PATCO Strike

I went to work for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an Air Traffic Controller in 1977 after spending nine years in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) from 1967 to 1976. The last five years in the USAF I was a controller and worked at numerous locations under pretty trying conditions. I was a fully qualified controller and had performed crew chief duties for the last several years which meant I managed several other controllers while operating a Control Tower at an Air Force Base. This meant nothing to the FAA. I entered the FAA as a new employee and had to go through all the training that someone with no controller experience had to do.

In retrospect I understand the FAA’s logic. The FAA Air Traffic Controller Academy located at Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City not only teaches you how to be a controller but it also puts each student under extremely stressful situations to see if you can handle it. There is no second chance at the academy. You fail a test or a practical exercise, which there were many, they would walk you to the door the same day. The students would not only attend class all day but would meet up in groups in the evening to review and practice the events that we all knew would take place the next day. There was a massive amount of data that had to be memorized and be able to be recalled immediately. It is definitely the hardest school I ever attended and I went into it as an experienced controller! I was extremely glad to have successfully completed the four months of hell and finally get to my assigned site and get back to work as an FAA controller.

My first FAA assignment was at a closed USAF Strategic Air Command (SAC) base in the plains of western Oklahoma, Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base at Burns Flat, Okla. The name of the town says it all. The airport had a 13,000 ft. runway 300 feet wide that in years past housed B-52 bombers and KC-135 Air Refuel Tankers. All the base housing and other facilities were still there only there were no people, at least not many. Burns Flat had a cotton gin and a small store/diner and that was it. The only reason the FAA staffed this site was because Altas AFB was 50 miles south with C-5 and C-141 aircraft and the FAA Academy at Okla. City also had many aircraft that was used to train FAA check pilots. Burns Flat allowed aircraft to come from Altas and FAA Academy to practice with no conflicts with airlines or private aviation aircraft.

We were actually very busy at Burns Flat because we not only provided a control tower and runway but also provided Non-Radar Approach Control so the aircraft could practice all their instrument approaches uninterrupted. For those not familiar with air traffic control, Non-Radar Approach Control is extremely difficult compared to having a radar screen to see all the aircraft. We worked everything using time/distance and pilot reporting over navigation aids and at assigned altitudes.

I’ve provided you all this history so you can realize that no controller went into this work for the money, which was not very good anyway. They took this job for other reasons such as pride, job satisfaction, instant job gratification and many others. I never met a controller who didn’t love his job.

After completing the FAA Academy and arriving at Burns Flat, I was introduced to the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) union by the other controllers. There was no pressure to join, but I quickly saw why the union was needed to ensure the controllers were treated fairly by the FAA bureaucracy. As I stated in a previous blog about an aircraft accident I witnessed, the FAA was quick to use the controllers as scape-goats to cover their lack of solving numerous flight safety issues that the controllers continually highlighted; i.e. short staff, mandatory overtime, unreliable Radios/Radar/Navigational Aids, antiquated operating instructions, etc. As a result, I joined PATCO and became a fully supportive member.

I worked at Burns Flat for several years but finally was able to transfer to a site closer to my folks and kids; i.e. Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. Airport at Jenks, Okla. also known as Riverside Airport. This was a much more dynamic environment because of the many flight schools and low time pilots. I was used to working with highly professional pilots in the military and the FAA Academy Check Pilots but now had to adjust to many low time pilots with even English language issues (foreign students). I picked it up quickly and became fully qualified at this airport. Every new assignment required the controller to go through a complete indoctrination process before being allowed to work unmonitored.

At this new site I found that the PATCO officer positions would be rotated every year among the 12 assigned controllers so everyone had to share the union administrative work equally. The key position was the local PATCO president position because they interacted directly with the FAA Tower Chief on such issues as assignment of mandatory overtime, disputes and especially on any actions being taken against a controller such as System Errors. I explained in my last blog how subjective this job is and that a controller could be given a Systems Error by an FAA supervisor on the most trivial of issue. A controller could be fired over these type of things and the FAA would use this to intimidate the controllers if they complained or caused any problems for the facility boss (Tower Chief). In other words, there was a lot of tension between the controllers and FAA Management. After a year or so on site I rotated into being the vice president of our local PATCO.

