Training hold

[aaran34]

Wtf 235,000 dollars for cleaning. Is that one time? To kill a virus that you can’t even get off surfaces?

Thats a buddy’s z facility but yes 235K. He sent it as a joke to see if I could guess the cost. I figured 30k was a good ballpark figure. Ridiculous amount of money for a 2-3 hour cleaning but maybe that price came with hazmat suits.

 

[BCHOOSIER]

Right so I’ve been sitting at home for 5 months and my childcare provider and everyone else that affects my ability to go to work should revolve their plans and their whole life around the FAA everyday for 5 months till they suddenly decide they need me to come back ASAP. Obviously we are recallable but where is the decency ? I mean I don’t care what kind of job it is, that kind of expectation is just absurd. To not be told anything for months except to “be patient” and these are “unprecedented times” why don’t I have the right to get some understanding of my situation from the FAA If they expected it from me this whole time?

AND I’m pretty sure they could have figured this all out more than just a day before.

What you're asking for is completely reasonable. I know some that have arrangements made if called in for that day or short-term but don't have a long term plan in place. In my area, many childcare facilities didn't open back up to full capacity because of state guidance or completely shut down all together. At my son's daycare they no longer offer part time care so if you wanted to keep a spot you had to pay full time rates. I think a little understanding and compassion could be applied here and a week or two heads up is not so much to ask from your employer.
With that said, I think the bigger issue will be when schools cancel in class instruction and the FAA goes back to normal schedules. It's going to be a problem for many to work full time on our schedules, provide childcare during normal school hours, and "homeschool" their children.

 

[GulfBravoPapa]

Not sure how far along you are or where you work, but at my Z there is enough traffic to at least get R sides some training. Traffic may not be as busy, but seeing different sector combinations at getting at least some work (with some weather experience) would benefit most trainees. There is also a couple of hours each day where there is busy traffic. I think it would help with spool up time for a majority of R side trainees who are early on in training or even those who were close to certs get comfortable once again

I'm at a standalone tracon and it's not my first or highest level standalone tracon. All I have left is arrivals. I've been working the last 4 months. I don't feel like I need any spool up time mainly because my first 9 hours have to be OJF. I need to certify into feeders and three final positions. I need traffic so I can actually see how to balance runways with the traffic we have now they can pick their own runways. I need traffic so that I can stagger off of another final controller, running both finals myself isn't going to be a problem. Positions split is a heck of a lot more beneficial for me then positions combined.

 

[MKK]

They haven’t even recalled anyone and said come in tomorrow lmfao.

I have a couple r sides so they recalled me to work traffic since they have been opening up more sectors. They actually recalled 4 of us in my area to begin working the same week.

What you're asking for is completely reasonable. I know some that have arrangements made if called in for that day or short-term but don't have a long term plan in place. In my area, many childcare facilities didn't open back up to full capacity because of state guidance or completely shut down all together. At my son's daycare they no longer offer part time care so if you wanted to keep a spot you had to pay full time rates. I think a little understanding and compassion could be applied here and a week or two heads up is not so much to ask from your employer.
With that said, I think the bigger issue will be when schools cancel in class instruction and the FAA goes back to normal schedules. It's going to be a problem for many to work full time on our schedules, provide childcare during normal school hours, and "homeschool" their children.

I do have plenty of leave I hadn’t even used a single day of AL yet this year. The funniest part of it all was that they recalled me on a week that I had bid leave and clearly didn’t even look at that cuz they definitely didn’t mention it when they called.

I live in a state where the guidelines are pretty strict and for elementary school in our district they came out with

option a) remote learning

option 2) school 5 days a week 8:10-12:10 pm

I don’t even know where to begin planning as we are 2 parents that work full time.

 

[32andBelow]

I have a couple r sides so they recalled me to work traffic since they have been opening up more sectors. They actually recalled 4 of us in my area to begin working the same week.

Shouldn’t you have been working the whole time if you have a couple r sides?

 

[MKK]

Shouldn’t you have been working the whole time if you have a couple r sides?

I did in the very beginning after they switched to the 5/10 schedules. After working the first rotation they sent 4 of us home on admin because the way the sectors were split we couldn’t work anything. We had all of our room of 7 sectors split into 1 or 2 sectors total. So you pretty much had to have one whole side of the room to be useful.

 

[spider]

I agree with this. Train on combined sectors for the volume. Hell, train on 2-3 sectors combined if you have to. Some aspects of how/when to train will have to change but all it takes is some outside the box thinking.

Training combined will be good until the first guy complains that it shouldn’t have been combined and wants his hours back.

 

[Mike Kilo]

Training combined will be good until the first guy complains that it shouldn’t have been combined and wants his hours back.

I already have that written for the TRB!

 

[Horny4Vectors]

Just got an email from an old facility rep (never taken off the list) saying there was still no timeline in place for resuming training/bringing people back in *shrugs*

 

[32andBelow]

Just got an email from an old facility rep (never taken off the list) saying there was still no timeline in place for resuming training/bringing people back in *shrugs*

NATCA is clueless

 

[CaptainObvious]

So if they only code you as WX with no shift are you supposed to be on call 24 hours that day?

