Communications Outage Highlights Serious Flaws at the FAA

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS), AFL-CIO, the union that represents Federal Aviation Administration systems specialists, are highlighting serious issues uncovered at Leesburg Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) following Monday’s communications outage that lasted an hour and resulted in 60 delays impacting air traffic from New York to Jacksonville.

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Communications Failure at Augusta Airport Highlights Deficiencies of FAA Contractor

AUGUSTA, GA – The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO (PASS), the union that represents more than 11,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, is calling into question the reliability of the FAA’s Federal Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) circuitry and communications system following a serious outage last week. Since its inception, the FTI program, which is provided by Harris Corporation, has been plagued with numerous problems, including insufficient training of contractors, poor planning and management, and substandard service.

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Where FAA Sees Roses in New Telecommunications System, Controllers and Technicians Feel the Pain of Thorns

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Despite a rosy picture painted Tuesday by the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) network is unreliable, lacking suitable backups, and continues to be a source of great frustration and deep concern for the FAA technicians and air traffic controllers who must deal with the fallout of the FAA’s decision to cut corners and costs on this project and run it on the razor’s edge despite a lengthy list of failures and outages.

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33 Senators Call for FAA Action Regarding Inadequate Staffing of Technicians

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Friday, 33 members of the U.S. Senate sent a letter to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell questioning the inadequate staffing levels of the FAA technical workforce. The letter validates numerous and repeated concerns about technical staffing raised by the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS), AFL-CIO, the union that represents 11,000 employees at the FAA including technicians who install, maintain and certify systems and equipment in the National Airspace System (NAS).

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