Posted on 12/02/2023 7:28:52 AM PST by Salman
A nationwide shortage of controllers has resulted in an exhausted and demoralized work force that is increasingly prone to making dangerous mistakes.
One air traffic controller went into work drunk this summer and joked about “making big money buzzed.” Another routinely smoked marijuana during breaks. A third employee threatened violence and then “aggressively pushed” a colleague who was directing airplanes.
The incidents were extreme examples, but they fit into a pattern that reveals glaring vulnerabilities in one of the most important protective layers of the nation’s vaunted aviation safety system.
In the past two years, air traffic controllers and others have submitted hundreds of complaints to a Federal Aviation Administration hotline describing issues like dangerous staffing shortages, mental health problems and deteriorating buildings, some infested by bugs and black mold.
There were at least seven reports of controllers sleeping when they were on duty and five about employees working while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The New York Times obtained summaries of the complaints through an open-records request.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This story has been around for decades.
And we need more of them?
The all-out push for affirmative action — white guys need not apply — sure hasn’t helped. And the cited examples of bad behavior sound like typical minority on-the-job behavior.
POE behavior?
People Of Entitlement
Highlight above.
You’d think that if they are pushed t brink, that they would,be coke or meth heads, instead of drunk and sleepy
I’m sure these problems are because there isn’t enough diversity in air control towers.
“Recently, the tremendous US record for air safety established since the 1970s has been fraying at the edges. The first three months of 2023 saw nine near-miss incidents at US airports, one with two planes coming within 100 feet of colliding.”
— America’s Rising Tide of Incompetence, Part II
“Diversity” in airline pilots, air traffic controllers, airline mechanics, airline parts manufacturing....
What could possibly go wrong?
Have anything to do with affirmative action hiring?
Many air traffic controllers in the civilian aviation sector come from the U.S. Air Force where they were trained and served. Most are top notch but we aren’t getting more as military recruitment for all branches of our armed forces is down. We have to convince more of our young reaching age 18 that military service is a good career move.
See the link in #11. I also think it’s more “Stoned” on the job, than drunk.
I used to encourage young people to join the military. No more. Not since the military has gone “woke”.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit Amphetamines.
We do indeed have a rising tide of incompetence that is only getting worse from the view out my knothole.
EVERYTHING
I remember a while back when they discouraged smart White Men from applying because they were too prepared. It was one of the most racist moves against White folks that I can remember.
In nearly all areas of business/life, from grocery store employees to government workers, medical, industrial, politicians, on and on. Such a tremendous amount of ignorance, mediocrity, laziness, lack of personal responsibility/accountability, and totally lacking in good old-fashioned common sense.
With the state of education and victim mentality in this country, yes it will continue to get worse. Sadly.🤦🤦🤦
Last week in “Today’s News” (www.wildworldofpolitics.com M-F) I had a story about air “maydays” up 386%.
Now you know why.
Obama’s lies, lawbreaking, etc., part 3: items 1,001 through 1,375
1,098) Abandoned the old system for getting qualified air-traffic controller applicants because too many of them were white males, and replaced it with a new system that asks applicants how many different sports they played when they were in high school
In 2014, it was reported that the Federal Aviation Administration had stopped giving preferential treatment to air-traffic controller applicants who had passed classes from the 36 FAA-approved college aviation programs across the U.S., because too many of the people who passed these classes were white males.
At the same time, the FAA also stopped giving preference to applicants who were military veterans with aviation experience.
Under the new system, applicants were asked how many different high school sports they had participated in.
In May 2014, the Wall St. Journal reported:
For years, aspiring air-traffic controllers in the U.S. have enrolled in schools selected by the Federal Aviation Administration to offer special courses that could smooth the way for a job at the agency.
But at the end of December, the FAA abruptly ended that special status for the 36 participating colleges and universities…
… some critics suspect it is intended partly to increase the share of minorities and women among controllers, who are now 83% male and white…
Some school officials say their controller enrollment already has fallen off because of the FAA change.
The FAA’s new stance “just doesn’t make sense,” said Douglas Williams, aviation-program director at the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville, Md… “They’re not getting the best-qualified applicants this way,” he said.
Students who have studied for the controller degrees fear they wasted time and money. Navy veteran Oscar Vega recently completed the two-year air-traffic program at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif. He said he passed the FAA controller aptitude test last year, so he was shocked when, in February, he failed the biographical assessment.
“They say you can take it again,” said the 28-year-old. “But it’s not a test you can study for. And we don’t know why we failed because we don’t get any feedback.”
The schools estimate that more than 3,000 graduates have been removed from the FAA’s hiring pool because of the new policy.
In July 2014, the Chicago Tribune reported:
More than half of the latest batch of air-traffic controller job offers nationwide went to people with no aviation experience…
The hiring breakdown marks a major shift in FAA recruitment strategy, which is now geared toward… attracting more minorities and women to the nation’s largely white and male controller work force
For almost the last 25 years, until the off-the-street hiring process was implemented in February, the FAA recruited controllers heavily from among military veterans possessing aviation experience and from the 36 FAA-approved college aviation programs across the U.S.
The new test includes the following question:
21. The number of different high school sports I participated in was:
A- 4 or more
B- 3
C- 2
D- 1
E- didn’t play sports
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