PROFESSIONAL AVIATION SAFETY SPECIALISTS

1200 G Street NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20005

Telephone: (202) 293-7277 Fax: (202) 293-7727

Founded 1977

Chair Graves, Ranking Member Cohen, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for

inviting me to testify on behalf of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO

(PASS).

PASS represents approximately 11,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department

of Defense employees throughout the United States and abroad. PASS-represented employees in

the FAA install, maintain, support and certify air traffic control and national defense equipment,

inspect and oversee the commercial and general aviation industries, develop flight procedures,

and perform quality analyses of complex aviation systems used in air traffic control and national

defense in the United States and overseas. PASS members work to ensure the safety and

PASS thanks the members of the subcommittee for turning their attention toward examining

opportunities to recruit, retain and engage aviation talent. As PASS has long emphasized, the

FAA cannot accomplish its safety mission without the right number of employees in the

necessary positions. Unfortunately, our workforce faces many challenges that hinder the ability

to ensure adequate staffing.

It is worth noting that PASS is currently in negotiations on new collective bargaining agreements

with the FAA for the employees we represent in the Air Traffic Organization and Aviation

Safety. These negotiations present a significant opportunity for PASS to work with the agency

on ways to enhance recruitment and retention.

The largest PASS bargaining unit is the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) Technical Operations

unit, consisting of technical employees who install, maintain, repair and certify the radar,

navigation, communication and power equipment that comprises the U.S. National Airspace

System (NAS).

Within Technical Operations, PASS represents FAA airway transportation systems specialists,

more commonly referred to as technicians. Technicians ensure the functionality of

communications, computers, navigational aids and power systems vital to safe air travel and the

mission of pilots and air traffic controllers. PASS-represented employees in Flight Program

Technical Operations Staffing

There are approximately 4,800 FAA technicians responsible for installing, operating,

maintaining and repairing more than 74,000 radar, communications, navigational aids, airport

lighting, backup power, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) at FAA facilities.

This number of employees has been on a consistent decline for years, helped in part by the

increasing number of retirements.

Insufficient technician staffing can result in increased restoration times during an outage and

LCM duration.”

Performing preventative maintenance is essential to avoiding system

disruptions, with the data from the report indicating that the average number of unscheduled

outages per facility has been trending upward since 2017.

While the media focuses on the shortage of air traffic controllers when reporting on non-weather-

related flight delays, the shortage of FAA systems specialists is just as acute. This lack of

technician staffing is not going unnoticed. For example, in April, a group of Texas lawmakers

sent a letter to the FAA administrator regarding the inadequate staffing in the San Antonio

System Support Center (SSC). The specific concern related to the number of qualified and

not an anomaly.

In addition, inadequate staffing has resulted in PASS-represented employees being unable to

serve on important agency groups and initiatives. PASS has long called attention to not only the

need for sufficient technical staffing but also to the lack of a reliable staffing model on which to

base staffing decisions and placement.

technician staffing, April 10, 2024.

PASS is currently in contract negotiations with ATO over a new collective bargaining

agreement. PASS views this as an opportunity to develop processes and incentives better aimed

Technical Operations Training

Hiring and training new technicians is not a quick or easy process. FAA technicians must be

skilled and proficient on a number of systems. It can take years to fully train an FAA technician

to perform all necessary duties related to the position. According to the Department of

Transportation Inspector General (IG), “Most FAA systems require specific training and

about people with the right skills and training.

PASS consistently hears from our members that adequate training is a recurring issue and that

without proper training, there is an increased risk to aviation safety. Many factors impact the

ability to fully train FAA technicians, including availability of travel funding, instructor

availability and course development. In addition, the FAA is still playing catch up after its

training academy in Oklahoma City was shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the

actual equipment. It can take years to fully train an FAA technician to perform all necessary

institutional knowledge. The agency hires only when a position becomes vacant. This is

obviously impacting staffing levels at facilities nationwide. There needs to be a continuous

investment in employee training and development programs to enhance skills and knowledge.

Technical Operations Workforce Plan

The FAA has been developing the Technical Operations staffing model (TSM) for over a decade.

In 2018, the IG noted the lack of progress: “The Agency also lacks a comprehensive workforce

plan to address hiring and training needs for its entire technical workforce. In addition, FAA

does not currently account for planned retirements or track how long it takes on average to train

new technicians, data that would be useful for determining future training and hiring needs.”

The FAA’s TSM only addresses the technical employees in the field who perform preventative

maintenance and cannot be relied upon to address staffing for other duties they perform. These

other duties include work related to unscheduled outages; corrective maintenance in the case of

outages or disruptions; tasks related to specific technical disciplines, such as Communication or

Radar; labor reporting and other administrative tasks, which are necessary to accurately track the

work being done; travel time (technicians may be responsible for facilities located in remote

locations or multiple locations); among others. Due to staffing insufficiencies, PASS often hears

of incidents in which a facility has fallen below the coverage requirements for a watch schedule.

The model also does not reflect the work performed by support personnel who are not directly

interfacing with live NAS equipment and systems. Furthermore, the model does not consider

improvement in the implementation of new NAS systems. The development of the Technical

Operations Workforce Plan should serve as a model for other plans to follow for Mission

Support Services and Flight Program Operations.

Of utmost importance, the agency must be directed to collaboratively work with PASS on the

creation of any workforce plan. While PASS has made it clear to the FAA that we are ready and

willing to assist in the development of a plan, our offers have been declined or ignored.

