Faa

[Pete]

The FAA does not get talked about much but it employs 7,000 people in OKC in pretty well-paying and steady jobs.

It also brings many people to town for training. I know a bunch of people who would have never come to OKC otherwise.

Looks like the current administration is going to back a plan to privatize air traffic control which would likely have a huge impact on the local FAA facility.

http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f704...e7e962c935e73b

[Zuplar]

I know numerous controllers and they all, (as much as they don't like the government) think this is a bad deal if it happens.

[Pete]

BTW, the FAA is Central Oklahoma's 4th largest employer behind only the State, Tinker and OU.

I would also bet they have a huge impact on local hotels and restaurants as they are constantly bringing people in from out of town for training.

The FAA is bigger than any private employer in the OKC metro area.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Wow that would have a huge impact on our state. Those are good paying jobs too. I know we talk a lot about oil jobs here but the government, tinker, OU, FAA and OUHSC pretty much dominate the job market here. I'm not sure the oil companies break in until 8th or so.

[jn1780]

So what does not being run by a pilot have to do with anything? I'm sure the odds of being run by a pilot if air traffic control gets privatized are slim to none. Pilots don't usually have experience running large operations and I doubt many care to.

[catch22]

BTW, the FAA is Central Oklahoma's 4th largest employer behind only the State, Tinker and OU.

I would also bet they have a huge impact on local hotels and restaurants as they are constantly bringing people in from out of town for training.

The FAA is bigger than any private employer in the OKC metro area.

Isola Bella on the north side has a huge part of their business from FAA people in town on loner term training. 3-9 months.

[pure]

They have a 5 year contract w/ Marriott NCED in Norman to provide meeting rooms & hotel rooms for training. These trainings are short one week and two week courses. They even have their own dedicated office & storage for instructors. I can only assume they must have outgrown their current space.

[OKCbyTRANSFER]

They train more than controllers, but also techs to keep equipment running and many foreign students as well. Big impact.

[Mike_M]

I'd venture to say that they make up a large chunk of the business travel that comes to OKC. Tons of training, consulting, and management visits almost every week.

[catch22]

They train more than controllers, but also techs to keep equipment running and many foreign students as well. Big impact.

Yes, I have a friend in NY who is an ILS/VOR technician and he comes to OKC for several weeks each year. They have thousands of technicians across the system and as you said they also provide training to other countries. It's a huge training center and is huge for the hotel industry.

[Pete]

This wikipedia page breaks down everything that the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center encompasses, and it's a lot more than just air traffic controllers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_M...autical_Center

[Jeepnokc]

Yes, I have a friend in NY who is an ILS/VOR technician and he comes to OKC for several weeks each year. They have thousands of technicians across the system and as you said they also provide training to other countries. It's a huge training center and is huge for the hotel industry.

More than just the hotel industry. I have picked up a few clients in the law practice from FAA and we also get quite a few in Omerta Cigar Lounge

[gopokes88]

Good luck. Every republican president has said they'll do this or that but the bureacracy is just too big and powerful.

[Plutonic Panda]

I was going to ask, how likely is it that this will happen?

[Pete]

More likely now:

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/05/news...rol/index.html


Anyone care to venture 1) how likely this will be to happen and 2) the effect on OKC?

[stile99]

I think the fact that the airlines desperately want it should be an insanely large red flag.

[Zuplar]

I know numerous controllers, all of them elsewhere though, and their comment is that it's going to be bad in the short run, but in 20 years, it will probably be a good thing to have spun ATC off. Basically it's going to cost jobs and salary in the short, but in the long tech will greatly improve (even they say it's terrible). I was told that some of the smaller airports they still basically used 1960's tech. They said the main reason our airspace is so safe is because of the extensive training controllers get. I thought it was kind of an interesting perspective.

[gopokes88]

More likely now:

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/05/news...rol/index.html


Anyone care to venture 1) how likely this will be to happen and 2) the effect on OKC?

It's not going to happen. Inhofe and Lanford aren't going to support it either as the effect on OKC could be too great.

Republicans have wayyyyyyyyy bigger priorities than privatizing a system that works well.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/a...cs-in-congress

[FighttheGoodFight]

It looks like the union is reviewing it. But it does look like congress is pretty divided. I think it could pass if some changes were made to please people but I could also see congress just letting it flop around until dead.

[gopokes88]

It looks like the union is reviewing it. But it does look like congress is pretty divided. I think it could pass if some changes were made to please people but I could also see congress just letting it flop around until dead.

It's going to flop around. Senate's plate is full. Taxes, o-care, infrastructure, debt limit.

You really think they're going to spend a bunch of time on this?

[Pete]

It seems a very odd time to try and push this through.

Very low priority, as stated.

And for OKC's sake, hope things stay status quo.

[CloudDeckMedia]

I know many controllers and those who train them, and they all say that staffing is dire and getting worse. This privatization concept has the potential to be a big overall winner: It would get FAA out of airspace management and NAVAID system maintenance where they've arguably failed to implement improvements in 50 years, and direct their focus on airman/aircraft certification & registration. (Note: It is NTSB - not FAA - that conducts accident investigations, and they do a great job.) Canada privatized their ATC 20+ years ago with NavCanada, and it's been a tremendous success. And it's time to move away from expensive, terrestrial NAVAIDS (VOR, ILS, NDB) and move to GPS navigation and approaches. The only thing FAA can claim as a success is the US accident rate, which is the lowest in the world, but most of that credit goes to airline & commercial pilot training, and advanced technology in the cockpit such as ADS-B and TCAS.

[CloudDeckMedia]

Append: To illustrate how far behind FAA is in technology, aircraft registration requires mailing in a multi-part, carbon form with a paper check, and waiting three weeks.

[jn1780]

It seems a very odd time to try and push this through.

Very low priority, as stated.

And for OKC's sake, hope things stay status quo.

Not very odd when you think about it. Its just an attempt to change the subject from recent political news.

[Zuplar]

I know many controllers and those who train them, and they all say that staffing is dire and getting worse. This privatization concept has the potential to be a big overall winner: It would get FAA out of airspace management and NAVAID system maintenance where they've arguably failed to implement improvements in 50 years, and direct their focus on airman/aircraft certification & registration. (Note: It is NTSB - not FAA - that conducts accident investigations, and they do a great job.) Canada privatized their ATC 20+ years ago with NavCanada, and it's been a tremendous success. And it's time to move away from expensive, terrestrial NAVAIDS (VOR, ILS, NDB) and move to GPS navigation and approaches. The only thing FAA can claim as a success is the US accident rate, which is the lowest in the world, but most of that credit goes to airline & commercial pilot training, and advanced technology in the cockpit such as ADS-B and TCAS.

This sounds exactly what I've heard from my controller friends. Honestly their biggest concern has been pay and benefits in the short term.