sleeping addenda

Good Morning, I'm well rested and ready to go... Uhhhh. At least, as much as possible when my sleep schedule has been disrupted for 23 years...

I won't blather on about the current ATC crisis much more, but at least the news media is finally recognizing something I've said for five plus years, there's a shortage of conrollers now, and it's going to get worse. I did want to comment on sleep-gate one more time. Our fearless leaders continue to nod their heads at the media ("yes, yes, safety was never compromised, we're addressing the problems, don't worry, those lazy-ass controllers will be dealt with...") This in the face of more and more evidence showing up as to how fearless leaders have ignored the problem for 25 years+.

I recently read an opinion piece that seems to address the problem from a reasonable and intelligent point of view. Charles A. Czeisler, Ph.D., M.D., is Baldino Professor of Sleep Medicine and director of the Divisions of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, he posted an opinion on CNN referring to his long history with the FAA and sleep studies. The full text of his article is ... http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/26/czeisler.sleep.air.traffic.controllers/

Some of the key points he addresses are that he advocated reforms to the FAA's controller schedules way back in 1983. Ignored by our administrators. In 1989, the NTSB (national transportation safety board) cited the FAA's response to air traffic controller fatigue as "unacceptable". In 2001, an advisory committee recommended schedule reform and fatigue management programs. Ignored. In 2007, the NTSB strongly recommended the FAA change it's scheduling practices and implement the fatigue management programs that had been recommended following a series of fatigue related air traffic control incidents. Ignored.

Now our FAA administrators are acting surprised at the revelation of tired air traffic controllers making mistakes.

I'm, sadly and cynically, not surprised.

Reading more on the sleep experts, I've come to realize that the fatigue that the article talks about seems to affects everything I do. My friends in the IFGS have often wondered why I poke my head up so rarely to join in on the fun and games, others observe that my schedule, though it gives me a full weekend off (except when I'm assigned mandatory overtime...), still seems to prevent me from socializing regularly. Irma's been a saint, more often than not we'll make plans and I'll back out at the last minute, mostly because of just a deep, probably subconscious, fatigue. I'm used to being tired at home, knowing that on my next shift, I've got to fire it up and be ready. It's been this way for 23 years. You get so used to it, you don't even notice it.

Announcement: Jim retires in 25 months. Mandatory. Even if the FAA changes the rules, I've decided. April 2013, I get my life back. Counting down.....

Who wants to help me plan the retirement party...

Here's to 2013...

TTFN
Jim

Time for a nap

Probably a few of you have noticed the recent firestorm surrounding the actions of a few air traffic controllers of late (or more appropriately, the non-actions). As is typical, our friends in the media tend to bloviate without any understanding on what is really going on, as well as tend to jump on the "lets find any dirt we can on them as long as we're looking" bandwagon. Keep in mind, there have always been a few who screw up, in this case 3 or 4 controllers out of some 7000 nationwide. Some of you probably wonder what I think of all of this...

I'll tell you after my nap... ;-)

Seriously, the media is turning this into a circus (but hey, that's their job). The fact is that on a midnight shift, there are long periods of extreme boredom. Because of our short staffing, many facility managers have made the choice to reduce staffing on the midnight shifts in order to have more controllers on duty during the busy day and evening shifts. That's fine, except if you're one of the mid shifters who is stuck in the control room alone. (Thankfully, I don't work many mids, since I've the seniority to pick a better schedule most of the time)

Here's the recipe for the scandal, though. A few years back, one administrator or another, (who likely never worked a minute past his 6:00 pm work-day end), decided that the control room was filled with too many distractions on the midnight shift. Yes, the lone controller often brought a radio into the control room, perhaps he brought a crossword puzzle book to work on between flights through his sectors, maybe there was a chess set set up on the supervisor's desk for an adjacent area controller to swap moves with. Said this administrator, "BAD DOG, No biscuit! Get all distractions out of the control room". Now, the lone controller gets to sit in a semi-dark room, staring at empty radar screens, for hours at a time. Nobody to talk to, because the facility manager stripped the mid crew of staffing to avoid paying overtime on the day shift. No planes for dozens of minutes at a time. Absolute. Utter. Boredom.

