Are centers and TraCons understaffed?

Pi1otguy

Pi1otguy

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Fox McCloud
I know there used to be staffing issues due to "The Virus", but have those been resolved yet?

It's one thing to hear the same guy work tower and ground at a muni airport, but a bit mind breaking when center or approach has 1 guy (or gal) working 2 or 3 sectors.

The inadvertent stepping on others and one sided convos had me playing with my squelch and questioning my radios until the approach controller handed me off ... to himself on the next freq. Explaining that he's working 3 sectors.
 
Pi1otguy said:
I know there used to be staffing issues due to "The Virus", but have those been resolved yet?

It's one thing to hear the same guy work tower and ground at a muni airport, but a bit mind breaking when center or approach has 1 guy (or gal) working 2 or 3 sectors.

The inadvertent stepping on others and one sided convos had me playing with my squelch and questioning my radios until the approach controller handed me off ... to himself on the next freq. Explaining that he's working 3 sectors.
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Combining sectors has been around forever and doesn’t always mean understaffing. Staffing levels can be based on that sectors will be combined during slower traffic times. But yeah, it was more so during covid. There was also less flying during covid. @Radar Contact , how you guys doing there? Have things got back to normal, whatever that was?
 
Maybe the FAA should consider a moratorium on its long-standing insistence on age discrimination.
 
luvflyin said:
They've given waivers before. May even be some still in effect. I dunno.
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Whatever, I'll still send in my app. I'll hedge my bets with Western AD though. They don't discriminate and that's the kind of control that I'm used to anyway.
 
Facilities were understaffed before COVID, but the symptoms were exacerbated as they paused training (fresh meat) for some time. Many facilities are still understaffed and likely will be for another few years.

It can take up to 5 years for a controller to be fully proficient at a Center.
 
JAX center had issues last Sunday. Got a re-route on my commercial flight, FAA website showed an issue due to staffing.
 
I’ve heard most facilities are still understaffed but not as bad as like 5-10 years ago. Friend of mine posted on FB that another round of hiring is coming. Get in your applications!

https://www.faa.gov/be-atc
 
Pi1otguy said:
I know there used to be staffing issues due to "The Virus", but have those been resolved yet?

It's one thing to hear the same guy work tower and ground at a muni airport, but a bit mind breaking when center or approach has 1 guy (or gal) working 2 or 3 sectors.

The inadvertent stepping on others and one sided convos had me playing with my squelch and questioning my radios until the approach controller handed me off ... to himself on the next freq. Explaining that he's working 3 sectors.
Click to expand...

Working multiple sectors and frequencies has been the norm for a long time. In our Midwestern area, it is more so because a single controller can cover a large enough area to need multiple transmitters to provide signal coverage. One MSP center controller usually works the western half of Iowa and eastern 1/3 or half of Nebraska below 24,000, and uses I think 6 or 7 different frequencies and transmitters simultaneously to do so.
 
luvflyin said:
I see there are limited exceptions to the 30 year old rule. Do you know what they are?
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Not sure. I know prior military ATC experience used to be one. They used to have an AFSS one as well. My brother got in on the AFSS waiver but that was in 2005 when they were closing left and right and they were pushing those guys to ATC.
 
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