Attached below is an AIDMOR addressing issues and concerns related to AIRCOM. If you have not read through it yet, please do so, and also pass the AIDMOR and the Union's message on to our fellow teammates.

Lately, flights may take longer to get pushed, phones may ring longer with no answer, and it may take a few more seconds to answer that radio call. This isn't due to a lack of care, efficiency, or proficiency in AIRCOM. It is because AIRCOM, like EVERY department in this company, is being asked to do way more with far less. Far less time, far less resources, far less staffing, far less value and respect, and far less pay!! Far less than we ALL DESERVE!

The Local No. 109 wants to express our appreciation and gratitude to AIRCOM and all of our teammates. We understand and see that both confidence and morale are very low with the economy and the company’s response to it, as well as in our overall day-to-day operations and perceived priorities. We do not need temporary 'band-aide' fixes, characterizations, or rhetoric. We ALL need immediate long-term solutions that focus on recruitment AND RETENTION; with SAFETY as a top PRIORITY that is backed up with action! We need to be supported, respected, and valued!

We encourage all of our pilots to be patient, to be understanding, and most of all be kind when working with our teammates in ALL departments. Whether it be maintenance, OCC, AIRCOM, training, HR, payroll and benefits, etc., because we are all in this together. We depend on each group and each individual’s efforts and contributions to be successful.

The Local No. 109 simply wants to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU. We appreciate all that you are doing. Please know that the Local No. 109 respects and values all of you. You do not go unnoticed and you have our full support!

Keep up the strong work!

Very Respectfully,

Safety Committee
OPEIU, Local No. 109

[quote]Report Number:
53394 Submitted By:

Event Description:
To whom it may concern,

We are currently in a staffing crisis at AirCom. Aircom does not have the staffing levels to fulfill their minimum staffing for desks. Currently the night shift Northeast region that is responsible for 35 aircraft and 14 different programs is staffed with 2 Communication Specialist on one shift and 3 on the opposite shift. The Northeast region should be staffed with 5 Communication Specialist per shift to work within their means, and not be task saturated. The night shift Southeast region that is responsible for 40 aircraft and 16 different programs is staffed with 3 Communication Specialist per rotation. The minimum for the Southeast should be 6 communicators. The night shift Central region is currently staffed with 5 Communication Specialist on one shift, and 4 on the opposite. The Central region is responsible for 76 aircraft across 20 different programs. The minimum staffing for the Central region is 7 communicators. The West region is currently staffed with 6 Communication Specialist on one shift, and 7 on the opposite. Minimum staffing level for the West region should be 10 communicators. The West Region is responsible for 75 aircraft across 10 programs. Let’s not forget we are opening more and more bases and sticking the new bases on desks that aren’t even staffed.

Yes, we do have on call, but that should not count towards a staffed desk. You are making someone come in on their day off to cover a desk because of the staffing problem.

To break this down, essentially you have 16 communicators responsible for 226 aircraft. At any given time, without warning, all in service aircraft could be flying. This poses a problem, you have 16 communicators responsible for flight following 226 aircraft, you have 16 communicators responsible for making notifications to hospitals and local agencies to make sure the helipad or the LZ is secure. Due to staffing levels, notifications are missed. The phone calls come in faster than we can make them. Which then leads to not being able to flight follow your aircraft because we are so task saturated answering and making phone calls. What this is causing is burn out. Communicators are burnt out from being over worked and under paid. We are burnt out from picking up the slack of the open desks. Working 5-6 hours with no break. Mistakes and near misses are happening every day, because of workload and fatigue. This company preaches safety culture, it is plastered all over town hall meetings. You know what we don’t talk about in safety culture? The fact that mistakes and near misses are made because Aircom is understaffed, we don’t talk about the fact that we can’t flight follow because we are forced to sit and answer as many inbound lines as we can while making half of the outbound calls we should. We don’t talk about communicators working 72 hours a week and being exhausted. We don’t talk about the fact that communicators go to the break room for a 15 min safety nap because they are so fatigued from working 72 hours a week. We don’t talk about the fact that we must work programs and regions we are not familiar with and mistakes happen. When mistakes happen because we are unfamiliar with the programs, the field sends in a complaint. Its then given to us showing us what we did wrong. What’s wrong is we are working programs we are unfamiliar with because there is not enough people to answer the calls coming in. In the last 6 weeks we have had 17 communicators put in their resignation. These 17 communicators range from brand new not even signed off, brand new signed off, to employees who have been here for over 10 years. How does this not speak for itself and raise a red flag at the corporate level?

Our pilots, crews, and customers are slowing losing trust in Aircom, because so many mistakes happen, or we answer the phone sounding unprepared and unfamiliar with their agency or hospital. We talk about customer service, when what we should be talking about is the staffing crisis, causing the distrust in us from customers.

I would also like to mention, not only is it a safety concern that we do not have enough people to make notifications and actually flight follow a safe amount of aircraft, but the fact that you are losing revenue. Here’s what happens when there’s not enough staff to answer the phone.