Now, you stay awake at 2:00 am, during your second shift of the day.
Really! I mean it. Stay awake!
NOW! Stay awake, dammit.
Okay, your turn for a break, here's your relief. You have one hour before your next turn in the control room. Go ahead, watch tv. Read. But, DONT take a NAP, the public will see you sleeping while you're on the job. That will make the administrator look bad!
Back into the control room. Still no traffic. Stay awake some more. WOnder how long the coffee will keep you alert.
Repeat all night until the morning crew shows up at 6:00 am.

And that's in the center, where we staff 2 controllers for the shift, allowing them to alternate breaks. The small towers often only schedule 1 person all by themselves for the entire night. No breaks. No allowed distractions in the control room. Did I mention no breaks?

A few years back, we had three controllers working the mid shift here each night. Two would be in the control room at all times. That extra person isn't so much to handle the busy workload, instead he was there to help you stay awake.

There are logical solutions out there. Sleep experts will tell you that a power nap would make all the difference, pilots are allowed to alternate short naps while they are flying, so long as one of the flight crew up front is in charge of the plane. Firefighters don't sit up all night playing cards while waiting for an alarm, they have beds and they use them. Returning to an extra person on the mid shift would do wonders as well, having a second person in the control room at all times would pretty much eliminate controllers falling asleep at the sector.

Shame the administrators put a higher value on saving money rather than flying safety.

Anyway... This firestorm of media attention is, as usual, annoying, but in the words of my louisiana born and raised supervisor, "It don't mean a thang..." We'll keep grinding through the heavy traffic during the day with 33 percent fewer controllers than we really need, and the mid shifters will grind away at the boredom as best they can.

Otherwise, the country will stop flying.

Clear skies,
Jim

Spring Break

Not the kind of spring break you may have been hoping for. I took a break from blogging in March. Work continues, writing continues, and soon we'll see how our government runs with all the non-essential personnel sent home because our leaders in Washington can't come up with a compromise. Cue the cynical boo's...

What comprises "non-essential" personnel? Among others, the folk who process the essential personnels paychecks. The ironic thing is, they'll go home for a week or two, and when they're called back in, they'll probably put in overtime to catch up. However, I'm willing to bet you they won't lose any pay for the time off, either. Just the way our govt works. Meanwhile, if this lasts more than one week, expect to see the "essential personnel" like the military or air traffic controllers face delayed paychecks. "No one to process them, sorry folks. Just keep showing up, and we'll pay you, eventually..."

Did I cue the cynical boo's yet?

Good thing our health care system isn't under this program. Oh... wait... More cynical boo's...

On the positive side, It's grillin season. Going to be doing some "Three Day, Margarita-chipotle ribs" soon. Mmmmmm.

TTFN,
Jim

Grinding away

     I've been working (with my brother) on a short story for the Grantville Gazette these last couple of weeks.  It is a different world working on a project for a targeted audience, inside a pre-defined world.  I've actually been doing a fair amount of historical (or hysterical?) research as I go, trying to keep both characters and locale accurate, historically, as well as fictionally for the series 1632. 

     We started by bouncing ideas off each other, looking for something that hasn't been done in the world yet, as well as trying to play to our strengths, we eventually started on "Ole the Weatherman" (Tentative Title).  Ole, a norwegian student and part time fisherman, ends up learning how to forecast the weather.  We'll see where it goes.

     On the research side, I've found it necessary to track some historical characters from that era, both those mentioned in previous books, and those as yet unknown.  We eventually selected the historical character, Evangelista Toricelli, an Italian scholar and occasional correspondent of Galileo.  Galileo played a part in the novel 1634 The Galileo Affair, which runs takes the up-timer Americans (from the future) to Venice and eventually Italy as Galileo's trial by the catholic church comes to a head.  It's a good read, really well researched and fun.

      Toricelli eventually became known for inventing the Toricelli Barometer in 1643, but there is an interesting gap in his real history from 1631, when he wrote Galileo in support of his theories on planetary movement, just prior to his incarceration by the inquisition ("No-one expects..."  <wince> (sorry, inside joke)) until his publication scientific papers and reappearance in 1641, when he returned to the public eye.  We're going to take him from 1633 or so and run with it, having him end up in Germany, where he gets tapped by the future-americans to help establish a weather forecasting office.  There are other twists we're working is, so...  Stay tuned.

     Why a weather forecast unit? That has to do with my observation that in the series, though weather reports are mentioned by many writers, none have taken the time to define the how, where and why.  Weather forecasting without computer models or satellite feeds was in real life far different that the forecasting we have now, and in the 1632 universe, that's exactly what they'll have to do.  Though there was some beginning research into weather data back then, forecasting didn't really take off until much later, at least on a scale other than locally.  We'll see if we can turn it into an interesting story.

