Article on FAA
May 21, 2002 | 9:32 pm
#1
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Join Date: Jan 2000
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Article on FAA
Hi All,
Since I rarely post, this may be repetitious, so bear with me!
There is a fascinating, and very disturbing, article in the June '02 issue of "Playboy" regarding the FAA and its massive screwups. We will never stop flying, but reading this makes one more paranoid. Just some food for thought.
Cheers!
------------------
Since I rarely post, this may be repetitious, so bear with me!
There is a fascinating, and very disturbing, article in the June '02 issue of "Playboy" regarding the FAA and its massive screwups. We will never stop flying, but reading this makes one more paranoid. Just some food for thought.
Cheers!
------------------
May 21, 2002 | 11:06 pm
#2
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WOW, DrAndy, you must be up for some sort of record--only 5 posts in 2.5 years. 
Hope to run into you in real life someday. Come to a party..........they are lots and lots of fun.
Cheers, Punki
Hope to run into you in real life someday. Come to a party..........they are lots and lots of fun.
Cheers, Punki
May 22, 2002 | 5:03 am
#3
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Thanks, DrAndy, for the heads up. Somehow I don't get around to reading Playboy that much ...
There is a five paragraph excerpt from the article on Playboy's web site, but you need to buy the June issue to read the full article:
Warning: this link is R-rated! Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian ... this means you, Chex! 
http://www.playboy.com/magazine/curr...e_airsick.html
Looks like a very unfavorable portrayal of the FAA. The cartoon accompanying the article includes a bunch of turkeys in suits seated high upon a panel - apparently FAA honchos.
Some more information on the author of the article, Brian Karem:
http://www.authorsontheweb.com/featu...me-authors.asp
There is a five paragraph excerpt from the article on Playboy's web site, but you need to buy the June issue to read the full article:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> ... A suitable analogy for the FAA would be a cop who never makes an arrest, a district attorney who never prosecutes a case, a judge who never passes sentence. Ask the man on the street whose responsibility it is to keep air travel safe, and he'll tell you it's the FAA's. But the agency is really just a straw man, a puppet doing the bidding of Congress and the aviation industry. Although the FAA is supposed to protect the flying public, managers and administrators are told their primary focus is to keep planes in the air. "It's a sick organization and you survive in that environment by not making waves," says Billie Vincent, former FAA chief of security. "The mediocre survive. They go along to get along. Leadership is weak. You rise in that organization through the art of compromise, and compromise is not a salient feature for a safe system. We need to start dealing honestly with our aviation problems and make sure the influence peddlers in the airline industry have no say."</font>
http://www.playboy.com/magazine/curr...e_airsick.html
Looks like a very unfavorable portrayal of the FAA. The cartoon accompanying the article includes a bunch of turkeys in suits seated high upon a panel - apparently FAA honchos.
Some more information on the author of the article, Brian Karem:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Former President George Bush called him "rude." Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich refused to be interviewed by him, saying, "I'd rather talk to anyone else." And syndicated columnist Carl Rowan once said of Brian Karem that he wished "...we had a hundred reporters with the guts and irreverence that (Karem) displayed."
Brian Karem, 40, is an award-winning investigative reporter, writer, producer, published author and former correspondent for Fox Television's America's Most Wanted. Karem has won major awards for two documentaries, "Texans at War" and "Good to Go" which chronicled the Persian Gulf War through the eyes of the members of a Combat Support Hospital. He was also one of the first reporters in the world to enter Kuwait City during the Gulf War, arriving just after that city's liberation from Iraq.</font>
Brian Karem, 40, is an award-winning investigative reporter, writer, producer, published author and former correspondent for Fox Television's America's Most Wanted. Karem has won major awards for two documentaries, "Texans at War" and "Good to Go" which chronicled the Persian Gulf War through the eyes of the members of a Combat Support Hospital. He was also one of the first reporters in the world to enter Kuwait City during the Gulf War, arriving just after that city's liberation from Iraq.</font>
May 22, 2002 | 7:46 am
#4
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I cringed there for a second. One of the female controllers is on the web - no I won't tell you where. And to say it's been causing all sorts of problems is an understatement ...
So now I have to go buy my husband Playboy.
From what I've read so far, this doesn't make the agency and its management look nearly as bad as it actually is. Controllers and first-level sups make more and can retire earlier than anyone else in the FAA ... now tell me what kind of managers you think they might attract (and they only hire from within) when they're told their pay's going to be cut and they're going to have to work until they're 62 (in some cases that could be 17 years longer than they would have had to work before retiring otherwise)? Yes, it's a very screwed up agency. My husband's perfect though.
BTW ... I can pretty much bet that by now that cartoon is on every NATCA bulletin board at every facility in the country.
[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 05-22-2002).]
And to say it's been causing all sorts of problems is an understatement ... So now I have to go buy my husband Playboy.
From what I've read so far, this doesn't make the agency and its management look nearly as bad as it actually is. Controllers and first-level sups make more and can retire earlier than anyone else in the FAA ... now tell me what kind of managers you think they might attract (and they only hire from within) when they're told their pay's going to be cut and they're going to have to work until they're 62 (in some cases that could be 17 years longer than they would have had to work before retiring otherwise)? Yes, it's a very screwed up agency. My husband's perfect though.
BTW ... I can pretty much bet that by now that cartoon is on every NATCA bulletin board at every facility in the country.
[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 05-22-2002).]
