Most future FLMs will be trying to get the pay raise that they're probably not going to see out of binding arbitration.

This fallback doesn't save anybody in the transition. When ZLA went lights out twice in the last five years, nobody said, "Okay, boys, get out the strips and let's work 'em railroad style." There were panicked calls to SCT and the western specialties at ZAB and ZDV. That was our plan. (For those of you playing at home, that's still our plan. Airspace woke up for about 5 minutes to discuss procedures for orderly divestment of airspace to neighboring facilities in the event of an outage, but that stuff takes money, time and training. We'll have to kill somebody before the FAA decides that the cost is outweighed by the benefit.)

The strips were once the only means of displaying control information. After HOST, they carried on as an increasingly less necessary clearinghouse for information, as our alphanumerics on the screen improved and we added fourth-line capability. My point is, the current airspace configurations and our preference for direct routings make the strips not that helpful in an abrupt, unplanned transition to non-radar, e.g., an outage. The low sector with 10 guys on Victor airways and plenty of altitudes, not to mention a possible approach control underneath, is fine. The high sector with crossing or converging traffic at the same altitude, and not enough altitudes or holding fixes to pry them apart, is screwed.

All due respect to Mr. Brown, if the lights go out anywhere with moderate or greater traffic, flight progress strips won't mean a damn thing.

If I'm sequencing 15 planes on direct routes in a sector with 7 altitudes and two charted holding fixes, my strips will be a lot less helpful than their TCAS.

That kind of public relations savvy doesn't come [a href='http://php.app.com/fed_employees/results.php?name=Laura+Brown&agency_name=FEDERAL+AVIATION+ADMINISTRATION&job_title=%25&statename=%25&countyname=%25&Submit=Search']cheap[/a href].

Sounds like a complaint. How can this be someone's fault and not mine?