How long before /G required for IFR?

wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 20:58:46 GMT, "Chip Jones"
wrote:

Far more likely you swivel-heads will get the few AFSS guys who actually
are
qualified controllers.

Swivelheads= Tower controller types, ie- McNicoll and Newps.

Ironic, too, in a twisted FAA way.. After all, the
69 Level 2-3 VFR towers will be the next part of the NAS auctioned off
to
the low bidder, followed by Level-Three up-down terminal facilities.

FAA used to have 5 grades of terminal facilities, from Level 1-5, with 1
being the lowest and 5 being places like New York, Chicago, Atlanta etc.
FAA has since reclassified the ATC personnel system into a series of
paygrades based on workload, complexity, volume etc. AT Facilities are now
Level 5-12. Places like Casper WY and Sioux City IA are ATC 5. Places
like Billings MT and Green Bay WS are ATC 6 and 7. Places like Cinncinnati
and Detroit are ATC-11. Places like New York and Chicago are ATC-12.

The FAA is trying to save money. Personnel costs are eating up a lot of the
budget. Since ATC privatization has been proven safe and cost-effective in
the VFR tower environment, and since the FAA just won a lawsuit defending
the NFCT program against NATCA, it is extremely likely that FAA will revisit
the privatization of 69 non-Alaskan FAA ATC towers this coming year. What
these towers have in common is that they do not have a radar room/tracon
associated with them.

After the remaining VFR towers get contracted out, the smaller tracons (ie-
places like Florence SC, Billings MT etc) will be next. These facilities
are also known as "up-down" facilities because tradtionally they have a
tower cab "up" and a radar room/tracon "down" in the base of the tower. By
marking these facilities for consolidation with a larger facility or for
out-right privatization, the FAA sheds excess personnel overhead and
eliminates payroll waste. Either way, the FAA controllers at the facility
will have to move, retire, or go find another job.



Those
few AFSS people who get picked up in air traffic will be job-hunting
again
in about five years, along with a whole bunch of terminal 2152's.


"2152" is the government job classification for air traffic control
specialists. AFSS "controllers", Terminal "controllers" and En Route Air
Traffic Controllers (who work in Centers) are all "2152's", even though AFSS
is to Swivelhead what Swivelhead is Enroute. AFSS doesn't control air
traffic, yet they are 2152's, and Swivelheads don't generally have a clue
about anything beyond the range of their binoculars or their puny ASR radar
at the local airport, yet they too are 2152's. It's like comparing
buzzards, chickenhawks and eagles, in that order.

Serco or
Lockmart is headed your way right around 2010 or so.

Serco and Lockmart are the two leading corporate contenders IMO to win the
next round of ATC privatization. Midwest ATC may be in the running too, but
Serco and Lockmart have the clout to win the bigger pieces of the ATC pie
when the Republicans running FAA start paying off their corporate buddies
over the rest of this decade. I give Newps and McNicoll's facilities about
5 to 6 years of belonging to the FAA, and then they will split the radar
facility from the tower, privatize the tower, and move the radar room to a
larger place. By then, so many federal controllers will be retiring it
really wont matter to most of them.

Hope that is clearer...

Chip, ZTL