Too few working too many hours to direct Manila air traffic
By Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:56:00 01/18/2008
Filed Under: Air safety, Air Transport
MANILA, Philippines -- When they saw how Manila's air traffic came and went last year, American aviation inspectors were awestruck at how Filipino air traffic controllers (ATCs) did so much with so little.
One only has to look inside the Air Transportation Office's Manila Control Tower to see why the Philippines failed to measure up to international aviation safety standards.
With too few people working too long hours, the ATCs -- men and women who direct pilots for landing and takeoff -- are forced to push the boundaries of safety daily, banking on their skills to make sure every plane and passenger leave and land in Manila just fine.
“We take risks and operate below the safety margin, but we take those mitigated risks instead of letting traffic accumulate in the air,” said Nickson Morada, chair of the Philippine Air Traffic Controllers Association (Patca).
“We are working under conditions with unreliable equipment, personnel shortage and very low morale,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.
Adding to the ATCs’ woes is that they have not received their overtime pay for a year, Morada said.
ATO Executive Director Daniel Dimagiba admitted the lack of ATCs, and said 70 new recruits might soon be deployed in control towers around the country.
As for the delay of the ATCs’ overtime pay, Dimagiba said the budget had not been disbursed by the transportation department, to which the ATO remits all its earnings.
Morada said many ATCs had left the service for better-paying jobs abroad. He cited one senior ATC who landed a job as a United Nations staffer, earning enough dollars to take frequent vacations in the Philippines.
“When you hear something like that, you can't help but be tempted to think about doing the same. Our concern now is many senior ATCs are leaving ... Who will be left to train the new ones?”
Working below the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao), ATCs carry on the risky business of clearing landings and takeoffs at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) daily despite extended shifts and delayed overtime pay.
The Philippines' failure to comply with ICAO safety standards has prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration to downgrade the country's aviation safety rating to Category 2 from Category 1, or below global safety minimums.
“When it's already your tenth or eleventh hour on duty, sometimes there are tiny memory lapses," said another ATC, who asked for anonymity for lack of authority to speak on the matter.
"We commit mistakes in instructing pilots because you are already tired. But we are able to correct that immediately because we are already used to it and we do our best despite the mental stress.”
At any given shift, the Manila Tower is manned below ICAO standards. Given Manila's air traffic of around 600 flights (departures and arrivals) per day, the ICAO recommends six to seven ATCs per shift.
But available manpower permits only five to be at the tower during the eight-hour shifts, Morada said.
“Like in the day shift, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., we need seven people, but only five are available. So two people have to take an overtime. For the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift, the Icao says we should have six but we only require 5. Past midnight there are only four, when there should be six,” Morada said.
To avoid stressing ATCs beyond their limits, the Manila Tower allows controllers to rest after every two hours of work and then shifts them around.
The undermanned ATC team has to grapple with the task of safely directing 40 departures and arrivals (combined) per hour, a flight frequency that forces the controllers to shorten the buffer time necessary to keep airplanes a safe distance from each other while landing or taking off.
Morada said only 30 planes at most should land or take off the airport within an hour as aircraft have to be at least two minutes apart for safe landing and taxiing, and for proper takeoff.
Given the volume, however, the ATCs must finish dealing with an aircraft within a minute and a half.
“The flight codes and their schedules might be the same, but air traffic is always different every day, and it's mentally draining,” said a controller.
“During peak seasons, you could be dealing with 90 aircraft in an hour. Imagine, you are talking non-stop during your shift. Your jaws are already tired but you cannot stop giving instructions,” he added.
ATCs are often forced to serve second shifts in a day to help co-workers cope with the air traffic, but they have not received their overtime pay for a year, Morada said.
Ordered by Malacañang Thursday to take over the ATO, Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza said he had invited ICAO consultants to be part of a team that would steer the ATO back into compliance with international oversight standards.
"We have started calling for inputs from aviation stakeholders, such as local airlines and tourism agencies, so that ATO can recover its Category 1 rating," Mendoza said.
Senate President Manny Villar cautioned the government against jacking up airport fees to address the ATO’s shortcomings.
He said the ATO, with a projected income of P3.1 billion and a spending budget of P1.6 billion this year, “has enough internally generated funds" to correct safety deficiencies.
Senator Mar Roxas, who wants to summon Dimagiba to a Senate hearing on the issue, said: “Sacking the ATO OIC is a start, but it is not enough ...We need to know how long this has been a problem, and why the government had failed to prevent this downgrade.”
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