Air Traffic Control Is Collapsing. Is It DOGE, DEI, or Something Else?
Hey there friends! Below are the articles I referenced in preparation for this week’s video commentary. Enjoy!
‘I Don’t Know Where You Are’: The Race to Fix Air-Traffic Control - WSJ
From the GOA:
The Government Accountability Office said last year that about three-quarters of the FAA’s 138 air-traffic systems were either obsolete or potentially too difficult to reliably maintain.
It’s a stressful job:
The nation’s aviation system handles some 45,000 commercial, private and military flights a day. Air-traffic control facilities oversee civilian airspace, dividing the skies by geography and altitude. Tracking aircraft on radar scopes, controllers tell pilots where to turn, when to descend or climb and how fast to fly.
The FAA has some 10,700 fully certified controllers, leaving it about 3,000 short of its target. Controllers have complained of fatigue from often having to work 10-hour days, six days a week as a result.
Tensions have remained high at Reagan National’s control tower. In late March, a controller running the Reagan tower punched another controller after he refused to monitor helicopter traffic, according to people briefed on the exchange.
“Our staffing is in dire straits—it’s awful—not safe or efficient in any way,” one controller who handles Newark air traffic said in an interview. “It’s a crisis and the public doesn’t know about it…It’s happening here at Newark and nobody wants to pay attention until lives are lost.”
Pay:
Entry-level pay for graduates is around $47,000, according to the FAA, although it is higher in many metropolitan areas. Median pay for air-traffic controllers is around $145,000 a year, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show. The FAA said recruiting efforts are showing signs of paying off.
Third airport sees massive delays after Newark and Atlanta problems - Daily Mail