Because PATCO was the recognized bargaining unit for the FAA controllers, FAA and PATCO would enter contract negotiations every couple of years. This was the only time PATCO could address such issues as controller staffing or lack of adequate staffing, mandatory overtime procedures, pay, etc. Actually FAA controllers are government employees paid using the GS pay scale also used for all other professional government employees. In 1981 I was a GS-11 working at the 38^th busiest airport of the 400+ controlled airports in the nation. GS-11 is not a lot of money for the work performed by a controller compared to the work an office employee would do in Social Security or IRS.

In 1981 the controller contract was up for re-negotiations and this received lots of news coverage. Primarily because PATCO was trying to get the point out to the public of the deterioration of the air traffic environment due to the lack of staff, unreliable equipment and needed airport facility upgrades. Controller pay was also a subject PATCO tried to highlight to get realistic compensation for the work performed by the controllers. In my four years in the FAA I saw only one controller actually retire. The vast majority would be eliminated due to medical disqualification such as eyesight, required medication that could impact their performance, etc. PATCO was confident that their concerns would be addressed this time because they had received endorsement from Ronald Regan who was running for and won the U.S. presidency.

The events that finally led up to the strike are well covered in a book named “Collision Course, Ronald Reagan, The Air Traffic Controllers, And The Strike That Changed America” by Joseph A. McCartin. If you have any interest what really happened then read this book.

At the start of the contract negotiations I was really on the fence about what to do. I loved my job even with the low pay. I had planned on making this my life’s career and was not anxious to throw it away without a pretty good reason. Another important fact is as an FAA Controller we had to sign a statement saying we would not strike against the government. None of us took this lightly. As contract negotiations continued to deteriorate, a barely acceptable contract was distributed by PATCO management to the controllers for their vote to accept or not. This vote also included a vote to strike if an eventual agreement could not be reached. No one liked the offered contract and responded with that answer, but a strike vote was not accepted by the controllers. When PATCO went back to the FAA to further negotiate, FAA pulled the offer off the table and submitted a worse offer than before. Somehow FAA had learned that the controllers were not ready to strike so they took advantage of that with a reduced offer. I had actually voted against a strike with the first offer. At about this same time FAA management made each controller sign another non-strike statement in front of FAA management witnesses. The FAA also started a news campaign that all the controllers wanted was an immediate $10,000 raise. This was 1981 and I was barely making low $20K as a GS-11 so that is a lot of money but that was not what was being asked by the controllers.

When the revised FAA offer was distributed to the controllers by PATCO management a full storm of rejection rose from the membership. You  have to understand that there were only 17,000 controllers in the whole U.S. spread across over hundreds of facilities. There was no grand meeting of all the controllers to debate this issue, it was done over land-lines and among small facilities of maybe a dozen or so controllers. This time the FAA offer was soundly rejected and the strike vote was approved. I also voted to strike. PATCO advised the FAA that a strike would happen at midnight Aug. 21, 1981, unless they were willing to renegotiate their last offer. The FAA walked out and said take it or leave it.

Strike:

On Friday, Aug. 21, 1981, I worked a normal shift at Riverside Tower but since the tower closed at 8 p.m. I was actually off work when the strike happened at midnight. The government had U.S. marshals at all FAA facilities at midnight as the controllers came out the door and gave them federal injunctions stating that if they did not come to work as normal the next day they would be in contempt of Federal Court and would be arrested. Since I was already out of the facility at 8 p.m. I did not get handed an injunction although I knew one had been issued in my name. We had been warned that the government was especially going after the union officers, and I was the vice president of our local.

Of the 17,000 controllers, 12,000 went out on strike, I among them. My first move was not to be found by the U.S. marshals. Several of us from my site drove to Oklahoma City to hide out and also participate in union meetings at a hidden site. I was actually staying with one of the other controllers from my site whose father was a senior manager at a big FAA facility in Oklahoma City. At one point he and I were hiding in the back room as his father is talking to a U.S. marshal in the front of the house asking where his son could be found. He lied for both of us so I guess blood is thicker than water.

