Federal Daily - April 29, 2008

FAA Removes Two in Error Misreporting Flap

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced April 24 that two top managers of an air traffic control facility in Dallas-Fort Worth have been removed from their jobs in the wake of allegations they were covering up air-safety violations. FAA removed both the facility manager and assistant manager at the Dallas-Fort Worth Terminal Approach Control (TRACON) pending final personnel action. The FAA move was in response to an audit by the Department of Transportation Inspector General (IG) that revealed the intentional misclassification of operational errors at the facility. The IG found that between November 2005 and July 2007, FAA managers at the facility misclassified 62 air traffic events as pilot deviations or nonevents when in fact there were 52 operational errors and 10 operational deviations by FAA controllers, the FAA said. The report was prompted by whistleblower allegations that management was covering up operational errors and deviations. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), embroiled in a two-year-old fight with the FAA over manpower and safety, said it wasn’t surprised by the IG report. The report, “underscore[s] the fact that the FAA has lost its way and its credibility when it comes to air safety,” said NATCA Southwest Regional Vice President Darrell Meachum. To see more, go to: www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=10213.

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Letter Carriers Sponsor ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ Food Drive

The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) announced it will conduct its 16th annual food drive on May 10. In more than 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, letter carriers will collect non-perishable donations from homes as they deliver mail along their postal routes, NALC said in a statement last week. The annual NALC “Stamp Out Hunger” National Food Drive represents the largest one-day food drive in the nation, the union said. Carriers collected 70.7 million pounds of food in last year’s drive, the fourth consecutive year above 70 million pounds, NALC said. “With the declining economy, the need this year is overwhelming,” NALC President William H. Young said. “We have received reports from countless food banks of the record number of families who are seeking help as they try to juggle their budgets against rising costs of food and gasoline.” To see more, go to: www.nalc.org/commun/foodrive/index.html.

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VA Launches Vet Benefits Outreach Call Center

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will open a new outreach program on May 1 to ensure that nearly 570,000 recent combat veterans know about the VA medical services and benefits to which they are entitled. The “Combat Veteran Call Center” will operate in two phases, VA said in a statement. In Phase I, calls will go to an estimated 17,000 veterans who were sick or injured while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. VA will offer to appoint a care manager to work with them if they don’t yet have one, the agency said. In Phase II, calls will target and inform 550,000 combat veterans who have been discharged from active duty but who have not contacted VA for services, VA said. “We will leave no stone unturned to reach these veterans,” said Edward Huycke, chief of the Veterans Affairs-Department of Defense coordination office. To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1493.

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