 

[Mike Kilo]

So if they only code you as WX with no shift are you supposed to be on call 24 hours that day?

Are you doing zoom calls/class with you? If it starts at 8am I would guess 8-4 is your recallable time. If you aren’t doing that and they have no shift assigned to your EA then you have an easy fight to not answer or go in.

 

[ClearanceClarence]

So if they only code you as WX with no shift are you supposed to be on call 24 hours that day?

My understanding was when you’re on admin leave, you’re on admin hours which are like 0700-1500. I believe you’re expected to answer your phone or call them back in a reasonable amount of time during those hours.

 

[Horny4Vectors]

NATCA is clueless

Bro, I think everyone is clueless. I get your frustrations with it, but this job is entirely unique. We’ve actually set a pretty solid precedent with this. We ended the sequester in ‘13 because of the hours long delays across the country (I still haven’t seen a GDP for LAX with an average of 4 hours, while on the east coast, since then). And we effectively ended the shutdown when LGA/N90/ZNY had enough. I think the issue the FAA and NATCA are running into is the safety of the NAS. We can’t just tell everyone to go work from home. We HAVE to go into work. One of my best friends is a State Trooper and even they have been told to limit their exposure to people (he was told not to pull people over unless it was 100+. No registration pulls, state inspections, minor things,etc). So that inherently means the risk of the virus running through a facility is high. Hell, a family barbecue a week or two back ended up with 40 transmissions outside of the family. The FAA can’t, and shouldn’t, risk the closure of a facility. (See: Swiss Cheese PowerPoint in recurrent). Taking measures like cleanings, face masks, and reducing the number of people in buildings seems to be their best bet. X number of more people in the building increases the risk.
The lack of communication is frustrating, but this has never happened before. We are all walking around in a dark room, blindfolded, hoping to bump into a light switch (or a shorty with a PHAT ass).

 

[CaptainObvious]

My understanding was when you’re on admin leave, you’re on admin hours which are like 0700-1500. I believe you’re expected to answer your phone or call them back in a reasonable amount of time during those hours.

How can they make that argument if you’re working a day shift on your 5 day stint. Some are coded for normal shift, WX (0600) and some are WX

 

[CaptainObvious]

Bro, I think everyone is clueless. I get your frustrations with it, but this job is entirely unique. We’ve actually set a pretty solid precedent with this. We ended the sequester in ‘13 because of the hours long delays across the country (I still haven’t seen a GDP for LAX with an average of 4 hours, while on the east coast, since then). And we effectively ended the shutdown when LGA/N90/ZNY had enough. I think the issue the FAA and NATCA are running into is the safety of the NAS. We can’t just tell everyone to go work from home. We HAVE to go into work. One of my best friends is a State Trooper and even they have been told to limit their exposure to people (he was told not to pull people over unless it was 100+. No registration pulls, state inspections, minor things,etc). So that inherently means the risk of the virus running through a facility is high. Hell, a family barbecue a week or two back ended up with 40 transmissions outside of the family. The FAA can’t, and shouldn’t, risk the closure of a facility. (See: Swiss Cheese PowerPoint in recurrent). Taking measures like cleanings, face masks, and reducing the number of people in buildings seems to be their best bet. X number of more people in the building increases the risk.
The lack of communication is frustrating, but this has never happened before. We are all walking around in a dark room, blindfolded, hoping to bump into a light switch (or a shorty with a PHAT ass).

All I took out of this post was PAWG

 

[Horny4Vectors]

All I took out of this post was PAWG

 

[32andBelow]

All I took out of this post was PAWG

There supposed to be coding your reserve shift in scheduler with your shift. Not sure if they are doing this for wfh trainees.

Just got an email from an old facility rep (never taken off the list) saying there was still no timeline in place for resuming training/bringing people back in *shrugs*

Yah. I guess there was a confirmed faa meeting since I got it from faa and stinger got it. Excited to hear what else ppl find out today and tomorrow. I’ll be looking to the agency for information tho.

 

[mnsalty]

I'm at a standalone tracon and it's not my first or highest level standalone tracon. All I have left is arrivals. I've been working the last 4 months. I don't feel like I need any spool up time mainly because my first 9 hours have to be OJF. I need to certify into feeders and three final positions. I need traffic so I can actually see how to balance runways with the traffic we have now they can pick their own runways. I need traffic so that I can stagger off of another final controller, running both finals myself isn't going to be a problem. Positions split is a heck of a lot more beneficial for me then positions combined.

you're gonna have to figure it out after certifying is my honest guess. You’ll be brought back and expected to certify on what’s there. This is the new normal. Adapt to it.

 

[CaptainObvious]

you're gonna have to figure it out after certifying is my honest guess. You’ll be brought back and expected to certify on what’s there. This is the new normal. Adapt to it.

Nothing like getting corn pwned after certification. Happened before and will happen after Covid traffic