Safety chairman: The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, March 16,1983-Page 5 Air traffic shouldn't increase WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that the government is allowing air traffic to reach normal levels too quickly amid continuing questions about the training and' long hours of air traffic controllers. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered strict ceilings on air traffic after the 1981 con- trollers' strike and firing of 11,500 controllers, but FAA officials say they intend to lift all retrictions by the end of the year. IHE VOLUME of traffic nationwide is ex- pected to return to prestrike levels by next fdnth, although there are still far fewer con- tiollers working than before the strike and many supervisors are still directing aircraft, rather than only watching over their staffs. Jim Burnett, chairman of the NTSB, suggested the FAA should slow down its push to lift restrictions, which have limited air traf- fic at 20 major airports. "I feel that we're dropping the traffic con- trols faster than we should," Burnett remarked during a break in the board's discussions of a three-month study of the con- trol system by an NTSB task force. HE SAID IN an interview later that he has been concerned about the pace at which the FAA is returnng traffic levels ever since the 1981 strike. "We need to concentrate on keeping the traf- fic levels at a more appropriate level and not letting that get out of hand," he said. "I think the priority should be getting the supervisors back to supervising . . . getting work hours down to a regular work week." He said the FAA's goals should also include establishing a "more relaxed environment," along with returning to a regular 40-hour work week, and improving training "rather than trying to get the traffic levels back." BURNETT SAID he does not want to imply that the airways are unsafe, but warned that potential problems could surface if traffic levels are allowed to increase too quickly. Con- cerns about fatigue, controller training, and long working hours "can be resolved if we con- tinue proper restrictions of aircraft," he said. The FAA said it has about 12,000 controllers, about half of them fully trained, and 2,000 supervisors working at air terminals and in route control centers. The agency estimates the staff will be at full strength of about 14,000 controllers later this year and plans to lift restrictions at 20 major airports by the end of the year. The agency would continue to direct the flow of aircraft until mid-1984 when it expects supervisors no longer will have to handle air- craft. "WE'RE GOING to bring (air traffic) back as soon as we can put without bringing it back to the point that there's a safety hazard," insisted FAA spokesman Fred Farrar. FAA Ad- ministrator J. Lynn Helms repeatedly has said that safety is his top priority when deciding whether to lift traffic restrictions. The NTSB, which last year concluded its first report of the air traffic control system by saying that air travel remains safe, is nearly done with a second report. But the five board members told the staff yesterday their draft would require substantial rewriting and a final report is not expected for several days. Although the draft report has not been made public, discussions between the staff and board members made it clear that investigators con- tinue to have concerns about controller training. State may study higher ed. 01. system (Continued from Page 1) discussions about the commission were tabled until today so the committee could hear testimony from represen- tatives of the governor's office and the office of State Superintendent of Schools Phillip Runkel. Miller-Owen sd the committee also wanted input from some of the state's higher education institutions. ;According to University Vice President for State Relations Richard Kennedy, the committee has asked President Harold Shapiro to testify, but scheduling conflicts have prevented Shapiro from speaking yet. ,Kennedy said the University welcomes the idea of a study so long as the commission is instructed to pursue learly defined goals. "WE CAN'T have people going off in seven different directions at once," he said. Ron Bishop, director of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Af- fairs, said he would also welcome such a study "as long as they don't go into it as a witch hunt," such as searching for specific areas to cut from the budget. Bishop and Kennedy both agreed that the commission could threaten the U niversity's autonomy from the state but they said a problem would not arise until the group began making recom- mendations. 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