Happy 2024 C Area! I know I’m a little behind, but still wanted to share my salutations with you all! Here’s hoping to a great year, and I will continue to do my best to be as transparent as possible with you when it comes to the goings on in the area.
Last week, there was a UAL aircraft that departed MSO on the DIDLY5 departure. If you’ve never seen it (which I wasn’t alone in this catagory), check it out. It departs and one of the transitions goes to MLP, which wouldn’t normally be an issue, except this guy was going somewhere out east, so he was climbing out in the face of our departures, just to turn around and go the other way. Glenn reached out to ops and verified that was a mistake on the dispatchers part. We shouldn’t see that normally, but please keep me posted if you see anything strange with this.
If you haven’t heard, JJ did an amazing job with an aircraft in distress last week on lows. Major icing issues caused this aircraft to descend quickly and it was assumed they went down, until a relay from a DAL aircraft was able to verify they were safe on the ground. So many people to name in all this, but well done everyone! Your use of resources and teamwork had a positive outcome, and the pilot called the facility to thank you all for saving their lives. Always great to have a success story and share in some good news!!
We have 2 new controllers who are upstairs in the training department, please help me welcome Scotty Cardona and Robert Marshall! They have been to the floor a couple of times, but won’t start training probably until the fall. I’ll keep you posted on their progress.
Some reminders for ya -
If you test positive for COVID, call the facility and talk to an OM or sup. The flight surgeon doesn’t do anything with this any longer.
If you’ve never used the Virtual Flight Surgeon, you are missing out on an incredible resource. They are fantastic about getting back to us and are always available. Lately, I’ve been going through some not fun medical stuff, and they have been absolutely excellent to work with. They even sent all my paperwork to the flight surgeon when it was all completed, and followed up with me if they hadn’t heard from me in a few days to ensure I was getting everything done and didn’t need any further assistance. Your dues pay for this service, so please utilize it! The phone number is 866-237-6633. Save this number in your phone and call them anytime with questions. They have a website you can check medication restrictions as well Homepage - AMAS (aviationmedicine.com). They have a NATCA page, so check out their website, save it to your favorites. There is a flier on the NATCA board outside of the entrance to the control room if you would like to see another resource.
The transitional pay period and pay raise starts on Sunday. Since we still have a couple of controllers not on the floor and a couple still in training, shift balancing is going to be a thing for a while. Carly does an excellent job tracking the amount of shift balances everyone has, and if you ever want to see this list, please let me know. I would be happy to share it with you. I know it’s frustrating, but the MOU does state “reasonable effort will be made to publish employees on their selected lines”. Please be patient with the schedule as we try to keep everyone as close to their bid lines as possible.
Thank you for all you do, and please reach out if you have any questions about anything. I am happy to help!
Have a great week!
Crumbley
360-635-8244