     Imperfect Hope has been tabled for a while.  However, it's not forgotten, and every so often I think of something and write a note to myself.  A growing folder of random thoughts awaits me when Jeff and I finish our project.

At any rate...
CLear skies,
Jim

writing prompt and stuff.

Hey, all.

     Took some much needed time off, Irma and I spent a couple of days up in Estes Park at the Stanley hotel to celebrate our 15th anniversary.  Didn't do anything but rest, relax, and hike.  We had really nice weather, warm for this time of the year, and normally windy this time of year Rocky Mountain National Park was clear, sunny, and not much below freezing, made for a really relaxing hike.  We both came back refreshed, and I'm ready to write something.

     To get me in the mood, I dug out some writing prompts and tackled an amusing one, write a short bit from the point of view of a rope about to snap. 

    “Shaddup, If I hear you groan one more time, Mast, I’m going to snap.  You think you have it so tough, well let me tell you, mast, you don’t know what tension is.”  Rope creaked as another gust of wind stretched him taut as the mainsail belled out under the growing gale winds.

    As soon as the gust let up, rope sagged for a moment.  Under his breath, he mumbled to himself.  “No respect.  I’m pulled this way and that, and only time I ever get off is when I get so wound up my head’s tucked under my ass so tightly I can’t move an inch.  Splashed with salt water.  And so help me, if those stinking sailors smear that tar on me again, I, I, I don’t know what I’ll do.” 

    “You think you got problems, Haul line?  Try life as a belaying pin.  Either I got you wrapped around my neck, or I’m plucked outta my hole and swung left and right smacking hard headed sailors about by the first mate.  That’s right, discipline, rope.  And you ain’t got it.”

    “Shaddup, I said, you and mast both.”  Rope readied another curse, but fell silent as he caught sight of the rogue wave bearing down on ship.  “Ohhh, man, this is gonna hurt.”, he said to himself, then shouted over the wind.  “Hang on, fella’s, here it comes again...”

     The point of a writing prompt for me is to just write, don't edit, don't revise, so, there it is.  Now to tackle something with more meat...

Clear skies,
Jim

Channel changed...

     Well, I took my own advice, and changed my channel for a bit, I put Imperfect Hope on a back burner, and started fiddling with some ideas for a short story for the 1632 slush pile.  I have jotted down a couple of IH ideas and filed them away with the rest of the stuff for when I get back to it, but otherwise, I've put a fair amount of effort into just clearing my mind of the logjam that had developed...

     Writing a short for the 1632 universe is a complete change of channels for me.  Going from an entirely self-created universe to a shared world with some pretty exhaustive rules is a challenge.  I read a fair amount on the ground rules for writing there, they all make sense, (and would make really good sense in a shared ifgs writing world).  Major characters are "owned" by specific writers, new writers may petition to obtain rights to one of the 3000 or so "uptimers" known to have existed when Grantville jumped back to 1632, or may create any number of non-historical, non-major characters for their stories.  Technology has major restrictions, for example, no airplanes were transferred back to 1632, so when the Grantville army needed an airplane for scouting, they had to cobble one together using a vw bug engine and a relatively primitive design. 

     I've been bouncing ideas back and forth with my brother, comparing notes on "what we know", between my aviation background and his engineering background.  Jeff had spent a fair amount of time working in the north sea, and so has met some unique characters both on the offshore oilrigs, and on the mainland itself.  Me, I've dealt with aviation ups and downs, seen technology change over the last 23 years (oh so slowly in our bureaucracy), and handled many types of emergencies, from "ohgodfireinthecockpitwegottalandthisthingnowcentercanyouhearus" to an open-cockpit 1930's era restored monoplane stuck on top of solid cloud layers, no navigation equipment, and no holes in the clouds within 100 miles.  The latter is something that just might translate to a good 1632 type story.

