[Peetwo]

TICK TOCK goes the ICAO/FAA downgrade clock!!

The legacy of a Harfwit continues with more international media shaming, this time courtesy of the Strait Times...

Pilots fear collisions as staffing crisis leaves Australian control towers empty


Flight planning notices for pilots warned that control tower operating hours at airports across Australia were subject to “post-Covid Airservices staffing shortages”. PHOTO: REUTERS

CANBERRA – Concerns among pilots about a possible midair collision are spilling over in Australia as a shortage of air traffic controllers leaves airport towers unmanned, forcing passenger jets to fend for themselves.

There are currently no overnight air traffic control services at Darwin, a northern gateway for carriers including Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia.

Schedules show that at around midnight almost every day, more than a dozen flights have to arrive or depart with almost no guidance from the ground.

On Australia’s north-east coast, the airport at Townsville – a popular jumping-off point for the Great Barrier Reef – does not staff its control tower at weekends. Almost 50 commercial services have to coordinate their own landings or take-offs on Sunday alone.

The labour crisis on the ground is adding risk in the air during the post-Covid-19 travel boom, with members of flight crews taking on the task of distancing their planes from other air traffic – a responsibility that ordinarily lies with air traffic controllers.

Pilots say landing without direction from a tower removes an important layer of security at a critical period of the flight.

Concerned crew members are blowing the whistle after a surge in passenger traffic. Airlines have scheduled 866 flights into Darwin in June, the most in 2024, up from a pandemic-era low of 171 in May 2020, according to Cirium data.

Runway construction work at the airport that restricts plane movements is making landing and taking off without help even more complicated, pilots say.

In a statement, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority said it is “satisfied that the arrangements between 10pm and 6am are safe for the anticipated traffic mix” at Darwin. The regulator said it is working with the Defence Department, which is responsible for air traffic control at Darwin, to “support a return to the previous service levels”. The department did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Airservices Australia, the government agency that manages airspace, said “rosters are tight in some areas” but “safety is never compromised”.

The organisation has recruited and trained 100 new air traffic controllers since 2020 and more than 70 others will join in the 2025 fiscal year, it said.

Like the rest of the aviation industry, air traffic controllers worldwide took a blow during the pandemic, with many laid off when international travel ground to a halt.

Employment levels in a sector that is essential in keeping aviation safe have failed to keep pace with the swift recovery in air travel.

The depleted ranks have been in the spotlight globally after a spate of close calls on runways in the US, including a near collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in April between a JetBlue Airways flight and a Southwest Airlines plane. In January, a fiery crash on the tarmac in Tokyo killed five people.

Safety concerns among air traffic controllers themselves in Sydney – Australia’s main aviation gateway – emerged early in 2023 when employees submitted at least 15 confidential reports to the transport safety investigator. Some warned that an accident was almost inevitable unless the manpower deficit was addressed.

Also related, I note that the aircraft noise inquiry now has over 500 submissions and climbing daily: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Bus...craftNoise

Australia a 1st World country, with Government inflicted, 3rd World aviation safety standards - TICK TOCK INDEED!

MTF...P2