Post by typhoon on May 2, 2013 20:23:25 GMT -5
At least one weather specialist held up the middle ground. Dan Sobien, president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said, “Weather observation is an inherently governmental function and should be handled by government employees. However, most government employees should be trained, and not just with a three-week course, to understand what they’re looking at.”
Though the union leader would prefer full-time federal employees to contractors for safety reasons, he acknowledged that this costs money. “If controllers are working to guide planes down, weather reporting is a secondary function and something will fall through the cracks. The more eyes on the sky the better” for weather forecasting, Sobien says, “but that shouldn’t be their main job.”
www.govexec.com/technology/2013/05/faa-puts-plan-air-controllers-report-weather/62948/?oref=top-story
Though the union leader would prefer full-time federal employees to contractors for safety reasons, he acknowledged that this costs money. “If controllers are working to guide planes down, weather reporting is a secondary function and something will fall through the cracks. The more eyes on the sky the better” for weather forecasting, Sobien says, “but that shouldn’t be their main job.”
www.govexec.com/technology/2013/05/faa-puts-plan-air-controllers-report-weather/62948/?oref=top-story