I stayed several days in Oklahoma City attending union meetings and glued to the news, but I finally had to go back home to get more clothes. As I drove up to my house I found several business cards from U.S. marshals and FBI agents stuck in my door with notes saying it was imperative I contact them. Of course I will! The news actually showed controllers in orange jump suits with ankle and wrist chains walking into a courthouse and jail somewhere in the U.S. That was not going to be me if I could help it. While in my house, the phone rang and I automatically picked it before thinking. It was a U.S. marshal and he said he had been trying to contract me for several days and had some important papers I needed to get to my lawyer. I knew what he wanted to give me and wasn’t too keen on making it easy for him. I told him I would be at a donut shop in town for the next 30 minutes if he wanted to meet me. He said he couldn’t get there in 30 minutes and I said sorry, I’ve got other things to do so can’t wait for you. I guess that wasn’t the best thing to say to someone carrying a gun but too late now.

I was setting in the donut shop just about to leave when this guy filled the entrance and walked towards me. Not sure how he got there so fast, but he was the biggest cop I ever remember seeing. He sat down and confirmed I was his quarry and handed me my injunction plus about 2 inches of additional paperwork. I wasn’t sure what his mood was and expected the worse since I had jerked his chain about waiting for him for only 30 minutes. He was actually very nice and stated that all the U.S. marshals had been pulled off all their other real crime work to go after us controllers. He said he didn’t believe it was right but I better get my lawyer on the job quickly because otherwise I would be in jail soon. I did get this paperwork to our union lawyer who added it to the pile of the other 12,000 controllers’ paperwork.

At about this same time President Regan or as we liked to call him, “Ronnie,” had publicly fired all the striking controllers. This actually kept me out of jail. The Tulsa Justice Department, which was handling my case made a logical decision. They stated they were trying to prosecute the controllers who refused to go back to work yet the President had fired the same controllers and had them locked out of their FAA work sites. He made the decision to drop all the cases under his jurisdiction and eventually so did the rest of the country.

Aftermath:

12,000 controllers out of 17,000 in the U.S. are now gone. How did the air traffic continue, you might ask. The FAA had made some major contingency plans to include several items PATCO was requesting to be implemented.

1                    Air Traffic Control services to all but military and airlines was suspended. This meant that unless you were an airline or military you probably were not going to fly in any controlled airspace. The controllers used a lot of their work day supporting private aviation and this came to an immediate stop.

2                    Military controllers were assigned to FAA facilities to backfill the missing controllers. This works but no one walks into a new facility and starts controlling airplanes, not even an experienced controller.

3                    Physical requirements were lowered so many flight service technicians could move over to controller positions. This included age limits and eyesight limitations. Controllers have to take a complete flight physical every six months, and the FAA loosened up on these requirements drastically.

4                    They banned PATCO so there was no protection for the controllers remaining. Mandatory overtime was the norm and no complaints were entertained by the FAA. They had it exactly how they wanted, finally.

The president and FAA got the relief from the U.S. traveling public without them even realizing what they gave up in exchange. Flying safety was drastically reduced for years and overall services impacted, but the public accepted it.

As for me, I was out of a job. I started looking at almost everything available. I even went to the State Employment Office to see what they had listed. I met a young lady setting at a desk in a large room with other similar desks and she said “let me go talk to my supervisor” who was in an office to the side. I heard him yell at the top of his voice “Job? Hell, he needs to be put in jail!” She came back to the desk red faced and I said “No problem, like I hadn’t heard that before” and left.

I went on several interviews and actually had a job offer from a large Tulsa hospital to manage all their janitorial staff. I was a little hesitant when he asked me how I would handle unruly employees. In the meantime I had gotten an interview with a company in Tulsa looking for flight simulator technicians. I had never even seen a flight simulator but I had four years of avionics training in the Air Force prior to cross training into Air Traffic Control. I met with the manager of the technicians and we talked for several hours. He never asked any questions about my electronics background or simulator experience. We talked about the strike and my many life experiences to date. At this time I held an FAA Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanic license, a FAA Commercial Pilot and Instrument License, in addition to my recently cancelled FAA Air Traffic Controller License. I had experience in everything associated with aviation. He hired me that day at only a couple $K less than I was making as an FAA controller. Six months later I’m the lead test and evaluation technician for this company testing new flight simulators before delivery.

