Federal Daily - September 1, 2009

NATCA Critical of NTSB Findings on Hudson River Crash

The leadership of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) issued a sharply critical view of new National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) safety recommendations which, to NATCA, appear to focus blame for a deadly midair collision over the Hudson River on air traffic controllers. The Aug. 8 collision between a small airplane and a helicopter killed all nine aboard both aircraft. In an Aug. 27 letter, the NTSB issued five safety recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration for air traffic over the congested Hudson River zone. The NTSB letter specifically mentioned the air traffic controllers at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, who were tasked with monitoring the small plane involved in the accident. “The NTSB is concerned with the complacency and inattention to duty evidenced by the actions of the [Teterboro] controller and the supervisor during the events surrounding this accident,” the NTSB said. The Teterboro controller was determined by the NTSB to have been on the phone with a friend immediately after he cleared the airplane for takeoff. At the same time, his supervisor had left the building to run a personal errand and couldn’t be found immediately after the crash, NTSB said. NATCA defended the Teterboro controller, saying he handed off the plane's pilot to another radar tower before the helicopter appeared on his radar scope. "The NTSB again has rushed to wrongly blame the air traffic controller in this incident," said Patrick Forrey, NATCA president. "The bottom line here is that the controller is not responsible for contributing to this tragic accident.” To see more, go to: www.natca.org/rss/hudson-midair-082709.aspx or www.ntsb.gov/Recs/letters/2009/A09_82_86.pdf.

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Lawmaker Seeks Probe into VA Staff Misconduct

In the wake of an internal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) investigation, Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., last month asked for a House hearing into findings that some VA employees misused their authority but were still paid $24 million in bonuses. The bonuses were paid over calendar years 2007 and 2008 to employees in the VA Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), according to two VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports released last month. Teague asked for the hearing in an Aug. 27 letter to the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif. “I am completely astonished at these actions,” Teague wrote. “Currently, the VA has thousands of open cases that have been filed by veterans from across the country. While we fight for those who served, we now see that there are people in the VA who abuse the system.” To see more, go to: www.teague.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=
252&Itemid=72 or to see the OIG report, www.va.gov/oig/default.asp.

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