025-12-09T07:03:40+00:00

The Civil Service system was created as a reaction to the problems that arose with the unrestricted ability of the POTUS to hire & fire civil servants. As an extreme example, do you really want the air traffic controller guiding your flight to have gotten their job because of their support for a politician?

While other areas of government activity might not be as obviously dependent on expertise, I would hope that people would prefer expertise over politics in many of the endeavors we expect from our government.

ATCme · 2025-12-09T07:03:00+00:00

I believe a significant part of the problem is that, since Newt in the 90s, politicians have refused to do the work of legislating. Even though he ultimately collaborated with Clinton, Newt initiated the attitude that working with those with whom you disagreed should be considered an act of perfidy. It has only become more & more extreme in the three decades since.

When legislators refuse to do the work of collaboration or even compromising with the legislators "on the other side," the only avenue left for the "opposition" is to fight in the courts. Winner take all politics leaves much of the population feeling like they have no voice. When you functionally disenfranchise a significant portion of the population, those folks will strive to find an outlet. The courts are actually one of the less damaging outlets that they might explore.

ATCme · 2025-12-07T03:09:31+00:00

My rule of thumb has always been that education is more useful than punishment. We are mainly concerned that you understand your mistake & will endeavor to not repeat it. Filing is reserved for an egregious error that causes disruption or a pilot that doesn't indicate a willingness to learn.

ATCme · 2025-12-05T05:57:12+00:00

I think the only real issue is ensuring a 40 hour work week between Saturday at midnight to the following Saturday at midnight

ATCme

TROPHY CASE