Feds to audit air traffic controllers' workload in Chicago area
The U.S. Transportation Department says it will formally investigate the work conditions of Chicago-area air traffic controllers amid the increasing frequency of controller errors.
The agency's Office of Inspector General announced the audit Monday in response to a request last month by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.
The audit will involve controllers at O'Hare International Airport and air traffic control facilities in Elgin and Aurora, and will evaluate key factors that could contribute to controller fatigue, the inspector general's office said.
The National Transportation Safety Board has cited fatigue as a potential contributing factor to the recent errors.
The agency also says it will examine what measures the Federal Aviation Administration has taken to mitigate potential controller fatigue at those locations.
Durbin's request last month came a week after the General Accountability Office released a study showing that O'Hare had the second-highest number of near-collisions on runways between 2001 and 2006. A spokeswoman for the senator did not immediately return a phone call following the audit announcement.
Controllers in the Chicago region and elsewhere say they are weary and more error-prone after having to work repeated six-day weeks due to staffing level changes. The Federal Aviation Administration has said that staffing levels are adequate despite controllers' complaints.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Patrick Forrey said he was grateful for Durbin's request for an investigation "in what is among the some of the busiest and most complex airspace in the national airspace system."
"I think what the OIG will find is too few certified controllers and, actually, too many trainees, who are not getting adequate training and are being rushed through the process due to the critical staffing shortage," Forrey said in a statement. "Additionally, the FAA has absolutely no plan to address the record attrition levels of both veteran controllers and trainees."