[Scan-DC] Fw: Controllers Call On FAA To Lift Ban On Weather Radios In Towers

[Alan Henney]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doug Church"
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 11:17 AM
Subject: Controllers Call On FAA To Lift Ban On Weather Radios In
Towers


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                      CONTACT:
Doug Church

March 13, 2007
202-220-9802





CONTROLLERS CALL ON FAA TO LIFT BAN ON WEATHER RADIOS IN TOWERS



WASHINGTON - With many states observing Severe Weather Awareness Week,
air traffic controllers are urging the Federal Aviation Administration
to lift its ban on weather radios in air traffic control towers so
controllers can receive the latest severe weather and tornado warnings
to fill in the gaps left by radar equipment that only detects
precipitation.



            The FAA banned weather radios and all AM-FM radios that
controllers used to monitor stations on the Emergency Alert System
last Labor Day weekend as part of its unilateral imposition of work
rules.



            The agency initially exempted weather radios from the ban,
even confirming for reporters explicitly last December that one of its
own managers installed a weather radio at the control tower at Daytona
Beach International Airport just two days after a Christmas Day
tornado roared within 150 yards of the tower and carved a destructive
path through Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. But the FAA did an
about-face in late January, declaring the weather radios officially
banned and yanking the one out of Daytona Beach Tower, again putting
the safety of controllers and the flying public at risk.



            "It's really just amazing to me that we have to even
continue to ask this from an agency that says it is committed to
aviation safety. It's such a no-brainer," National Air Traffic
Controllers Association President Patrick Forrey said. "Don't believe
it when the FAA tells you we have every possible weather tool at our
fingertips. There is no tool available to tower controllers that can
detect a tornado within a thunderstorm. We must have either a weather
radio or access to the Emergency Alert System to get the latest
weather bulletins."



            Forrey added that while a select few towers, like New
York-JFK, have advanced equipment that can identify wind shear, it is
not like Doppler technology that television meteorologists have which
shows rotations within thunderstorm supercells that are indicative of
tornadoes and also predict the path of those storms. "The FAA can
supply access to low-cost alternatives to enhance situation
 awareness," Forrey said. "We need weather radios in the towers so we
at least have a fighting chance to keep up with the latest weather
information given to the public from these meteorologists who are
tracking severe storms."



Just days after the radio ban took effect last September, a severe
weather system spawned tornadoes near both DuPage Tower in Illinois
and Lincoln Tower in Nebraska. With FAA management having removed
radios from all towers, neither facility's controllers knew of the
impending danger nearby. At Lincoln, two controllers were on duty with
no supervisors at a late hour in the day. Tornado sirens sounded, an
event that, according to controllers' own orders, mandates the use of
weather radios, radios and televisions to monitor the weather. But
there was nothing in the tower to use.



At DuPage, a tornado came within two miles of the tower. But
controllers had no way of seeing it because heavy rains reduced
visibility to a quarter of a mile. The controllers eventually
evacuated when one controller received a personal call alerting him of
the situation. The next day, the controllers notified the supervisor
and stated that the radio that was in the tower, which management took
away, would have alerted the staff sooner. The supervisor replied,
"You should have looked out the window."



During the Christmas Day storm in Daytona Beach, had the controllers
had their radio, they would have received the tornado warnings that
were broadcast to the public. At the time, the tower controllers were
vectoring a Comair regional jet (Delta Connection) to the airport but,
without any knowledge of the tornado embedded in the severe weather,
could not warn the pilots.



Fortunately, the aircraft landed safely after the tornado hit the
airport, but, as the Daytona Beach News-Journal wrote in a Jan. 25,
2007 editorial: "Controllers are working without a contract at the
moment . Maybe the new (FAA) work rules are the FAA's attempt to
pressure its employees. Maybe they're just work rules that may or may
not survive the next contract. Either way, the ban on weather radios
seems foolish. Controllers obviously should focus on their job. But
safety is part of that job. The FAA can police how weather radios are
listened to. Banning such radios, especially at airports in Florida,
is going too far and defies intuitive safety measures."



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