Crazy. You can't run an airport without qualified controllers. You also can't fast track new people into the positions. There is far too much to memorize for each different airport, and far too many procedures that vary from airport to airport. Every airport has different obstructions within it's 5 mile radius. You have to know the heights and positions for all of them. You have to memorize the airfield diagram, taxiways, runways, widths and lengths. You have to memorize all the routes and altitudes for each approach to each runway. You have to memorize a ton of frequencies, and on and on and on. It's very time consuming. You can't rush that, no matter how many different airports you have worked at. That's not even including the required on position training for controlling the different type aircraft and helicopters, dealing with emergency situations, the aircraft and helicopters that transition your airspace, the aircraft staying in your pattern for an hour doing touch and go landings with the tower and radar for flight training, the coordination between all positions talking to vehicles and aircraft, other air traffic control facilities, weather, and flight planning. It's an intense and time consuming training period. There is far more going on besides the aircraft taking off and landing.
We're gonna see more FAFO policies by the Trump Admin in order to squeeze spending that the elderly won't rebel over. If he does cut enough spending/employees and also ship out a million or two immigrants, that'll definitely shave off percentage points in GDP growth regardless of economic conditions. Tariffs will also do their thing, and we'll have four years to figure out how our economy adjusts.
It sounds like an extremely time consuming position to train someone on. If it takes that long to bring new people on board then why the hell are we pushing people out? We should be giving them a raise and ask them to stay longer? It seems like we should be doing everything we can to retain as many of them as possible? I'm so confused like why are we offering them early retirement and pushing individuals to retire? Trump is going destroy air travel
Get out of here with your arrogant attitude. I'm sorry I don't spend every waking minute reading up on politics like yourself, but guess what, I like to take a step back and try to understand the situation rather than react. I am simply stating my opinions on what could be done. And yes, I am aware of the current administration's action that could lead to more potential issues in the future. The NYT had an article this morning of some of the facts from the preliminary investigation. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/business/dc-plane-helicopter-crash-cause.html A few notable quotes: My question is, why was the ATC allowed to leave when it wasn't 9:30 yet? Was the other ATC sick? Or did the ATC that left decide to take Trump's offer of 7 months pay? Still an unanswered question which we will have more clarity in the future. Well this is definitely a problem. It was a clear night, but I remember reading elsewhere that light flickers could potentially blind you. We probably won't know anything until the helicopter's black box is recovered. Well this is a definite issue. And yes, I agree that Trump's hiring freeze for ATCs is stupid. This accident should wake up the administration, but thus far I have not seen if they've removed this hiring freeze for ATCs. As I've stated before, and we all know, the Trump administration operates on chaos and on doing **** without thinking it through. So understaffing did not just happen yesterday, and despite the previous administration's best efforts, airports are still understaffed with ATCs. Reagan is no different. They are 3 just short of the margin, so not too far off. I rarely find it that employers fully staff up, always seem to be short, but we should continue doing everything in our power to continue to staff up a critical position in our workforce. Now I can sit here and blame Trump for firing some higher up that does not work directly as an ATC, but that really doesn't mean much. It's stupid that he has fired higher ups, but that doesn't necessarily lead to a break down in such a short time span. We can blame the administration's hiring freeze, that's stupid, however, unless Reagan was about to start a couple of ATC's this past Monday, it's hard to believe that you would have such an impact in that short of amount of time.
You are confusing "Trump CAUSED the crash" and thus can be blamed with "Trump is RESPONSIBLE for the crash" and thus can be blamed Is Trump the PROXIMATE cause of the helicopter hitting an airliner? Maybe but probably not! He is pretty far down the chain of causation. Though he did of course Let Elon fire the FAA director w/no replacement Disband the Aviation Safety board Hiring Freeze on all ATCs Let Elon send the entire FAA, NTSB etc an illegal email demanding their resignation Appointed a reality TV star to head DOT and a deeply troubled alcoholic with a history of domestic violence as SecDef (and that's just this week!) However, as head of the federal government, and one whose federal government took ALL the above dangerous actions in the lead up to the crash, is Trump RESPONSIBLE for the lapses that occurred? 100% yes. Absolutely. Not even a question. He - of course - disagrees, nothing is ever Trump's fault or Trump's problem, he's always the victim. The president has no responsibility for anything bad that ever happens - even if he's going to fix it But he is wrong, he is RESPONSIBLE if he doesn't like it he should quit
Never Underestimate the Trump Administration’s Incompetence A small tweak to an email encouraging federal employees to take a buyout indicates the Justice Department wouldn’t vouch for the legality of the program.
I never had an attitude? I was just telling you trump has zero intentions to do what you're asking him to do? Why so mad bruh?
As previously mentioned, this has been a major issue for years, it's not a left or right thing and not until someone dies that we get serious about it. Cant really fully blame anyone and we shouldn't until all the facts come out BUT, to fire the head of the FAA and not replace him until AFTER the crash was a HUGE mistake and couple that with a freeze is idiotic, especially how Deb pointed out its so hard to train these folks, hell they should be rolling out the red carpet for these folks and begging them to stay.
That part I can agree with 100%. It's the psychopathic mindset of that man. He is incapable of ever admitting he is wrong about anything, or apologizing for anything he does.
But it's not brown people wearing turbans rushing into TV station brandishing AK-47s, so it's not a coup and is totally legal. /s
The scary part is the fact that there will be more and more drones along with all the aircraft and helicopters to separate, and then robo air taxis will be thrown in too. Firing everyone and looking for cheaper labor while ignoring safety concerns is really twisted. He is twisted though, and that won't change for the better with his deteriorating memory. Just wait until regs are lifted around chemical spewing factories and plants. There will be more cancer alleys just like in Louisiana, and they won't be in wealthy neighborhoods. I guess trying to make up for the money the government will lose when he and his billionaire buddies get huge tax cuts will always be the priority the next 4 years. He also has to save spending so he can build his iron dome over Mar a Lago to shield him from harm. He won't be doing crap about addressing affordable healthcare, mental healthcare, workplace or environmental safety, and certainly not safer gun laws or justice for all.