A very short time later I had received promotions and pay raises that exceeded my FAA pay with a whole hell of a lot less stress from the job. Leaving the FAA was the best career move I could have made even though it was not my expressed plan. I entered the flight simulation workforce and found my niche. With my varied aircraft experience I moved from job to job using my unique skill set to end my career as the chief engineer for a flight simulator government contract with 16 full flight simulators in five different locations in the U.S. BTW this is without having an engineering degree.

I wish I could say that all my controller brothers and sisters ended as well. I at least had experience in another field that gave me a path. One of my controller friends from Riverside committed suicide as a result of losing his family medical insurance. Many others I’m sure suffered different degrees of hardship.

Conclusion:

It’s interesting the different reactions I get from people when they hear this story. Many say I should have been put in jail, way more than those agree with my decisions. For those with negative reactions, if you have never been in a situation where you have extreme pressure plus must make sweeping life- changing decisions, then your opinion isn’t relevant. I much prefer the company of the 12,000 brothers and siters that tried to make flying safer and paid the price for that decision.

Fast forward several years to  about 1983:

I get a letter from the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C. and it says “Mr. Stanley, we find in our records that you witnessed a mid-air collision in 1981 while working as an Air Traffic Controller at Riverside Airport, OK. We would like to have you come to D.C. to provide a deposition for a law suit against the U.S. Government by one of the foreign pilot’s from the accident.” I had to assume it was either the Argentina pilot’s family of the aircraft that crashed on our runway after the mid-air collision (he survived) or the other Iranian pilot who died. I called the telephone number provided in the letter and eventually spoke to a female lawyer handling the case for the U.S. After a few pleasantries I said “You have a lot of gall asking for my help with this case when a couple years ago you were trying to put me in jail!” She said that wasn’t their department, but I pointed out to her that the address on her letter was the same as half a dozen I already received during the PATCO strike. I finally agreed to help and would wait to hear from her again for the arrangements. After not being contacted for months I finally hear the government settled with the family out of court.

Fast Forward to 1987:

While I was in the UASF and FAA I had a secret security clearance, which was mandatory for the work I was doing. I lost the security clearance when Ronnie fired all the striking controllers. Meanwhile I had changed jobs and was working for Singer Link at a civilian flight training center on DFW airport called SimuFlite. Singer-Link, who owned SimuFlite,  had just won a government contract to take over operation of the C-130 Aircrew Training System (ATS) at Little Rock, Ark. My boss asked me and three other engineers to go to Little Rock and help get the program running. We four went for a site visit to Little Rock and only me and one other engineer agreed to move to Little Rock for no more than a year (I’ve been here for 32 years). This program required lots of people initially and we hired 250 to 300 new employees within several months. Most if not all of them required a secret clearance, including me. This was something I hadn’t considered when I agreed to move to Little Rock to become the programs project engineer. Most of the new hires were already on the program and just changing companies or ex-military so they already had current clearances.

After being at Little Rock for a couple of months we get a visit from a gentleman from the government who was managing the security clearance applications. He came to investigate only one applicant from the 250+ we needed for the program, and that was me. I came into a small office where he was sitting and in front of him was a stack of papers that looked a lot like those I had seen several times in 1981. He began by saying “ Mr. Stanley, what is this contempt of Federal Court charge all about?” I responded with “ I was charged but never convicted!” I then went through the whole scenario including the fact that several years after the PATCO strike the government started hiring back some of the fired controllers. I also had the opportunity to go back, but I had already passed my FAA pay by a significant amount and I liked my job. Not a hard decision to make. I got my Secret Clearance reinstated and worked on the C-130 ATS for 32 years training thousands of aircrew for the UASF and many foreign countries

.

I know to this day in some dusty filing cabinet buried deep in the bowls of some government building is that stack of papers for a desperado with my name on it. Lastly, I worked from the time I was 12 years old on a paper route until I retired at 71 and only got fired one time and that was by the President of the United States.