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STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD OF THE HONORABLE JANE F. GARVEY FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATOR ON MILITARY SKILLS DOCUMENTATION AND THE CIVILIAN CONVERSION PROCESS FOR THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON BENEFITS SEPTEMBER 9, 1999. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: Thank
you for the opportunity to submit the views of the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) for the record.
The FAA has had a long history of working cooperatively with
the military to help transition servicemembers from military service
to civilian status. This
testimony will describe the processes through which the FAA licenses
or certifies these men and women for civilian conversion based upon
their previous military experience.
I hope that my testimony will help to clarify some of these
procedures and our efforts to facilitate conversion of military
training and skills to meet FAA requirements. First,
I will address the procedures that a servicemember must take if he or
she wishes to transition to the FAA as an air traffic controller.
Before I do that, I should give some background on the air
traffic control system. The
FAA has controllers in both airport terminal environments and "en
route center" environments.
Terminal controllers control the air traffic immediately
surrounding an airport and en route controllers control air traffic
most everywhere else. Each of our 21 en route centers divide the airspace into
areas, which are further divided into "sectors." Each sector is staffed with one, two, or three FAA air
traffic controllers, depending on the volume and complexity of the
traffic. As you may
imagine, these two environments vary greatly in their needs.
In the terminal environment, a controller needs to consider
takeoffs and landings, gate availability, airspace constraints, runway
configurations, and weather. The
en route controller needs to consider traffic coming from other
sectors, volume, spacing requirements, weather, and flow control
procedures. Moreover, the
demands of the airspace can vary widely from region to region.
These considerations require that air traffic controllers
receive careful and thorough training, both in their initial training,
and their continuing education for further certification. Because
of these factors, when a servicemember applies for a controller
position with the FAA, we carefully review his or her experience as a
military air traffic controller to determine if that level of
experience is appropriate for a position as a civilian air traffic
controller. Several
factors play into this consideration:
how long has the servicemember controlled air traffic?
At what type of facility did the servicemember work?
In what region of the country did the servicemember work?
What types of aircraft did the controller typically control?
What was the volume and complexity of traffic he or she worked
as a military controller? And
the list goes on. Because
the military does not have any equivalent to the FAA's en route
centers, any military controller applying for a position with the FAA
typically needs to be trained in the en route environment.
This is not a barrier to hiring military controllers into the
en route centers, since every controller who works at an en route
center must be especially trained to handle the particular needs of
that center. For example,
at the en route center in Leesburg, Virginia, a controller who is
certified to handle traffic in a particular area may only handle air
traffic in that area, i.e., from Washington, DC to New York.
However, if he were to switch areas, say to control air traffic
from Washington, DC to Chicago, he would need to be trained and
certified specifically in that area.
These stringent requirements are in place to carry out the FAA
mandate, to ensure that air travel is as safe as we can possibly make
it. Thus,
a military air traffic controller would need to show proof of his
military controller certification, and document his controller
experience when applying for a particular position.
If he is hired by the FAA, we take whatever further training
steps are necessary to ensure that the controller's competency is
enhanced. Alternatively,
servicemembers may seek other FAA certificates, such as mechanic's and
repairman's certificates. In
these situations, the servicemember's training and experience in the
military essentially serves as a substitute for the formal training
that a civilian might undergo. In
order to qualify for an FAA certificate, the individual must first
complete the requisite paperwork, which would detail his or her
experience in the military, and submit it to one of the FAA's Flight
Standards District Offices (FSDO).
A field inspector would process the paperwork, reconciling the
listed experience with equivalent FAA requirements.
For example, a servicemember applying for an airframe and
powerplant certificate might list the number of hours spent on a
certain repair activity on the paperwork.
This activity has a Department of Defense (DoD) assigned code
designation. An FAA
inspector then cross-references these DoD codes to determine the
equivalent FAA function. Once the applicant has substantiated FAA experience
requirements for certification, the FAA signs the application
authorizing the applicant to take the final three tests (written, oral
and practical) for the certificate.
In addition to these formal procedures, the DoD and the FAA try
to maintain open communications; our field inspectors have conducted
informal visits to military bases to apprise military personnel of FAA
certification and licensing requirements. Although
our formal procedures have generally served us well, over the years
the DoD and FAA have discovered that there have been problems with
properly crediting servicemembers' experience and training.
This is due in large part to changes in cross-referencing
codes, and the "lag" time in informing all necessary parties
of these changes, a difficulty that was cited in the recent report
from the Congressional Commission on Servicemembers and Veterans
Transition Assistance. In
the past, many servicemembers were also highly specialized in their
training and job functions, so that although they may have had
hundreds of hours of experience dealing with repairing a certain type
of aircraft, these hours may have concentrated on a single part of the
aircraft. This degree of
specialization simply did not fit well with the FAA's requirements
that a certificate holder be familiar with other parts of that
aircraft as well. To
address these problems, the DoD and the FAA formed an Interim
Interagency Task Force on Certification and Licensing of Transitioning
Military Personnel approximately two years ago.
This task force is examining the procedures that a
servicemember or veteran would take to translate his or her military
experience into civilian certificates in an effort to determine ways
to improve these procedures. The
conversion of military to civilian pilot's licenses is very
straightforward. Any current or recently separated (within the last 12 months)
military pilot may be awarded an FAA commercial pilot certificate with
an instrument type rating upon passing a written test. If the pilot wishes to qualify for other types of pilot
certificates, he would undergo any additional training necessary, and
take the requisite tests. For
example, the FAA has an ongoing joint project with the U.S. Air Force
(USAF) to allow the USAF to train and designate its own FAA Designated
Pilot Examiners in order to test for and award the Airline Transport
Pilot (ATP) certificate to USAF pilots.
The ATP is the highest grade pilot license issued by the FAA.
Although this program was not specifically designed for
civilian conversion, it is one of the ways that a USAF pilot can
become licensed by FAA. In
sum, the FAA has several different certification and licensing
procedures. The FAA and the DoD have worked closely and cooperatively
over the years to ensure that servicemembers are apprised of our
procedures and are able to obtain the training necessary to meet both
DoD and FAA requirements. We
will continue this positive collaboration in the future.
Mr. Chairman, I look forward to any further guidance you or
other Members of the Subcommittee may be able to give us on how to
further refine our procedures. Thank you for the opportunity to submit my views for the record. Back to Witness List |