'Don't Kill the Canary,' Says Carr, And Don't Privatize
ATC System
"As a spokesman for this country's air traffic controllers,
part of my job is to be an early warning system, the canary in
the coalmine," National Air Traffic Controllers Association
president John Carr told Congress late last month. NATCA is fighting
what it sees as a duplicitous effort on the part of the Bush administration
to privatize the ATC system.
"I have the benefit of the bird's eye view, not only from
my own perspective, but also through the eyes of the thousands
of controllers who spend each and every day on the front line,
Carr said. "For us, the subtle degradations in safety are
not only visible, but alarming. We know that most people will
not see the chinks in the armor and for many of you the first
time you will learn something was wrong, is when a plane crashes.
Well, I must say to this esteemed committee, that is just too
late.
"Too often," Carr said, "the response to early
warnings about threats to safety is to simply kill the canary.
Perhaps if you are lucky, nothing bad will happen on your watch,
but air traffic control is not about luck. My tools are training,
skills, staffing and a headset, not a rabbit's foot and a four-leaf
clover.
"This phenomenon, this effort to silence the early warning, is not unique
to FAA, it exists in any safety culture," said Carr "when
cost becomes more important than quality."