AVIATION SAFETY

Funding Challenges

PASS thanks the Committee for passing the Aircraft Certification Safety and Accountability Act

in late 2021, in which Congress authorized $81 million to recruit and retain safety specialists

related to certification. Unfortunately, Congress did not follow through on its directive and failed

to appropriate the money. While PASS was encouraged by the language in the law, it did not

actually accomplish any recruitment or retention goals because there were no appropriated funds.

Aviation Safety Inspector Staffing

Transportation Inspector General (IG), an alarming 59% and 79% of Certificate Management

Office and Flight Standards District Office managers, respectively, said their offices are short-

staffed.

Among the reasons cited in the IG report for understaffing are the same reasons cited by

PASS over the years. These include increasing workload, hiring challenges, extended hiring and

training periods, and increasing oversight responsibility (including for the evolving unmanned

aerial system segment).

The agency itself has recognized the need to maintain a robust inspector workforce. According to

Transportation, June 13, 2024.

how many inspectors are needed to safely monitor the system. At the recent hearing before the

Senate Commerce Committee regarding the agency’s oversight of aviation manufacturing, FAA

Administrator Whitaker recognized that the FAA was misguided in overseeing Boeing by being

too “hands off.” He acknowledged that the FAA should have had much better visibility into what

was happening at Boeing.

The administrator did claim that the agency now had more inspectors on the ground at Boeing

factories and the factory of its primary supplier. He explained that the FAA previously had 24

inspectors at Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems and, while the number is now in the low 30s, the

target is 55 inspectors. He emphasized that the FAA can no longer afford to simply be “reactive.”

other certificates will leave those manufacturers without oversight. The FAA should consult with

stakeholders to ensure the safety of the system. As always, PASS stands ready to provide input

and assistance as our AVS workforce knows best what resources are needed to ensure the safety

of the American flying public.

STAFFING CHALLENGES AT THE FAA

While each of PASS’s bargaining units has its specific challenges in ensuring proper recruitment,

retention and engagement, there are overarching hurdles that face the agency when considering

For example, the FAA often struggles to offer salaries that are competitive with the private

sector, which can deter highly skilled professionals. While federal employees received a 5.2%

pay increase in 2024, the size of this increase was a rare occurrence and did not assist in closing

the pay gap between the federal and private sectors. According to the Federal Salary Council,

over the last year, federal employees earned on average 27.54% less in wages than their private

sector counterparts. This is the second consecutive year that the federal pay gap has widened. It

is anticipated that federal employees will receive a 2% increase for 2025.

To maintain the current workforce and attract new employees to public service, the agency

should consider starting salaries that are more competitive with the private sector and other

In addition, the hiring and training process for FAA employees can be long and tedious. While

PASS emphasizes that there is a certain amount of time that goes into fully training employees

represented by the union to serve in such safety-critical positions, the process for doing so can be

streamlined to avoid bottlenecks in training. This could also be resolved by managing workloads

for employees that permit them to specialize in particular fields rather than be considered “jacks

of all trades.”

There is also a lack of effective outreach and marketing to attract diverse talent pools, including

women, minorities and young professionals. In fact, according to new data from the Partnership

for Public Service, most young people think a career in government is a way to have a positive

best suited for in Technical Operations before being hired. Finally, frequent changes in FAA

leadership positions strain the ability to create a stable environment.

Retention

Retention of current employees and new hires goes hand in hand with recruitment. The FAA

must provide a clear career progression path for its employees with opportunities for professional

growth. Because staffing is critically low in many locations, employees are often not allowed to

volunteer for “solicitations of interest” (SOIs) that permit them to temporarily gain experience in

ensuring a healthy work-life balance can help retain employees.

Congress should consider the unintended consequences when regulating workplace flexibilities.

In our view, agencies should continue to develop telework and other workplace flexibilities,

subject to the collective bargaining process, that make sense for their workforces and allow them

to be competitive with the private sector. Several years before the COVID-19 pandemic, Flight

Standards had already moved away from geography in order to be more nimble in regulating the

aviation industry. This was an intentional business strategy by FAA to make the workforce more

flexible in aviation oversight. This strategy also allows the agency to rely upon a broader pool of

employees to work together across the country in situations where they normally would be

isolated. This type of organizational design may assist in reducing bottlenecks on recruitment

employer-of-choice-for-early-career-professionals/.

changing aviation industry. To this end, telework and remote work flexibilities are important

options to help retain employees.

In addition, current legislation targeting federal employees, including limiting or monitoring

official time and implementing legislation that would strip federal employees of certain rights,

does not paint the federal government in a positive light. If the federal government does not

recognize the rights and professionalism of its workforce, it will not be able to retain capable

employees.

Ensuring engagement of employees is also essential to retaining the workforce. Implementing

language directing the FAA to review and revise the aviation safety inspector staffing model;

instructing the IG to review FAA workforce plans from the past five fiscal years, raising the

safety standard of foreign repair stations to better align with U.S. standards, and, for the first

time, the legislation included pivotal language on telework.

Strong policy language on telework in the legislation reinforces concepts proposed by PASS

during current contract negotiations for its collective bargaining agreements. The new law states

While the law does not supersede the FAA’s requirement to bargain with its unions over working

conditions, it does require the agency to consult with its unions when devising any policy. This

has not been the case historically. PASS believes Congress must ensure that the FAA follow

through with its directives in the reauthorization legislation to develop workforce plans and

staffing models. Securing the strongest FAA workforce—and retaining that workforce—is

essential to a safe and efficient aviation system.

CONCLUSION

The work of the highly trained and skilled employees represented by PASS is essential to

protecting aviation safety and fulfilling the agency’s mission. PASS recognizes that having the