May 22, 2002 | 8:48 am
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Letiole: When I posted, I was thinking of you and was hoping you would comment. Thanks.
So, who would your husband be in the cartoon?
So, who would your husband be in the cartoon?
May 22, 2002 | 9:14 am
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blair wrote:
I only wish I could tell you so much more. Like about the fam trips to the Philippines to sleep with underage hookers that management has swept under the rug (despite that there are a few babies that have resulted), and the hush-hush paid moves to other facilities for sexual harrassment. But I really can't mention any of that.
Well ... I don't think I've seen him wear a suit to work in, um, well, it's been a very long time. He was smart enough not to go above first-level. So he'll be retired by 47 and he's counting down every day.
To be fair, most of the long-time controllers (the ones who got intensively screened at the Oklahoma training facility before being hired) work their butts off and do a great job, especially considering the crummy management they have to deal with. There are a few good managers too, they're just very difficult to find.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> When I posted, I was thinking of you and was hoping you would comment.</font>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">So, who would your husband be in the cartoon? </font>
To be fair, most of the long-time controllers (the ones who got intensively screened at the Oklahoma training facility before being hired) work their butts off and do a great job, especially considering the crummy management they have to deal with. There are a few good managers too, they're just very difficult to find.
May 22, 2002 | 9:17 am
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by letiole:
So now I have to go buy my husband Playboy.
</font>
So now I have to go buy my husband Playboy.
</font>
May 22, 2002 | 11:13 pm
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Great article -- yes, I read the article.
For the info of my fellow FTers, I'll relate as briefly as I can, an experience I had with the FAA in 1999 when I applied for a fairly senior job in the Associate Administrator's Office of Research and Acquisitions (FAA/ARA).
I had recently retired from the USAF and was interested in helping solve mass transit problems -- in particular, upgrading the air traffic control system.
Through an Air Force colleague, I met a senior official in ARA and two of their senior contractor corporate officers shortly before me retirement. Each individual told me that the FAA needed "new blood" and had made a commitment to recruit same. I found it interesting that the corporate officers met with me to try to get me into the government, rather than hire me themselves. I read testimony from Jane Garvey expressing the same sentiment. The ARA official met me, took my resume, and encouraged me to apply for some senior positions. Also, ARA had adopted the new government "pay band" system, dropping the traditional civil service grade structure that gave promotions for longevity rather than merit. The "pay band" system rewards people for performance. I was encouraged that the FAA seemed serious about fixing themselves.
The bubble burst severalmonths later when I was called for an interview to be a manager in an ARA office doing the acquisition of the next generation ATC system. It was the most bizarre job interview I have ever had. The office chief's and the interview team's views of the systems engineering approach was so narrow it was shocking. Also, they openly ridiculed the Airline Pilot's Association, the Air Transport Association, general aviation, ordinary passengers, and the air traffic controllers. I pointed out that these groups were their customers. They just didn't get it. At times, we got into hot debates during the interview that bordered on yelling. I never got the job, and probably would have refused had they actually offered me one.
I understood that the FAA, despite the best intentions of its top leadership, has a layer of senior management that is so entrenched that it can't or won't change. Their knee-jerk reaction to airport security doesn't surprise me a bit. One of the contractor executives I met told me, when public or congressional criticism comes, that the FAA becomes defensive, retreats, and hunkers down. Later, they emerge with some very visible window-dressing action to give the impression that they have it under control. I know first-hand that nothing could be further from the truth.
Thanks for listening.
For the info of my fellow FTers, I'll relate as briefly as I can, an experience I had with the FAA in 1999 when I applied for a fairly senior job in the Associate Administrator's Office of Research and Acquisitions (FAA/ARA).
I had recently retired from the USAF and was interested in helping solve mass transit problems -- in particular, upgrading the air traffic control system.
Through an Air Force colleague, I met a senior official in ARA and two of their senior contractor corporate officers shortly before me retirement. Each individual told me that the FAA needed "new blood" and had made a commitment to recruit same. I found it interesting that the corporate officers met with me to try to get me into the government, rather than hire me themselves. I read testimony from Jane Garvey expressing the same sentiment. The ARA official met me, took my resume, and encouraged me to apply for some senior positions. Also, ARA had adopted the new government "pay band" system, dropping the traditional civil service grade structure that gave promotions for longevity rather than merit. The "pay band" system rewards people for performance. I was encouraged that the FAA seemed serious about fixing themselves.
The bubble burst severalmonths later when I was called for an interview to be a manager in an ARA office doing the acquisition of the next generation ATC system. It was the most bizarre job interview I have ever had. The office chief's and the interview team's views of the systems engineering approach was so narrow it was shocking. Also, they openly ridiculed the Airline Pilot's Association, the Air Transport Association, general aviation, ordinary passengers, and the air traffic controllers. I pointed out that these groups were their customers. They just didn't get it. At times, we got into hot debates during the interview that bordered on yelling. I never got the job, and probably would have refused had they actually offered me one.
I understood that the FAA, despite the best intentions of its top leadership, has a layer of senior management that is so entrenched that it can't or won't change. Their knee-jerk reaction to airport security doesn't surprise me a bit. One of the contractor executives I met told me, when public or congressional criticism comes, that the FAA becomes defensive, retreats, and hunkers down. Later, they emerge with some very visible window-dressing action to give the impression that they have it under control. I know first-hand that nothing could be further from the truth.
Thanks for listening.