A request comes in, all the communicators are busy, so the line will roll outside of the region into the other regions for someone else to take the request. The other 15 communicators are also busy and unable to answer the call. So, it rolls over to the AirCom Supervisors phone, but due to staffing, supervisors are covering desks as well and busy. The customer gets sick of listening to the phone ring for 3-5 minutes, hangs up and calls a competitor. Air Methods just lost a revenue flight. Air Methods just lost a flight for our 111k goal. These are the things that will stop us from reaching our goal.

Also, from the same point, let’s say a pilot is attempting to call Aircom with an emergency, the same thing will happen. The call will continue to go unanswered. This is a huge safety concern if a pilot had just crashed and is needing help. There is nothing that can be done because all 16 communicators are busy making calls or taking calls.

What will it take for corporate to open their eyes and realize that AirCom is the heartbeat of Air Methods? Without AirCom there is no revenue. Without revenue there is no Air Methods.

I offer three suggestions. 1) Increase wages, we have communicators who have been here 3-5 years making the same amount as a new hire. This is not setting well with the tenure. They should be compensated for their tenure and knowledge, and don’t forget about your supervisors this time. They bend over backwards, working well over their 40 hour salary work week, covering desks, dealing with employee issues on the floor, or getting called in on their day off. they do not get paid enough for what they have to put up with while working 50-60-hour weeks when they are salaried at 40 hours. How is this even okay? They were left out in the last round of wage increases, because AirCom does not value their supervisors. You have some communicators that make more than a supervisor between hourly wage, overtime, and incentives. What is the incentive for a supervisor not to step down? Pretty soon there will be no floor leadership left, as they are burnt out as well.

2) offer a retention bonus for the ones who are sticking it out, before they walk out too.

3) Close the doors on AirCom. Move the programs to 3rd party comm centers across the country.
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Preventative Measures
What do you think needs to be accomplished to prevent this from occurring again?
Describe any individual or company corrective actions that could be taken to prevent this event or mitigate the risk.
Preventative Measures:

I offer three suggestions. 1) Increase wages, we have communicators who have been here 3-5 years making the same amount as a new hire. This is not setting well with the tenure. They should be compensated for their tenure and knowledge, and don’t forget about your supervisors this time. They bend over backwards, working well over their 40 hour salary work week, covering desks, dealing with employee issues on the floor, or getting called in on their day off. they do not get paid enough for what they have to put up with while working 50-60-hour weeks when they are salaried at 40 hours. How is this even okay? They were left out in the last round of wage increases, because AirCom does not value their supervisors. You have some communicators that make more than a supervisor between hourly wage, overtime, and incentives. What is the incentive for a supervisor not to step down? Pretty soon there will be no floor leadership left, as they are burnt out as well.

2) offer a retention bonus for the ones who are sticking it out, before they walk out too.

3) Close the doors on AirCom. Move the programs to 3rd party comm centers across the country.
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Photos / Supporting Documents (Optional)[/quote]

The union/anti union topics are almost to the point that they are being posted daily.  Typically, it is the same people and the same argument which usually ends with the same result.

There comes a point where the point has been made and it is time to move on.

Lyn

info@justhelicopters.com

Wow this is crazy if legit, please don't delete I gotta send this to my coworkers

If you worked at amc, you wouldnt you have gotten it?

Your site allows people to vent and is very important.  I agree with your input, to an extent.  

It points to what the aggrieved should do, in my opinion, that being to move on, though your point is for them to stop venting, which allows them to feel at least someone is listening and very very important to them, which means you are providing a very important service in the interest of morale.

Perhaps they can move on to police or fire dispatching at a city or higher level.

My 2 cents, I've had some wine, so, IWII.

helicopter pilots and the helicopter community, that routinely get squashed, and are not in violation of any ROE. It wouldn't be so bad but the goalposts keep moving. One goalpost that was moved that was the disruptive rule. Now that has been moved to the enough is enough rule. If you keep squashing issues, there will be no way to keep track of the pulse of the community. It will just be see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

Minds and managment like you "just time to move on". This is someone with very ligit concerns which should be handled within the company and not here but these are serious issues. I've worked at AMC and can empathize with this person. The details of problems like these are critical and demand strong leadership that does not include "just move on" I detest such an approach to these concerns. This comm center needs strong leadership with the fortitude to get things done to include improving the operations of air comm. The leadership MO of "just move on" is weak and afraid of challeng the status quo. Ive been to aircomm as a pilot and  know first hand how difficult this job is. The folks there care about what they do and if the organizational structure is indeed broken it needidstrong leadership to repair it NOW! A "just move on" mentality kills people. 

Safety concerns to FAA.

Malfunction operation report. Part of FAA approved SMS. Mandatory report.

No way. Conditions in AIRCOM are absolutely horrendous. Before my program switched away from them and went to Metro, it was absolutely obvious all of their controllers were well overworked and even now, when interfacing with outside aircraft, I never talk to the same person. This is incredibly dangerous stuff. 

Find a new pilot!

Incident Damage Malfunction Operations Report, or close to that.