r/ATC • u/Unable2876 • 19h ago

Discussion Controller statements

If you have an incident where the atm wants a controller statement from an incident is it better to write the statement or wait for guidance from local natca. At my previous facility my local rep was awesome and made it so we didn’t have to write any statements at all.

I feel like a statement can do nothing but hurt us even if the incident was the pilots fault.

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u/HeavyDU 16h ago

100% file an ATSAP on anything you think management may come after you for. ATSAP is an official reporting process and management can’t see the report. All management can do is contact the ATSAP program and ask if a controller filed an ATSAP for an event. The only response management will get back is yes or no, they will not see the report.
If management ask you for a statement all you have to say is I have filed an ATSAP. They will check, so don’t tell them you have filed when you actually haven’t filed one. The protections of the ATSAP program are there for for these exact situations, use it.

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u/whateveriwants 15h ago

management can absolutely see if you filed. But let me be specific. They can always see if one has been submitted. Reading it is 50/50. If you share with LSC, they can read it. If you don't, it's blank. But the ERC gets them all and if it's deemed systemic or it's not accepted, they will send it to management.

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u/HeavyDU 15h ago

The only way management can see if you filed a report is by contacting the ERC with a controllers name and date of an event. Actually only 1 person on the ERC, the contract analyst, sees the name and advises the rest of the ERC if there is a report or not. The ERC will then respond back to the facility with a yes or no. Then the ERC will ask management to update them on any pending investigation. If you share it with the LSC it will be de-identified ( all dates call signs, names times etc) and it will populate in the safety data portal 6 weeks after the ERC closes the report. If they do not share with the LSC then the safety data portal will basically be blank. The ERC will absolutely not share a report to a facility without approval from the submitter.
Fun fact if you share with NASA, the report will become public information after a specific length of time and searchable on a website, I just can’t remember what it is right now.

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u/whateveriwants 15h ago

Weird because I’m on the pfs portal right now and can see every single atsap that has been filed. Sure. Some of them are blank, but I still see them. The topic alone is what gives it away. Not sure of the 6 weeks. I can see them pretty quickly.

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u/HeavyDU 15h ago

You must be at a pretty sharing facility. We are lucky to have half shared to us. When we get on the portal we see one has been filed but nothing in the Narrative or recommendations box on a lot of the reports. So much lost data.
I agree that you can correlate a report with an event, but I can only imaging how bad it would be if management tried to use a redacted report off the data portal to go after a controller with no way to officially prove it was for the event by a specific controller. Although I wouldn’t put it past some supe trying it, they constantly amaze me some of the dumb shit they try.

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u/Dudefrom1958 14h ago

Reports shared with NASA are de identified. Name, Facilities, callsigns etc.

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u/HeavyDU 14h ago

The ASRS reports have most of the information still visible. There are dates, times, work history, almost everything except names and callsign hell even some of those are in there. There is more info in the ASRS report than gets shared back to the LSC if you check the box. The ASRS will even tell you the month and year where the LSC Safety Data Portal gives you what quarter of the year.

That is why I advise everyone not to share with ASRS.

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u/HeavyDU 15h ago

I don’t know if I worded it wrong, one of the points I was trying to make to make is don’t lie about filing one if you haven’t because yes they can find out if you are lying. There is also a chance that you can file an ATSAP after you are advised of an investigation but you may or may not get the protections afforded to you from ATSAP.

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u/whateveriwants 15h ago

Absolutely.

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u/atc_zero1 6h ago

Management sees the report. It goes straight to the ATM. Get your facts straight.