Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says President Donald Trump supports his plan to modernize the air traffic control system and it will be unveiled on Thursday. In a Fox News interview, Duffy said the multi-billion dollar plan will be transformative. “We are going to radically transform the way air traffic control looks,” Duffy told Laura Ingraham. “We’re going to build a brand new air traffic control system, from new telecom to new radars to new infrastructure." In the meantime he's asking airlines to voluntarily cut back flights at hotspots like Newark Liberty Airport, which had some serious problems last week.
Why does that make me worry that part of the plan includes replacing controllers with “AI”?
Wow, really? Now I completely get the need for trauma leave after a crash or serious near-miss, but for a radar and comms outage? Do the pilots involved (who would have faced actual danger) get trauma leave?
No doubt that this was a bad situation with a lot of planes in close proximity to others and the ground, but there are lost comms rules in place. If it really was as bad as the controllers claim, then there are a lot of questions to be asked.
Trauma leave is a union agreed to gift. It is for most instances milking the system for free vacation time. Having spent 38 years doing the job, I do not know of an event that necessitated 45 days of trauma leave so I could rest and repair. But…the FAA agreed to it. So, other than character, the “stressed” controllers are just taking advantage of a great offer. Don’t shoot the messenger.
From the union: “The controllers didn’t just walk off the job, they were traumatized, their equipment failed,” the source with knowledge of the situation said. “It’s written in the regulations if they experience a traumatic event — they can take time off to go see psychiatrist. The people working that day did that.” Whatever…
I’m sure that or total privatization with him as owner is in the back of a lot of minds. Will be interesting to see what Duffy says. Nothing can possibly be an overnight fix. The ATC system is a very complex affair, that not really seen except by those who are totally involved in it. As fragile as it is, it works with near perfection because most of the folks involved are totally skilled and dedicated… Got to be very careful if you start messing with it.
No kidding. I did 40 years worth of radar controlling, foreign and domestic ATC engineering, and safety investigations. The system is the product of the work of a bunch of really smart and dedicated people who know the business inside out. The notion that Elon is going to parachute in a bunch of game developers to redo the who thing in three years or whatever with new procedures, software, and equipment is just plain not-going-to-happen nuts. It’ll be interesting to hear whatever Duffy thinks he’s going to try. My popcorn is ready.
When I started, the computers failed on a fairly regular basis. We had to stand up, pull the 300-pound display system out of the console, knock it down flat, write flight IDs on pieces of Plexiglas you then pushed along with the target to maintain ID, and match all your targets to flight strips to make sure you hadn’t missed any. While continuing to work traffic without significant interruption. A sudden failure was indeed somewhat exciting, but “traumatic?” If we’d taken 45 days off every time the system bombed out, nobody would have been at work.
I am surprised all the media missed the planting of the magic money tree on the white house lawn which will be needed for this to happen.
But I am sure all the rich pilots out there will be happy to contribute with a smile on their faces.
Then they’re definitely on the right track: this has wheel-spinning train wreck written all over it.
The other interesting aspect of this that I heard from an FAA insider this morning was that the SES and upper management ranks of FAA are being decimated - lots taking the early out offer since most of them were eligible to retire anyway. So…all the experienced people you’d expect to help get something like this in place are bailing out, likely to be replaced by political commissars in thrall to Trump instead of career employees. Lower level people are leaving as well - one of my friends who joined the FAA from contracting world a while back (and is a GREAT employee/person) is bailing out because she says the environment has become intolerably toxic.
Good luck, Mr. Duffy…you might have to build and run it yourself.
Couldn’t agree more, SafetGuy. This system runs on the skill, memory, and judgment of people who’ve spent decades working it from the inside. It’s not a sandbox for tech optimism. You don’t just drop in a team of coders and rewrite airspace architecture like it’s a mobile app.
Controllers aren’t plug-and-play. Neither is trust.
Whatever Duffy unveils, it better respect the depth of what’s already holding the system together. Because what we’ve got isn’t broken, it’s just overworked and under-supported.
Popcorn’s ready here too. Just hoping it doesn’t turn into a fire drill.
Yep. Pilots who use ATC services are going to have to be on their toes and really know their regulations, because this “concept of a plan” has failure written all over it. I truly do hope I’m wrong, because our ATC system absolutely has to work reliably and consistently. The current system certainly has its flaws, but for the most part, it’s the skilled specialists that keep it all working smoothly. Losing them will not be a good thing.
They’re not going to represent the depth of anything: so far, their governmental vandalism has been openly contemptuous of existing staff and systems. I don’t expect any better here. Except here it won’t be late checks - it’ll be late (as in defunct) passengers. Move fast and break things has never been a good approach to safety-critical systems.
Two Fox News hosts, neither of whom has any background or work experience in any area of aviation, discussing the future of our ATC system. Man I’m sorry I missed that…
chance starlink is part of it with a no bid contract.