     See, the way I figure it, one of the biggest lacks in the down time of 1632 for aviation wanna-be's (after the shortage of reliable aircraft powerplants is addressed) is navigation and weather.  No gps nav systems, no vor nav aids, no radio beacons.  No satellite weather forecasts, no current upper wind readings, no dopplar radar.  A pilot flying from point a to point b in 1635 will have to reinvent (or resurrect) dead reckoning navigation if he wants to fly in any kind of weather.  Even flying visually, there will be very few roads to follow.  Visual navigation will rely on geographic features, not terribly easy even in clear skies visibility 100 miles.  If you've not flown somewhere before, you'll have almost no visual references to tell where you are, one small hamlet will look exactly like another, and unless you've planned your flight carefully, chances are you'll be lost most of the time.  Rivers will become critical for knowing where you are, and since cities tend to be near rivers, they'll be a useful air highway...

     My job as a writer is to introduce a stick of gum into the gears, though.  One storyline to fiddle with involves a young swede or nordsk, trying to learn his now profession as a United States of Europe certified "weather guesser".  Stay tuned, we'll see if anything comes of the concept...

Anyway, more to come
TTFN,
Jim


     Weather forecasting today relies on computer models and satellite feeds.  60 years ago, though, forecasters depended on amassing hourly readings from all across the US, fed to the weather forecast offices where trained scientists analyzed the data and gave out limited forecasts.  Predicting conditions beyond a day or so was iffy.  Local conditions could be predicted several hours in advance with some accuracy, but...  Not the degree that we have now. 

     Since navigation and weather go hand in hand in early aviation, I think I've got a good story to piece together.  Gonna toss an idea football back and forth to Kuala Lumpur and see what come up.  More to come soon...

Another year...

Welcome to 2011.  And I thought 2010 looked like science fiction.  Time to look back at accomplishments of the past year...

     Okay, enough of that.  Things I didn't get done:  Imperfect Hope.  Yah, I know, it's been number one on my topics these last few months.  Time to change the channel...

     Got a note from my brother Jeff a few weeks back (Hi Jeff, know you're reading this), He'd gotten a short story published in the Grantville Gazette, a ezine dedicated to Eric Flint's 1632 universe.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, it is a shared world speculative fiction (sci-fi) series based on the concept of a time-transference of a small area surrounding Grantsville, WV from the year 2000 back to 1630 germany right smack in the middle of the 30 years war.  Eric Flint set up some very specific rules about writing in that era, most important of which is that the modern resources available to the uptimers (those from the year 2000) are restricted to an accurate inventory of what was actually in Grantville at the time of the transfer.  Population 3000 or so, coal miners and librarians and school teachers, no rocket scientists, no aeronautical engineers, no lost detachment of special forces soldiers on leave. 

     The grantville Gazette is an ezine consisting of non-fiction articles on recreating technology under those circumstances, historical references and conjecture on societal changes, and fiction short stories or serials based around the events of the print books co-written by Eric Flint.  Some years past, Jeff wrote a non-fiction article on "oil mining", a low tech source of much needed hydrocarbons that the Transplaced Grantsville residents might use.  From that article came his short story, co-written with Kiwi (I believe) Kerryn Offord about another potential low tech means of obtaining oil in 1634.  It's a good read, I have to admit. 

     Because it's published in an E-zine, I shouldn't post the entire story for the entire world to read, since it is a subscription e-zine, but they do allow previews of about half the story without buying a subscription.  You'll find it online at http://grantvillegazette.com/ .  For those interested, email me and I'll "loan" you my copy to read as long as you promise not to spread it willy-nilly about the internet.  (I'm sensitive to the needs of copyright protection, and since writers to ezines get paid through the 'zine's subscription, if you subscribe, you'll be supporting starving writers like my brother...  And perhaps me...)

     Not that he's starving, he and Bess Anne are in Kuala Lumpur living in a 3700 square foot penthouse working for a multinational oil company, and has to walk 15 minutes to his office on some upper floor of the Petronas Towers.  Other than being half a world away from the triplets, I suspect he's doing fine.  ;-) 

     I hadn't kept up with the 1632 series of late, though it's always been a fascinating storyline to me.  They've been pretty strict about keeping the limits of the recreation of technology realistic, and I've enjoyed the meshing of historical characters such as Galileo (tried for heresy in 1632 historically, I won't tell you how the writers have changed history in the book dealing with that case), and Richelieu with fictional characters such as Tom Stone (resident "non-traditional chemist known to the locals as stoner) and his rather undisciplined teenage boys, and challenging topics such as the catholic reformation, the plague, and politics, politics, and more politics.  Give it a read.  Perhaps I'll have a short story there someday...

Anyway, more to come soon, I promise...
TTFN,
Jim